President Donald Trump made comments on Twitter attacking the media and “fake news” after CNN and several of his political opponents received pipe bombs in the mail on Wednesday, reports Business Insider .
In addition to the pipe bomb sent to news organization CNN and addressed to CNN contributor and former CIA Director John Brennan, other recipients of the bombs include former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, former Attorney General Eric Holder, California Democrat Maxine Waters, Trump-critic Robert De Niro, and Democratic donor George Soros.
At a campaign rally on Wednesday, Trump stated that the media “has a responsibility to set a civil tone” and to condemn political violence. On Thursday morning, he took to Twitter to imply that the motivations behind the recent violence toward his political opponents have to do with the way the media reports news.
“A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News. It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!”
In the past, Trump has referred to the media as the “enemy of the people,” often behaving dismissively towards journalists and news organizations and calling them “fake news” at every opportunity.
A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News. It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 25, 2018
The Inquisitr reported that CNN Chief Jeff Zucker called Trump out on his behavior towards the media in a statement he gave on Wednesday. CNN is one of the news organizations that Trump attacks the most and many of his supporters have followed in his footsteps.
“There is a total and complete lack of understanding at the White House about the seriousness of their continued attacks on the media. The president, and especially the White House press secretary, should understand their words matter. Thus far, they have shown no comprehension of that.”
After CNN was evacuated due to the pipe bomb, the Trump campaign sent an email condemning the organization and declaring that people needed “to give the media another wake-up call.”
Earlier this week, Trump tweeted a video compilation of Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Hillary Clinton, and former Attorney General Eric Holder all making statements that Trump administration figures and supporters cannot be treated with civility and are not welcome.
In the video, Trump says, “The Democrats don’t like being called an angry mob but really, that is what they’ve become. They’ve gone so far left they can’t even believe they’re over there. They have no idea what’s going on.”
The video was captioned with the hashtag “JobsNotMobs.”
