Cuomo: Trump calling media ‘enemy of the people’ an admission he ‘hates’ US

CNN host Chris Cuomo laid into President Trump on Thursday for calling the media the “real enemy of the people” after his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, describing it as an admission that the president hates America. 

“This is ugly and it is unoriginal,” Cuomo said on “Cuomo Prime Time.” “But most importantly, it is an admission that you hate your country.”

Cuomo then laid out his case for the argument, pointing to the example of how the statement “real enemy of the people” was used as an “operative threat to murder the opposition during the French Revolution.”

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He also detailed how dictators such as Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong used the phrase to support their agendas. 

“America, the country you lead, was formed in defiance of strongmen, bullies and the idea that might makes right,” Cuomo said. “A free press is a metaphor for what makes America great, so you have now admitted that you are against what we are all about.”

He then concluded by asking “Do you really think the people will keep a president who hates what their country is all about?”

Cuomo’s comments came in response to a tweet from Trump on Thursday in which he said “The Summit with Russia was a great success, except with the real enemy of the people, the Fake News Media.” 

That statement came as Trump deals with widespread scrutiny from Democratic and Republican lawmakers for his comments made at a joint press conference with Putin. In the Monday press conference, Trump refused to denounce Russia for interference in the 2016 presidential election. 

The White House and Trump have attempted to walk back those comments, with Trump saying on Tuesday that he misspoke and that he supports the assessment of the U.S. intelligence community, but he noted it could be “other people” as well. 

The president went on to say in an interview with CBS that aired Wednesday that he held Putin responsible for Russian meddling.