President Donald Trump defied the “so-called mainstream media” on Wednesday, explaining his messaging strategy ahead of the congressional midterm elections.
“The economy’s not covered properly by the so-called mainstream media, and it isn’t,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business host Stuart Varney on Wednesday morning.
Trump surprised Varney, who was in the White House to interview Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney and Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke. The president complimented Varney’s show and gave him an impromptu interview.
He complained that despite the stock market spiking 550 points on Tuesday, it was nearly impossible to find coverage of such good news in the establishment media.
“They didn’t even have it on the major news. You couldn’t find it anywhere, and the economy is doing probably better than it’s ever done in history, and they don’t even talk about [it],” Trump said.
He also pointed out the hypocrisy of the establishment media for asking terrible questions and playing the victim every time he mocks them.
“What’s funny, sometimes I get a really nasty person with a horrible, stupid question from, like CNN, because they’re just so horrible and so fake. … I give them a little jab, and the story is, ‘Trump hits reporter.’”
Trump said his media efforts, including social media, are successful at fighting bad press.
“I don’t call it tweeting. I call it social media,” he said. “I do like it. It’s a form of getting out the truth.”
He said he will not stop using Twitter to push back.
“Look, we have fake news. Everyone’s fake. Not all of them, but some of them, but there’s so much misinformation being put out,” he said. “That’s my only form of communicating, really, other than having a press conference every hour.”
.@realDonaldTrump has stopped by the studio. Tune in!
— Varney & Co. (@Varneyco) October 17, 2018
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