President Trump, while speaking today with David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network, agreed with chief strategist Steve Bannon’s description of the news media as “the opposition party,” expressing displeasure about “the dishonesty, the total deceit and deception” he sees in the media.
“I think to a large extent they are much more capable than the other side,” he said. “I think the media is the opposition party in many ways. And I think that—and I’m not talking about all media, I know people, like yourself, but I know people in the media that I have tremendous respect for, I respect them as much as anybody so I’m not talking about everybody, but a big portion of the media—the dishonesty, the total deceit and deception makes them certainly, partially, the opposition party, absolutely. I think they’re much more capable than the opposition party.”
Trump said that “the media is a disgrace” and “on the opposition party’s side,” arguing that he was able to overcome media hostility in the election because he has “a voice that people understand.”
He claimed that The New York Times “lost a lot of subscriptions” due to its coverage of his campaign; in reality, the newspaper has gained subscribers since the election.
Previously, Trump has threatened to “open up the libel laws” in order to sue journalists, referred to members of the press as “scum” and said that New York Times writers “don’t know how to write good.”
