America’s media consumer in chief awoke at his Palm Beach, Florida manse Monday and offered a tart sunrise tweet about press coverage of himself.
I call my own shots, largely based on an accumulation of data, and everyone knows it. Some FAKE NEWS media, in order to marginalize, lies!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 6, 2017
The latest catalyst was not a great challenge to surmise. By the time he fulminated, several of the cable TV shows had criticized him on various matters, while The New York Times offered a front-page story on early fumbling and lack of organization among a very green White House upper echelon.
MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” included co-host Joe Scarborough claiming he was twice on the verge of positive columns about Trump when, bingo, the president did something he thought was pretty stupid and prompted him to change editorial course.
In particular, there was an interview with Fox’s Bill O’Reilly where O’Reilly tried to temper Trump’s praise of Russian’s Vladimir Putin by noting that Putin was a “killer.”
“There are a lot of killers. We gotta lotta killers. You think our country is so innocent?” Trump responded to O’Reilly.
MSNBC’s Scarborough had called it “baffling” and a simply outrageous comparison.
CNN’s “New Day” dissected the same interview, which also include Trump’s latest revised rationale for claiming millions of illegal votes were cast against him in the presidential election. He now prefers focusing on “registration rolls,” which has nothing to do with the claims of illegal votes, as noted by CNN’s political director David Chalian.
Trump is clearly conscious of coverage in The New York Times, his hometown paper, and one he both derides and clearly seeks an air of legitimacy from. He wouldn’t have found the latter Monday, as it used the image of Trump and aides not even being able to turn on the lights in the cabinet room as a symbol of early stumbling.
And, it writes, “one thing has become apparent to both his allies and his opponents: When it comes to governing, speed does not always guarantee success.”
“The bungled rollout of his executive order barring immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries, a flurry of other miscues and embarrassments, and an approval rating lower than that of any comparable first-term president in the history of polling have Mr. Trump and his top staff rethinking an improvisational approach to governing that mirrors his chaotic presidential campaign, administration officials and Trump insiders said.”
There was more and, at some point, it appears, he fought back via Twitter. Perhaps it was Scarborough. Or CNN. Or The Times. His perceived demons are many, his reflex to fight back undiminished by his stunning win.
