Trump to Fox News: ’80 Percent’ of Media Are ‘Enemy of the People’
This is the first time the president has defined how much of the media falls into that category
Jon Levine | August 23, 2018 @ 7:16 AM
Last Updated: August 23, 2018 @ 7:18 AM
President Donald Trump clarified his remarks about the media being the “enemy of the people,” saying that he was only talking about the “fake news” media. Trump added that the figure accounted for “80 percent” of all media.
Trump made the comment during an interview with “Fox & Friends” host Ainsley Earhardt on Thursday.
“Is the press the enemy of the people?” asked Earhardt.
“No, not at all but the fake news is and the fake news is comprised of — it’s a lot — it’s a big chunk, OK? Somebody said what’s the chunk. I said 80 percent. It’s a lot. It’s a lot,” said Trump.
“If I do something well, it’s not reported. Other than in the 20 percent,” he added. “I mean, The New York Times cannot write a good story about me. They’re crazed. They’re like lunatics. If I do something well, I often joke, I’ll do some great thing like meeting with Kim Jong Un.”
The president has said in the past that he wasn’t talking about everyone in the media when he uses the phrase, but his comments to Earhardt is the first time that he has quantified his view of exactly what percentage of the media falls into the “fake news”/”enemy of the people” category.
Fox News has generally been included in the 20 percent of coverage the president likes and Trump has returned the favor by giving the network with dozens of interviews since he took office and the regular promotion of Fox News hosts and shows on Twitter. He is also known to be personally close to Sean Hannity and they reportedly speak regularly.
Still, not everyone in the president’s orbit is fond of the term. His daughter and White House adviser Ivanka Trump publicly broke with her dad over the issue.
“No, I do not feel that the media is the enemy of the people,” she told an audience at the Axios Newsmakers conversation on workforce development at the Newseum earlier this month.
“I’ve certainly received my fair share of reporting on me personally that I know not to be fully accurate,” she explained. “I’ve had some sensitivity around why people have concerns and gripes especially when they sort of feel targeted.”
Mike Cernovich, a Timeline: From Choking Advice to Pizzagate to Firings (Photos)
Maybe you'd never heard of right-wing provocateur Mike Cernovich before last week, when he helped get James Gunn fired from the next "Guardians of the Galaxy" film by highlighting Gunn's old Twitter jokes about rape and pedophilia. But Cernovich himself has a long history online, filled with both successes and statements he has since distanced himself from -- for reasons that will be obvious.
Advice on Choking Women
Before gaining fame as a Trump superfan, Cernovich got his start in the men's rights and pick-up artist community. His advice column, published on his blog "Danger and Play," included suggestions on the proper way to "choke" women during sex. This entry from December 2011 has since been deleted: "Choking works because it’s a show of dominance. Women only want to have consensual sex with men they know could rape them."
Pizzagate
Cernovich first came to wide public attention over his promotion of a conspiracy theory during the 2016 election that suggested that a pedophile ring was being run out of the basement of a Washington, D.C. pizzeria. The story was bunk, and Cernovich has moved to distance himself from Pizzagate.
Will Sommer/Twitter
John Conyers
Cernovich's biggest score of all probably wasn't James Gunn, but John Conyers. A tip provided by Cernovich to BuzzFeed about accusations of sexual misconduct forced the Democrat to resign his seat in disgrace in December 2017.
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Sam Seder
Mike Cernovich targeted the MSNBC contributor over a years-old joke about his daughter being raped. MSNBC dropped Seder in December 2017, but reinstated him after a public backlash.
MSNBC
Sopan Deb
Cernovich went after New York Times reporter Sopan Deb in March 2017 over a tweeted pun about the rapper Bow Wow. The incident earned Deb an official rebuke from the Times' then-public editor, Liz Spayd.
Josh Barro
In November 2017, Cernovich demanded an apology from Josh Barro after the Business Insider Senior Editor made fun of his lisp. Barro swiftly retreated.
Twitter
Perry Fein
In June 2018, Los Angeles Times freelancer Perry Fein slipped into Cernovich's DMs and wished harm upon him. His relationship with the newspaper was over just hours later.
Los Angeles Times Media Group
James Gunn
Last week, Cernovich helped lead an online campaign highlighting old tweets in which Gunn joked about rape about pedophilia. Gunn offered an apology, but was dropped by Disney from the "Guardians of the Galaxy" franchise.
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Cheri Jacobus
Before the James Gunn situation, Cernovich also led a brief and successful campaign to pressure USA Today to drop columnist Cheri Jacobus. The decision from the paper came after Jacobus' bizarre comments about convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Michael Ian Black
Cernovich has trained his fire on comedian Michael Ian Black, who has said several times on Twitter that his tweets about pedophilia were only jokes.
YouTube
Dan Harmon
Fresh off his victory in ousting Gunn from "Guardians of the Galaxy," Cernovich forced "Rick and Morty" co-creator Dan Harmon and his employers at Adult Swim to apologize over an old sketch that featured Harmon graphically simulating the rape of a baby. (The sketch used a doll, not an actual baby.)
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The right-wing provocateur has become a thorn to liberals online
Maybe you'd never heard of right-wing provocateur Mike Cernovich before last week, when he helped get James Gunn fired from the next "Guardians of the Galaxy" film by highlighting Gunn's old Twitter jokes about rape and pedophilia. But Cernovich himself has a long history online, filled with both successes and statements he has since distanced himself from -- for reasons that will be obvious.