Trump Uses 13 Minutes of 48-Minute CPAC Speech to Bash ‘Dishonest’ Media

POTUS says CNN is the “Clinton News Network”

Trump cpac
PBS

President Donald Trump spent roughly 13 minutes talking about the media during a 48-minute CPAC speech on Friday, but it surely felt like longer for journalism watchdogs monitoring the president’s near-constant attacks on the press.

Trump called the media “dishonest” less than three minutes into his speech, when he mentioned that the press would report that he didn’t get a standing ovation unless the crowd eventually sat down.

“They are the worst,” he said, referring to the press, as chants of “USA, USA, USA” broke out.

Trump used the word “media” 11 times, while he said “fake news” and “dishonest” seven times each, according to a transcript of the speech provided by Vox. He went after CNN, calling it the “Clinton News Network,” and also specifically mentioned CBS, ABC and NBC during the speech.

On Thursday, White House chief strategist Steve Bannon mocked the media for how it “portrayed the campaign, how they portrayed the transition and now they’re portraying the administration,” saying, “it’s always wrong,” when speaking at the conference.

At CPAC, Trump continued his habit of echoing Bannon’s rhetoric when it comes to dealing with the media, which Bannon calls the “opposition party” on a regular basis.

“A few days ago I called the fake news the enemy of the people, and they are. They are the enemy of the people because they have no sources, they just make them up when there are none,” Trump said before bashing a recent story that he said cited nine sources.

Trump then explained that the media dropped the word “fake” when he recently called fake news the enemy of the people, in an attempt, he said, to falsely portray the president as referring to all media as the enemy of the people.

“All of the sudden, the story became the media is the enemy, they take the word ‘fake’ out,” Trump said. “But that’s the way they are… I don’t mind bad stories if I deserve them.” The president failed to note that he included such major organizations as the New York Times, NBC News, ABC, CBS and CNN as part of the “FAKE NEWS media.”

Several prominent journalists have responded to Trump’s speech on Twitter:

Comments