An emboldened President Trump held a rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., yesterday evening. During the rally, he slammed Democratic members of Congress and the mainstream media.
But he also praised the media. At least one outlet.
While on stage, he talked about Fox News ratings for the week to-date, while insulting CNN and MSNBC. He noted that the Mueller probe has given Fox News a lift. For the record, the President is not wrong. FNC has been up year-over-year this week –Monday through Wednesday– and has been delivering its largest audiences in weeks. CNN and MSNBC, on the other hand, have been down a bit when compared with their figures from prior to the release of the summary.
In addition to giving a shout out to the network’s ratings (the network is almost guaranteed to finish the week as the most-watched cable network), the president reportedly referred to certain FNC opinion hosts as “our friends” – including Tucker Carlson, Hannity, and Laura Ingraham – and remarked they had ratings that were “through the roof last night.”
Indeed, Hannity’s on-air phoner with the President on Wednesday drew 4.3 million total viewers, more than many broadcast shows.
One wonders if he gets his ratings updates from TVNewser…(OK, probably not, but you never know?)
The president also reportedly praised
From a purely politics standpoint, the president “total vindication” and “the Russia hoax is dead,” in light of Attorney General Barr’s four-page summary of the Mueller report, which states that there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia when it came to the 2016 presidential election. Mueller’s full report has yet to be released.
According to NBC News reporter Jonathan Allen figures in the media and Congress “have to be accounted” (not sure exactly what that means), and the crowd came up with a new chant:
At the Trump rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., just now, the president said several members of Congress, the media and government officials involved in investigating him “have to be accounted.”
Crowd chants “Lock them up.”
No investigations. No trials. No juries. Just imprisonment.— Jonathan Allen (@jonallendc) March 28, 2019
According to the New York Times’ Katie Rogers and Mark Landler, security was tighter at last night’s rally than usual… “more visible security personnel and sturdier barriers between the press and the audience. In El Paso, reporters were seated in the stands, unprotected from the crowd…”