Trump: Media ‘lunatics’

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday launched a fresh attack on the news media, writing in tweets that it consists of many “crazed lunatics,” and again invoked the derogatory term “enemy of the people.”

“With all of the success that our Country is having, including the just released jobs numbers which are off the charts, the Fake News & totally dishonest Media concerning me and my presidency has never been worse,” Trump said in the first of the tweets. “Many have become crazed lunatics who have given up on the TRUTH!”

It was not clear what provoked Trump’s tweets.

But a couple of hours later, Trump was back on Twitter, taking issue with a New York Times story that reported that his national security adviser, John Bolton, had rolled back Trump’s decision to rapidly withdraw U.S. troops from Syria.

In earlier tweets Monday, Trump asserted, without citing any specifics, that the “Fake News” knowingly lies and makes up sources to make him look bad.

“The Fake News Media in our Country is the real Opposition Party,” Trump said. “It is truly the Enemy of the People! We must bring honesty back to journalism and reporting!”

Trump has described the news media as the “enemy of the people” in 18 tweets since June.

He has said about 80 percent of the media falls into that category.