‘Crazed lunatics’: Trump attacks the news media
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 broadside. A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a question about what prompted the president’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. Bolton told reporters in Israel that American forces would remain in Syria until the last remnants of the Islamic State were defeated.
Trump claimed that Bolton’s comments were no different from his original withdrawal announcement last month, writing that the United States “will be leaving at a proper pace” and “continuing to fight ISIS and doing all else that is prudent and necessary!” ISIS is another name for the Islamic State.
Last month, Trump justified his plans to withdraw about 2,000 troops from Syria by saying the Islamic State had been defeated.