The big picture: His tweetstorm comes after continued attacks on Google and other Big Tech giants for allegedly silencing conservative voices. For Trump, it’s not just “Fake News” anymore — he’s waging a war on fake everything.
Fake news
- CNN: “The hatred and extreme bias of me…has clouded their thinking and made them unable to function.”
- On CNN President Jeff Zucker: “Little Jeff Z has done a terrible job, his ratings suck, AT&T should fire him to save credibility!”
- NBC: “What’s going on at @CNN is happening…at other networks – with @NBCNews being the worst.”
- On NBC News Chairman Andy Lack: “Andy Lack(y) is about to be fired (?) for incompetence, and much worse.”
Trump also accused NBC News’ Lester Holt of “fudging my tape” of the May 2017 interview where Trump pinned his firing of FBI Director James Comey on “this Russia thing.”
- NBC News posted video of Trump’s extended, unedited interview with Holt last year.
He tweeted on Thursday that his daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner “had NOTHING to do with the so called ‘pushing out’ of Don McGahn. The Fake News Media…love to portray chaos in the White House.”
- The backdrop: Trump himself confirmed Axios’ reporting that McGahn was leaving, but the Washington Post reported that the move came amid tensions between McGahn and Javanka.
Fake books
Think Omarosa and Michael Wolff, who both needled Trump with books loaded with juicy criticism. Trump went after the media in January after Wolff’s book was released, saying the continued coverage “[promoted] the Fake Book of a deranged author.”
Fake Google searches
Trump went after Google by name on Tuesday, saying the site has been “RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD.”
Fake social media
Trump is working to convince his supporters that social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are not to be trusted, according to Axios’ Mike Allen. Trump claimed yesterday that Big Tech is “trying to silence a very large part of the country.”
Disclosure: NBC is an investor in Axios and NBC News Chairman Andy Lack is on our board of directors.
