OPINION:
President Donald Trump touched a media nerve in Arizona — and how.
Members of the supposed celebrated Fourth Estate tore into the president, post-Phoenix, adopting a “how dare he!” approach to deal with their bruised egos.
Fact is: Trump may not be the most nuanced of speakers, but his accusatory rant against the press, while lengthy, contained nuggets of truth. The media has covered this White House administration in watchdog-turned-pitbull ways it never would have dreamed during the Barack Obama era.
Russia collusion, anyone?
But here’s some media reaction — or, thin-skinned overreaction, perhaps — to Trump’s speech.
“This was a hateful, derisive speech,” blasted MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, the Hill noted. “It was a frightening speech.”
And this, from CNN’s Ana Navarro: Trump must have “dementia.”
And this, from CNN’s Don Lemon: “He’s unhinged. It’s embarrassing. … His speech was without thought, it was without reason, it was devoid of facts, it was devoid of wisdom, it was devoid of gravitas. There was no sanity there.”
And this, from Democratic strategist Maria Cardona: “He might be psychologically demented and ill of the mind.”
And this, from the conservative of The Washington Post’s editorial pages, Jennifer Rubin: “[Trump’s speech was] horrifying, dishonest and raises issue of mental stability.”
But what did Trump say that gave rise to such criticisms?
Only what he’s said before — but with both barrels blasting. He called the press “damned dishonest” and accused the “fake news and the crooked media” of causing “the division in our country.”
He went on — and on and on about it, which is maybe the reason for the media’s all-courts-press to react so harshly. But once again, peel back the layers of criticism Trump delivered and it’s true — the media has been vicious and over-the-top in its coverage of this administration.
Trump may be mocked and rebuked for his frequent use of Twitter. But truly, if he didn’t turn to the social media platform on a daily basis, his views, his real views, might never even make it into the public square.
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