Donald Trump Defends Tone: ‘Hostile Press’ Treats Me ‘Worse than Lincoln’

US President Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire on February 1
JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump on Sunday defended his hostile tone with the press during a Fox News town hall at the Lincoln Memorial.

One woman from New Jersey challenged Trump’s tone in a video question provided by Fox News moderators Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.

“Please let go of those behaviors that are turning people away from you,” she said, criticizing his tone in the press briefings.

Trump smiled at the question but said he has to continue fighting off a hostile press.

“I am greeted with a hostile press, the likes of which no president has ever seen,” Trump said.

Pointing to the statue of Abraham Lincoln, Trump recalled that he also got terrible press.

“They always said Lincoln — nobody got treated worse than Lincoln. I believe I am treated worse,” Trump said.

Trump said he has to fight with the press or they will destroy him.

“I feel like if I was kind to them, I’d be walked off the stage,” he said, pointing to their “horrible, horrendous, biased, questions.”

The president said that 94-95 percent of his press is hostile, while parts of the country continue to support him.

“I’m standing up there and instead of a normal question, the level of anger and hatred. I’ll look at them. I’ll say, ‘what is your problem?'” he said.

Trump said the media will continue to be hostile no matter what he does.

“The media, they might as well be in the Democrat party,” Trump said.

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