President Trump made his animus clear to the basic media organizations. Now it becomes more personal.
Mr Trump and his basic lieutenant, Elon Musk, who has been authorized to execute what they call the Ministry of Government’s efficiency as a “special government official”, have attacked reporters in recent days on the platforms of social media. Owners: Truth social and X.
In the truth of his social account on Friday, Mr Trump invited the Washington Post to Fire Eugene Robinson, a columnist who won the Pulitzer Award, and described him as “incompetent”. Mr Trump often publishes in the account to millions of his fans and regularly condemns enemies.
Mr Robinson had written in an opinion column on Thursday that the top Republican senators “should be ashamed of themselves” because they did not stand in Mr Trump during the confirmation process for some of the cabinet choices and that They do not complain to government departments such as the United States International Development Service, which manages foreign aid programs. Mr Robinson also appeared on “Morning Joe” in MSNBC on Friday to discuss his column.
“So sad that he sees him trying to justify the waste, fraud and corruption in the USAID with his deplorable radical left -wing rotation,” Mr Trump wrote. “It should be fired immediately !!!”
In an email, a position spokesman said: “Eugene Robinson is a columnist who won the Pulitzer award with a 45 -year recording of integrity, professionalism and meticulous references and comments. Journalists and news organizations dedicated to independent coverage and free press. “
Mr Musk targeted a Wall Street Journal researcher Katherine Long. Mrs Long was the first to reveal, in an exhibition in the magazine on Thursday, that Marko Elez, one of Mr Musk’s lieutenants in the Department of Government Efficiency, was linked to a deleted racist social media account that had published statements that They had published like, “You couldn’t pay me to get married outside my nationality.”
Mr Elez resigned after the magazine approached the White House for comments, according to the article. It was Ms Long’s first article in her new work in the magazine.
Mr Musk said in separate answers on Friday that Ms Long was a “disgusting and cruel face” and should have “fired”.
Vice President JD Vance also weighed on X on Friday, saying he disagreed with some of Mr Elez’s positions, but that they should not “destroy a child’s life”. (Mr. Elez is 25 years old.)
“We must not reward reporters trying to destroy people. Always,” Mr. Vance wrote.
The Wall Street Journal did not respond immediately to a request for comments.
“Journalists have a job to do and they should never attack high -ranking government officials for doing so,” said Timothy Richardson, director of journalism and misinformation at PEN America, a non -profit non -profit company.
He added: “Musk’s demand for the journalist’s launch contradicts the self -proclaimed defense of freedom of speech and reveals his hypocrisy.”
Behavior is not new to Mr Trump. In his first term, he often criticizes high -profile journalists, such as CNN’s Jim Acosta, NBC News’s Katy Tur and New York Times Maggie Haberman.
From his inauguration in January, Mr Trump hastened to demonize what he calls “the fake media”. He was promoting a false claim for the truth of his social account this week that government agencies had given “billions of dollars” to news organizations as a “repayment” for the creation of good stories for the Democrats. “
In fact, the reported data showed millions of dollars paid in media subscriptions and professional subscription services.
Mr Trump’s administration said it would cancel some government subscriptions to news organizations as it is trying to reduce government spending. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump’s administration would cancel all government subscriptions. The Times reported on Thursday that the Department of Agriculture had canceled its subscriptions to the Politico Pro, Politico’s professional subscription service, which mentions politics and legislation.
Politico leaders told readers on Thursday that Politico was a private company that had never received government funding.
“The government’s government services do so through typical public procurement procedures – as well as any other tool they buy to work smarter and be more effective,” the statement said.
