The first
gripe came three minutes into President Donald Trump's first solo news conference
on Thursday, when he accused reporters of ignoring a poll showing him
with a 55
percent approval rating - a figure at odds with most other surveys.
From there,
the president's criticism of the media went from barbed to personal in a
cutting assessment of what he viewed as unfair coverage of his first few weeks
in office - a period that has seen a succession of crises.
On a day when
he ceded a loss over a signature policy in a federal appeals court, had to
replace his labor secretary pick and faced questions over the resignation of
his national security adviser, Trump chose to make the media a central focus of
an unusually long and combative presidential news conference.
When asked by
journalists of contacts between his presidential campaign and Russian
operatives, he deflected the questions and put the focus instead on what he
described as "illegal" government leaks and "dishonest"
media coverage.
"The
press is out of control," he said. "The level of dishonesty is out of
control,"
After weeks of
disclosures in newspapers over turmoil in his administration, he told one
reporter to "sit down" for a rambling question.
"Tomorrow,
they will say: 'Donald Trump rants and raves at the press,'" Trump said.
"I'm not ranting and raving. I'm just telling you. You know, you're
dishonest people. But I'm not ranting and raving. I love this. I'm having a
good time
doing
it."
Trump's
message in the 77-minute session appeared aimed at the same voters who elected
him president last November, a large number of whom feel Washington has left
them behind and who like his image as an outsider trying to shake up the
establishment.
He sought to
cast problems buffeting the White House as "the mess" he inherited
from former Democratic President Barack Obama, and boasted about the
"fine-tuned administration" he is running.
In one unusual
exchange near the end of the news conference, Trump called on a questioner,
asking if he was "a friendly reporter."
When the
journalist asked about recent threats to 48 Jewish centers across the country
and signs of rising anti-Semitism, Trump appeared to take the question
personally, replying: "I am the least anti-Semitic person that you've ever
seen in your entire life."
He added he
was also the "least racist person," told the reporter to be
"quiet," accused him of lying and then dismissed the question as
"insulting."
'HOW DOES
PRESS GET THIS INFORMATION?'
Most opinion
polls show Trump struggling with low approval numbers less than a month into
his presidency. A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted Feb. 10 to 14 gave Trump a 46
percent approval rating.
While many
presidencies have started off on rocky ground, Trump's administration has been
particularly marked by controversies, fights with the media and a legal battle
over an executive order to ban people temporarily from seven Muslim-majority
countries.
"I turn
on the TV and open the newspapers and I see stories of chaos, chaos. And yet,
it is the exact opposite," Trump said.
Trump waved
away questions about a New York Times report that members of his campaign team
had frequent contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials last year.
His main
complaint was that the news media had uncovered leaks about intercepted
communications between Michael Flynn, ousted this week as national security
adviser and Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergei Kisylak, and leaks
about his own conversations with the leaders of Mexico and Australia.
"The
first thing I thought of, how does the press get this information?" he
asked.
REUTERS
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