President Trump targeted two of the nation’s largest newspapers from his Twitter account Saturday morning, lambasting one as “fake news” without explanation as he began his second week in office.
The New York Times and The Washington Post were both mentioned in a tirade launched from the president’s personal @realDonaldTrump account early Saturday as he conducted a caustic yet increasingly customary attack against the press muddled by misspellings and inaccurate accusations.
“The failing @nytimes has been wrong about me from the very beginning. Said I would lose the primaries, then the general election. FAKE NEWS!” Mr. Trump tweeted shortly after 8 a.m.
“Thr coverage about me in the @nytimes and the @washingtonpost gas been so false and angry that the times actually apologized to its […] dwindling subscribers and readers. They got me wrong right from the beginning and still have not changed course, and never will. DISHONEST,” he continued in a couple tweets published moments later.
But the New York Times has not, in fact, apologized for their coverage of the president, and sent a letter to subscribers last year thanking them for their support amid Mr. Trump’s frequent attacks on journalism.
Mr. Trump failed to say which reporting specifically had triggered the outburst, although both newspapers –—among others — prominently featured articles on their websites Saturday morning concerning a broad executive order signed by the president Friday effectively shuttering the nation’s borders to asylum seekers from seven Muslim-majority countries.
Within hours of the order taking effect, the Times reported first that two Iraqi refugees had been detained upon landing in New York City on Friday evening despite being previously authorized to enter the country.
The Times used one of its own Twitter accounts to respond to Mr. Trump’s claims, tweeting: “Fact check: @nytimes subscribers & audience at all-time highs. Supporting independent journalism matters.”
Mr. Trump has targeted both the Post and Times repeatedly in the past over their coverage of his campaign and presidency, although he admitted to the Times earlier this week that he reads both papers as well as the New York Post every morning after starting his day with cable news, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
Earlier this week, Trump advisor Steve Bannon described the mainstream media as the “opposition party” in an interview with the New York Times, adding that the press should “keep its mouth shut” and “listen” more to the American people.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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