Monday morning, Donald Trump tried to do something he’s done many times before. You’re rewriting history to make yourself look like an understated person.
This time it’s about Trump’s handling of the media, which includes a long history of threats and denigration. “To make America great again, it is very important, if not essential, to have a free, fair and open media or press,” President Trump said in an interview with Fox News Digital. Those comments, at least to anyone who has been paying attention over the past decade, were a stark departure from the president-elect’s record of attacking American journalists just two weeks ago, when he said he wouldn’t care if journalists got shot.
President Trump also said, “We have an obligation to the media to be open and accessible to the American public and to our country, but that will end if we are not treated fairly.” “Media is critical to America’s long-term success.”
These claims are puzzling, considering the efforts the president-elect has made to attack journalists who report critically on him. In fact, it becomes useless. “If you want to make America great, you have to get the news right,” Trump told Fox News the weekend before Election Day, and called reporters who attended a rally later that day “monsters” and “horrible, horrible.” Dishonest people,” my colleague Dan Friedman reported at the time.
An analysis conducted by the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders found that President Trump insulted, attacked, and threatened the media more than 100 times from September to November.
So why has Trump apparently changed his tune in the media? This reportedly came shortly after President Trump met with MSNBC husband-and-wife hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Friday. morning joe. For context, Trump and the hosts go back in time. Scarborough, a former Florida congressman, was known for advising Trump during his first presidential campaign, and the former president would call into influential morning shows to discuss politics and policy. But as Trump’s popularity grew, their relationship soured, the hosts became more critical of his policies, and Trump launched baseless personal attacks on Brzezinski, leading to criticism of him even within his own party.
But Trump appears to have softened his views on the media in general after Scarborough and Brzezinski announced on Monday that the three had met for the first time in seven years.
“We talked about many issues, including abortion, mass deportations, and threats of political retaliation against political opponents and media outlets,” Scarborough said on Monday’s broadcast. “It will come as no surprise to anyone who watches this show that we disagreed on many issues and I told him so.”
Joe and Mika went to Mar a Lago to talk to Trump over the weekend. First face-to-face meeting in 7 years. "We disagreed on many issues and I told him so." @JoeNBC says "What we agreed upon was to restart communication." @Morning Mika says pic.twitter.com/lyWZWK4CwX
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) November 18, 2024
President Trump also described the meeting with Fox News Digital as “very friendly,” adding that they discussed some of his Cabinet nominees. “The meeting ended in a very positive way,” he said, “and we agreed to have further talks.”
Brzezinski’s view – it’s worth talking about to Trump has some advantages for those who have access. In the end, more than 76 million Americans voted for him. However, mainstream journalists have Finished the exam. Trump repeatedly declined invitations to sit down and interview Harris from CBS News and NBC News during the campaign. Instead, Trump gave interviews to right-wing male podcasters. If Trump and his team are serious about respecting the media, they should communicate about the issues respectfully rather than denigrating them.
They can start with us: A Trump campaign spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a list of questions. mother jonesIncluding whether Trump will apologize for saying it was OK for journalists to be shot. whether he will stop calling journalists “fake news” and “enemies of the people”; whether newly appointed press secretary Caroline Leavitt will hold regular news briefings at the White House, unlike in his first term; And what concrete steps Trump will take to improve his relationship with the news media.
It’s ultimately unclear whether Trump’s suddenly friendlier attitude toward the media was due to his MSNBC reunion at Mar-a-Lago. But one thing is certain. You probably won’t trust this product at all.
