Trump spends campaign rally complaining about how he is treated by media amid record-low approval ratings
President Donald Trump went to Nebraska to drum up support for Republican candidates in the midterm elections. Instead, he spent the rally complaining about how he is treated by the media as he struggles with record-low approval ratings.
During his latest campaign stop in a red state as Republicans compete in tight races that they would normally easily win, Trump railed against outlets such as MS NOW.
“We need a fair media. We have some great people in the media, but we have some really terrible ones too,” Trump told his supporters on the Nebraska State Fairgrounds in Grand Island Monday night. “They’ve tried to smear us, to slander us, to persecute us, and demoralize us.”
Trump has intensified his attacks against the mainstream media during his second term, lashing out at female reporters who ask him questions about the Epstein files and the Iran war and trying to ban outlets from the White House for unfavorable coverage.
Last month, Trump announced that CNN, MS NOW and Politico would be barred from covering his daily activities at the White House, calling them “fake news.”
The outlets sued to regain access to the White House, arguing the ban violated their First Amendment rights, and a federal judge subsequently ordered the Trump administration to temporarily reinstate the outlets’ press badges.
But these outlets are still reporting issues with gaining access to the president. Most recently, the White House blocked Politico from traveling with the president on Air Force One Monday.
The White House told The Independent that traveling on Air Force One is a “privilege not a right” and defended Trump as “the most accessible President in American history” who “will continue to grant an unprecedented level of access to the press.”
“Our nation is doing better now than it’s ever done before…But the fake news media refuses to talk about our record-setting numbers,” the president said at his rally, specifically mentioning that Americans’ median household income hit the highest level ever recorded last year.
But the new Census Bureau data comes as the cost of living rises.
The cost of food rose 2.7 percent in August from the year before and energy costs rose 16.3 percent, which was largely driven by Trump’s war in Iran, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index.
Trump’s approval rating slipped to a record low as his administration is dogged by a costly and unpopular war and scrutinized over an immigration crackdown that a significant number of Americans find too aggressive.
Just 32 percent of Americans approved of the job Trump was doing, while a whopping 65 percent disapproved, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Later on in his rally speech, Trump coined a different insult for mainstream news, calling them “artificial media.”
