Is Donald Trump losing his ongoing war with the press?
A recent poll has revealed that more people now trust CNN, which Trump has repeatedly attacked, over the president, who may be failing to convince Americans that mainstream media outlets are purveyors of “fake news” who are out to get him and his administration.
Donald Trump’s relationship with the media became increasingly turbulent during his campaign. However, since being elected president and moving into the White House, Trump has ramped up his attacks against the press and has regularly ranted on Twitter about CNN and other networks.
On Saturday, Trump seemed particularly unable to rein in his anger over those whom he seems to believe are biased against him. He escalated a feud with Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, calling Scarborough “crazy” and Brzezinski “ dumb as a rock .” This was a follow-up to his Twitter outburst on Thursday morning, during which he called Brzezinski “ low I.Q. ” and “crazy,” and said that she was “ bleeding badly from a face-lift ” during a visit to Mar-a-Lago. In the same tweet, Trump called Scarborough “Psycho Joe.”
The president, who was once friendly with the Morning Joe hosts, seemed to have been set off by a Thursday morning segment in which the two talked about the fake Time magazine covers that reportedly grace the walls of several Trump properties. During that day’s show, Scarborough and Brzezinski also said that Trump is “destroying the country.”
Trump may have broken the law if he really did threaten “Morning Joe” hosts with a “National Enquirer” story https://t.co/ipljpuZuiv pic.twitter.com/OebBLWrNWH
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) July 2, 2017
Following his Twitter tirades, the Morning Joe hosts hit back with a Washington Post op-ed in which they suggested that the president is “ unwell .”
Then, on Sunday, President Donald Trump set his sights on CNN, tweeting a video of himself wrestling with a person on whose head the CNN logo was superimposed. The clip received instant backlash, with CNN itself slamming Trump for his “ juvenile behavior .”
#FraudNewsCNN #FNN pic.twitter.com/WYUnHjjUjg
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 2, 2017
Despite his efforts, Trump seems to be losing his war with the media. In a poll by SurveyMonkey, the majority of respondents found CNN to be more trustworthy than the president. Of the 4,965 people polled between June 29 and July 3, 50 percent said that they trusted CNN more than Trump, 43 percent chose the president, and 7 percent were uncertain.
Unsurprisingly, 89 percent of Republicans chose Trump, while 91 percent of Democrats chose CNN. However, among independents, 55 percent answered that they trusted CNN more, and only 40 percent picked the president.
‘CNN’ responds to Trump’s Twitter attack: ‘Almost as painful as having to call him president’ https://t.co/pm6ixwVgQK pic.twitter.com/B5iC3Uyefc
— Raw Story (@RawStory) July 4, 2017
SurveyMonkey’s Jon Cohen told Axios that the poll matters because it shows how Donald Trump’s feud with the press has divided Americans.
“The fight… between the White House and major media outlets has made the question of truthfulness just as partisan-tinged as health care or other policies.”
[Featured Image by Olivier Douliery/Getty Images]