Recently, President Donald Trump caught people’s attention when he called out journalist Ashley Parker on his social media platform, Truth Social. He claimed she didn’t acknowledge that he’s “won the presidency three times.” What’s happening with Parker isn’t the first time Trump’s had a tiff with the media since he’s been back in office.
Trump keeps saying he won the presidency thrice, but that’s not just factually wrong but also unconstitutional, as no US President can serve three terms in office. He won once in 2016 when he was up against Hillary Clinton and again in 2024 when he beat Kamala Harris. But in 2020, Trump didn’t win; Joe Biden did. Despite this, he also goes on and on about winning that year.
In his post, he said, “To this date, she doesn’t even know that I won the Presidency THREE times” and called Parker out, saying she can’t get the hang of “the intricacies of high-level politics.”
Ashley Parker is a highly regarded journalist who’s been doing great work with The Atlantic, and she’s got three Pulitzer Prizes to show for it. But when she asked to sit down for an interview with Trump, he basically told her to take a hike, calling her a “Radical Left Lunatic.” This shows how much Trump doesn’t like reporters who don’t just nod along with what he says.
The president’s words fit a bigger picture of being unfriendly to the news. Since he got back in charge, Trump has talked about taking some news places and writers to court for using people who don’t say their names. He’s even stopped some reporters from going to essential things at the White House and called big news channels like MSNBC and CNN names, saying they’re the “political arms of the Democrat Party”. This not-so-nice attitude is part of his plan to make people not trust the news and think about what he wants them to believe.
Trump’s dealings with the media have always been pretty rocky. During his initial time in office, he had a knack for calling the press “fake news” and saying they were working against the American public. His latest spat with Parker reminds us of earlier tiffs, like when he accused The Atlantic of twisting his words about our troops during a trip to France in 2018.
Despite his denials, even his former right-hand man, John Kelly, confirmed that he did say those controversial things in 2023.
Former President Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, is speaking out about what he sees as the dangers of a second Trump term. @GarrettHaake reports on the details. pic.twitter.com/x1R2ygOPzP
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) October 23, 2024
Trump’s rhetoric here is really important. When he goes after certain reporters and news outlets, he tries to make people not trust stories that don’t agree with him. This way of doing things makes many folks worry about freedom of the press and how important it is for journalists to do their jobs where everyone can share their ideas without getting into trouble.
People have had all sorts of reactions to what Trump has been saying lately. His fans think it’s okay for him to go after the media like that, but others are worried because they feel it could mess with the idea of a free press. The Atlantic, the magazine he talked about, hasn’t said much about it officially, but folks from other news places have said they will keep doing their job right.
What Donald Trump’s been saying about Ashley Parker is just one piece of his bigger fight with the media. He keeps twisting things about his time running for office and putting down reporters, and that’s a big part of how free the press even is.
