Trump took to Twitter Sunday to refresh his attacks on the U.S. media he staunchly criticized in the past for being a source of “fake news” and “enemy of the people.”
Trump’s Latest Tweetstorm
In a series of recent tweets, he accused the U.S. media of fabricating the so-called White House leaks. The president believes that “many of the leaks” represent “fabricated lies” by the U.S. press. He warned his supporters to be wary of any news articles that use the phrase “sources say” without giving the names of those sources.
It is my opinion that many of the leaks coming out of the White House are fabricated lies made up by the #FakeNews media.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2017
He added that the sources may be made up too before he labeled the media as “the enemy”.
….it is very possible that those sources don’t exist but are made up by fake news writers. #FakeNews is the enemy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2017
However, the president fails to understand how news reporting works in America. It is worth noting that the main source that led to the Watergate scandal was somebody nicknamed “Deep Throat”. Moreover, many politicians make anonymous statements when they want to communicate with the public. Even Trump did that at least once when he quoted himself as his own anonymous source who went under the name of “John Barron”.
Trump Sending Mixed Signals
However, his Sunday tweetstorm shows that the president’s stance on the troubling White House leaks is very contradictory. Earlier this year, he instructed the freshly-minted U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to start an investigation into the leaks. Last week, however, Trump said he has doubts the leakers even exist as the leaks are “fabricated lies” by journalists.
“Anonymous sources” led to the downfall of his former national security adviser Michael Flynn when they leaked explosive info about his secret meetings with Russian officials. So, did the Trump administration ousted a senior government official based on made-up news reports?
Image Source: Defense.gov
