BRIAN STELTER (HOST): First this comment. The American press is stronger than any demagogue, but President [Donald] Trump's attacks do present real challenges. That's what today's program is about. For as long as I've been alive and for as long as you've been alive, no leader of the free world has publicly spoken this way about the press.

 

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STELTER: Poison. That's what it is. It's a verbal form of poison meant to affect your view of the media world, meant to harm news organizations. Notice what Trump was doing with this tweet -- this now famous tweet from Friday, you saw it. It says, “the fake news media, failing New York Times, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American people.” He was singling out specific news outlets as enemies, including this one. He wasn't talking about the entire press. He was talking about those five. And he wasn't saying they are his enemy but your enemy, maybe trying to drive another wedge between the sources he likes and the sources he dislikes. Maybe he was also just trying to distract us.

Previously:

30 Of Trump’s Attacks On The Media From His Unhinged Press Conference

The Trump Administration's War On The Press

Right-Wing Media Figures Loved Donald Trump's Unhinged Press Conference And Assault On The Press