UPDATE: Trump continued to go after TV newsers yesterday, deep into the 11 p.m. ET hour:
Impossible to believe that @FoxNews has hired @donnabrazile, the person fired by @CNN (after they tried to hide the bad facts, & failed) for giving Crooked Hillary Clinton the questions to a debate, something unimaginable. Now she is all over Fox, including Shep Smith, by far….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 8, 2019
Advertisement
….their lowest rated show. Watch the @FoxNews weekend daytime anchors, who are terrible, go after her big time. That’s what they want – but it sure is not what the audience wants!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 8, 2019
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
President Trump went on a Twitter rampage this evening, attacking a number of news networks and specific media figures.
Watching @FoxNews weekend anchors is worse than watching low ratings Fake News @CNN, or Lyin’ Brian Williams (remember when he totally fabricated a War Story trying to make himself into a hero, & got fired. A very dishonest journalist!) and the crew of degenerate……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 7, 2019
…..Comcast (NBC/MSNBC) Trump haters, who do whatever Brian & Steve tell them to do. Like CNN, NBC is also way down in the ratings. But @FoxNews, who failed in getting the very BORING Dem debates, is now loading up with Democrats & even using Fake unsourced @nytimes as….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 7, 2019
…a “source” of information (ask the Times what they paid for the Boston Globe, & what they sold it for (lost 1.5 Billion Dollars), or their old headquarters building disaster, or their unfunded liability? @FoxNews is changing fast, but they forgot the people who got them there!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 7, 2019
When Trump has gone after Fox News in the past, he’ll criticize personalities from the network’s news operation. This includes the network’s Saturday and Sunday afternoon news anchors, in addition to Shepard Smith and Chris Wallace.
This particular tweet was posted at 7:50 p.m. ET, during a re-run of Fox News Sunday. Dana Perino was filling in for Wallace, and had interviewed Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bennet earlier in the hour.
Perhaps it had to do with something Sen. Bennet said. Or perhaps it was something said before the h0ur-long Sunday public affairs show. Fox Report with Jon Scott airs in the 6 p.m ET hour, and America’s News HQ airs in the 4 p.m. hour.
What could really have set the president off may have been something said earlier in the day, towards the end of the 12 p.m. hour. At around 12:50 p.m. ET, Fox News weekend anchor Arthel Neville threw to Fox News correspondent Greg Palkot at a sports bar in Lyon, France -where the Women’s World Cup was taking place- for reactions from American ex-pats who were watching the U.S.’ 2-0 win over the Netherlands.
While Palkot was reporting, a loud chant of “Fuck Trump!” broke out in the bar, with a man and woman shouting into his mic, “Democrats! U.S.A Democrats!” and “Get that racist out of the White House!”
In addition to attacking Fox News, the president levied his usual insults at CNN and the New York Times. He also went after Brian Williams (something I’m not sure he done before as president) and two high-ranking executives at Comcast. We can only assume “Brian” in the above tweet is in reference to Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, and “Steve” is in reference to NBCUniversal chief executive Steve Burke.