President Trump on Friday doubled down on his claim that the ”fake news” media was to blame for outbreaks of extremist violence plaguing the US.
“You’re creating violence by your question. The fake news is creating violence!” the president said as he was leaving the White House for a MAGA rally in West Virginia.
“A lot of reporters are creating violence by not writing the truth. If the media would write correctly and accurately and fairly, you’d have a lot less violence in the country,” he added, without further explanation.
Trump tried to pin the blame on the media after one of his supporters mailed pipe bombs to Democrats and the news outlet CNN, and after an anti-immigrant loon murdered 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.
“There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news. The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People, must stop the open & obvious hostility & report the news accurately & fairly,” he tweeted late last month.
“That will do much to put out the flame of Anger and Outrage and we will then be able to bring all sides together in Peace and Harmony. Fake News Must End!”
Democrats and other critics, meanwhile, have blamed the president’s harsh and divisive language for emboldening violent extremists.