WASHINGTON – President Trump blasted negative news reports about his trip Tuesday to Pittsburgh, suggesting he had been mishandled by the “left-wing media.”
“Yesterday’s visit to Pittsburgh was about coming together as a nation to comfort and to heal,” Trump began, talking to the crowd gathered at his Fort Myers, Florida, campaign rally Wednesday night.
“After this day of unity and togetherness, I came home and sadly turned on the news and watched as the far-left media used tragedy to sow anger and division.”
The crowd responded by chanting, “CNN sucks!”
News reports on Trump’s quick trip to the steel city — to pay homage to the 11 victims of Saturday’s Tree of Life Synagogue massacre — contained the context that Pittsburgh’s mayor, Democrat Bill Peduto, had said on CNN that he wished the president would postpone his journey for several days so the murdered could be buried.
There was also coverage of the nearby protests that coincided with Trump’s visit. City residents also griped that Trump’s motorcade had made the city’s congested rush hour even worse.
Trump suggested coverage of the protests was especially unfair.
“Sadly, they took a small group of protesters, far away from where we were – because we could not have been treated better, the first lady and myself,” Trump complained.
“But we’re representing the presidency, and they did everything in their power to try and play it up and push people apart.”
“It was fake and it was make-believe what they said,” he continued.
“I came home. Looked forward to seeing it. And it was sad,” the president added.
The president had previewed his objections in a tweet sent out earlier Wednesday.
“Melania and I were treated very nicely yesterday in Pittsburgh. The office of the President was shown great respect on a very sad & solemn day. We were treated so warmly. Small protest was not seen by us, staged far away.” Trump wrote.
“The Fake News stories were just the opposite-Disgraceful!”
At the rally, Trump broadened the attack, suggesting the media was also shortchanging the president’s base.
“The far-left media has spread terrible lies and stories about the Trump administration and the tens of millions of people who make up our movement,” Trump told the crowd, calling them “the greatest political movement in the history of our country.”
He revised that statement making his supporters an even bigger deal, suggesting they comprised the “greatest political movement anywhere.”
“But the media doesn’t want to hear your story,” he said. “And that’s why 33 percent of the people in this country believe the fake news is, in fact – and I hate to say this – the ‘enemy of the people.’”