Trump blames ‘Fake News’ for country’s anger: ‘The true Enemy of the People’

President Trump on Monday blamed what he deems unfair media coverage for causing “great anger” in the country in the wake of a violent week that saw a spate of mail bombs and a shooting that killed 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

The president said in a pair of tweets that the “Fake News Media” is “the true Enemy of the People,” reviving a derisive term for the press less than a week after an explosive device was mailed to CNN’s New York City offices.

{mosads}”There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news. The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People, must stop the open & obvious hostility & report the news accurately & fairly,” Trump wrote on Twitter.

“That will do much to put out the flame of Anger and Outrage and we will then be able to bring all sides together in Peace and Harmony,” he added.

There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news. The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People, must stop the open & obvious hostility & report the news accurately & fairly. That will do much to put out the flame…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2018

….of Anger and Outrage and we will then be able to bring all sides together in Peace and Harmony. Fake News Must End!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2018

CNN said another suspicious package had been intercepted in Atlanta on Monday morning. Police arrested a suspect in the package bombings, which also targeted a number of prominent Democrats, on Friday.

The tweets criticizing the media were among several punchy messages Trump sent on Monday. 

Trump called Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum a “thief” in another tweet, and in a fourth message he said a caravan of immigrants headed through Mexico to the U.S. border represented “an invasion” of the country.

Gillum is running in a tight contest against a Trump favorite, former Rep. Ron DeSantis, in Florida’s governor contest. Trump is headed to Florida on Wednesday to hold a rally in the state.

Race has been a part of the heated contest between DeSantis and Gillum, who is black. Gillum has been drawn into a corruption investigation related to his administration, and has come under scrutiny after records showed he accepted a ticket to the musical “Hamilton” from an undercover FBI agent who he believed was a local developer.

The president does not have a crowded public schedule on Monday, which often leads to him tweeting throughout the day against his favorite targets. 

Trump often derides negative coverage of his administration as “fake news” and has escalated his attacks in recent months, describing the media as the “enemy of the people.” Earlier this month, he praised Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.) for body-slamming a reporter last year.

The president has repeatedly lashed out at the media and his critics in recent days, undercutting his own calls for unity following the shooting at the Pittsburgh synagogue and the package bombings.

Authorities on Friday charged Cesar Sayoc Jr. with addressing more than a dozen explosive devices to former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, Bill and Hillary Clinton and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), among others. Each intended target has spoken out against the president, and Trump has criticized each person.

The next day, Robert Gregory Bowers was arrested after police said he opened fire in the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, killing 11 people and wounding six.

Trump condemned both attacks and has vowed that he will not allow political violence to take root in the country.

Democrats and the president’s critics have suggested that the president’s rhetoric has further inflamed the country’s divisions, pointing to his attacks on the Democratic Party as an “angry mob” and the chants of “CNN sucks” and “lock her up” that mark his campaign rallies, referring to Hillary Clinton.

The tweets on Monday led Democrats and other critics of Trump to double down on their criticism.

Trump told reporters before departing for a rally last Friday that he felt he had been restrained in his rhetoric, rejecting calls to tone it down amid the bomb scares.

“I could really tone it up because, as you know, the media’s been extremely unfair to me and to the Republican Party,” Trump said.