Trump opens up with media salvo
‘WE WON’T LET FAKE NEWS TELL US WHAT TO DO’ Revised order on immigration to be tabled this week.
President Donald Trump, after a rocky first month in office, returned to the campaign trail on Saturday to deliver another attack on the media and tout his White House accomplishments in the friendly atmosphere of a rally with his supporters.
Landing on Air Force One as the sun set near a hangar filled with thousands of people, Trump revelled in the crowd and listed promises he had kept, including starting the process of building a wall on the US border with Mexico, deporting “bad people,” and pulling the country out of a trade agreement with Asian nations.
“Life is a campaign. Making our country great again is a campaign,” he told reporters.
The businessman-turned-politican told the crowd he wanted to speak to them without the filter of “fake news,” his standard critique of journalists and media organisations that cover him.
“I’m here because I want to be among my friends and among the people,” he said. “We are not going to let the fake news tell us what to do, how to live, or what to believe.”
His short tenure has been marked by turmoil over an executive order limiting immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries and the resignation of his national security adviser.
The abrupt departure of Michael Flynn followed revelations that he had discussed US sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador to the United States before Trump took office and misled Vice-President Mike Pence about the conversations.
Members of the audience expressed delight in Trump’s performance in office.
“I want him to know we support him,” said Carmela Rocheleau, 33, a registered nurse from Port St Lucie, Florida, who attended Trump’s rally.
“Everybody is going against him and I want him to know we care about all the hard work he’s doing because it seems like everybody attacks him for anything and nobody shows him any good credit,” she said.
At one point, Trump also read aloud the federal statute at issue in the litigation challenging his immigration order, while again criticising the appellate panel that blocked its enforcement.
He pledged a revised order would come in a matter of days.
“We don’t give up,” Trump said. “We never give up.” –