President Donald Trump’s obsession with cable news has been evident since before he moved into the White House. But this week, one of the most powerful men in the planet has launched an all-out war against several networks and anchors. Even though his tweets, particularly his misogynist utterances against Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski were widely criticized by pretty much everyone across the political spectrum, Trump made clear Saturday he sees no reason to tone things down.
The president appears to have woken up angry at the media Saturday as he sent out three tweets in quick succession about cable news channels. The rampage started with Trump writing that Greta Van Susteren was “was let go by her out of control bosses at @NBC & @Comcast because she refused to go along w/ ‘Trump hate!’” The tweet came after word that MSNBC got rid of the former Fox News host less than six months after she started at the cable channel.
Trump went on to attack another of his favorite cable news targets: CNN. The president said he was “extremely pleased” that CNN “has finally been exposed as #FakeNews and garbage journalism.” Trump’s tweet came a day after a report by Page Six that CNN “flew into a panic on Friday after it accidentally aired a fake National Enquirer cover.” It also comes after the cable news channel retracted a story about ties between the Trump transition team and Russia.
And then, shortly thereafter, Trump once again went after Morning Joe co-hosts Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough. He called Scarborough “crazy” and Brzezinski “dumb as a rock” but insisted they “are not bad people.” Still, “their low rated show is dominated by their NBC bosses. Too bad!”
This marked the third day in a row that Trump has demonstrated how he is obsessed with a cable news show that he claims he doesn’t watch and insists has low ratings. It began Thursday when Trump said Brzezinski was “bleeding badly from a face lift” when she and Scarborough “insisted on joining” Trump at Mar-a-Lago around New Year’s Eve. Then when Scarborough and Brzezinski said Trump blackmailed them over a National Enquirer story, the president once again criticized the pair on Friday, saying he rejected their request to kill a piece in the tabloid.
The Washington Post reported on Friday that sesveral members of Trump’s administration were none too happy about the president’s growing fight with the Morning Joe co-hosts because it has garnered more attention than the criticism of CNN, “which seemed in their eyes to have clearer villains and heroes.”
