Trump blasts ‘out of control’ media dishonesty

by Ben Kamisar - 02/16/17 1:10 PM ET

President Trump blasted the “out of control” dishonesty of the mainstream media during a Thursday press conference, accusing reporters of distorting facts to help special interests.

“Many of our nation’s reporters and folks will not tell you the truth and will not treat you with the respect you deserve,” Trump said from the White House’s East Room.

{mosads}”Much of the media in Washington, D.C., along with New York, Los Angeles in particular, speaks for the special interests and for those profiting off the obviously very, very broken system. The press has become so dishonest that if we don’t talk about it, we are doing a tremendous disservice to the American people. The press is out of control, the level of dishonesty is out of control.”

Trump later pushed back at reports his administration is in “chaos.”

“I turn on the TV and open the newspaper and sees stories of chaos. Chaos,” Trump said.

“Yet it is the exact opposite. This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine, despite the fact I can’t get my Cabinet approved.”

Trump accused the media of targeting him as retribution for his election victory.

“People came out and voted like they’ve never seen before, that’s the way it goes. I guess it was the biggest Electoral College win since Ronald Reagan,” Trump incorrectly claimed.

“In other words, the media is trying to attack our administration because they know we are following through on pledges we made and they are not happy about it, for whatever reason.”

Trump won 306 electoral votes on election night to Democrat Hillary Clinton’s 232, while Clinton won the popular vote by almost 3 million votes. Since President Ronald Reagan’s blowout victory in 1984, Trump won fewer electoral votes than every president except for George W. Bush.

When pressed by a reporter on the inconsistencies of his remark on his Electoral College win, Trump demurred.

““I was given that information, I don’t know. We had a very, very big margin. I was given that information. Actually I’ve seen that information around, but it was a very substantial victory,” he said.

Obama 12: 332
Obama 08: 365
Clinton 96: 379
Clinton 92: 370
H.W.Bush 88: 426
Reagan 84: 525
Reagan 80: 489
Nixon 72: 520 https://t.co/2GVpEm2zYQ

— Carrie Dann (@CarrieNBCNews) February 16, 2017

Minutes earlier, reading off what appeared to be scripted remarks, Trump lauded a new poll from the conservative-leaning Rasmussen that found he holds a 55 percent approval rating, significantly higher than other recent polls.

As he blasted the media for its low approval rating, Trump said he believes it’s a public good to correct the media.

““There’s nobody I have more respect for, well maybe a little bit, than good reporters. It’s very important to me, especially in this position,” he said.

“I don’t mind bad stories, I can handle a bad story better than anybody, as long as it’s true.”

Joe Concha contributed.

Tags Hillary Clinton