Trump attacks ‘dishonest’ media in first solo press conference

It was one hour and 17 minutes of-well, I’m not sure quite what.

In a hastily arranged press conference, President Trump has struck out at the media, and defended his administration in a fashion that has been described as bizzare. I was given that information. So what did we learn?

Trump initially set up Thursday’s press conference to announce his nominee for Labor secretary, Alexander Acosta, dean of the Florida International University law school and former U.S. attorney in Florida.

The president also made it personal, telling CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta to “ask [CNN Worldwide President] Jeff Zucker how he got his job, OK?”

And, as is typical with Trump, he maintained a loose grasp on actual facts. The White House has not yet replied to a request for comment.

As Trump likely knows-and Bannon nearly certainly knows-trust in the media is at an all-time low, and according to some estimates, those levels are even lower among conservative voters sympathetic to Trump. In many cases, publications make little distinction. That’s a complex marker of economic success, and it’s unlikely Trump has had any direct influence on that. The blurring of the lines between real journalistic institutions, with professional standards, and fringe blogs is meant to convey to the public Team Trump’s view that the president is lowering the credibility bar for the entire industry. “This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine”.

President Trump “put out a tweet that said CNN is unwatchable, but the reason he knows that is because he is watching”, Mr. Zucker said.

Again, I say it: “There has never been a presidency that’s done so much in such a short period of time”, Trump said. “They are not being intimidated, they are not backing down, they know they have my full support and it is a very exciting time, frankly, to be a journalist at CNN”. He likes the format and likely felt he needed a way to control the conversation.

He has a love-hate relationship with the press. “No, but the tone is such – I do get good ratings, you have to admit that – the tone is such hatred”.

Part of the reason he loves them?

CNN’s Jim Acosta lamented Wednesday that President Donald Trump appeared to be intentionally calling on friendly media outlets in order to avoid hard questions about the controversies clouding over the early days of his administration.

According to a CNN spokeswoman, the White House is incorrect.

On Thursday, he spoke at a press conference, over the media, directly to the American people.

At one point, Trump argued that the information leaked was simultaneously not a big deal and also “fake news” concocted by outlets like CNN.

Trump defended Flynn, saying the retired general did nothing wrong in holding pre-inauguration talks with the Russian ambassador and that he demanded Flynn’s resignation for misleading the vice president.

It seems that the more outspoken and outrageous Mr Trump is, the more he wins approval by those who want their president to be outspoken and outrageous.

While going after and prosecuting government leakers isn’t unusual, especially in former President Barack Obama’s administration, such a public announcement from the President is.