President Donald J. Trump has attacked the BBC again, saying they were “just like CNN” before his deputy assistant called the UK’s national broadcaster “pathetic” and “fake news” for its allegedly anti-Trump coverage.
“Here’s another beauty”, Mr. Trump joked after reporter Jon Sopel admitted he was from the BBC during a news conference in which the president accused the mainstream media of being “dishonest”.
“It’s a good line. Impartial, free and fair,” responded Mr. Sopel. “We could banter back and forth”, he added, after Mr. Trump said the BBC was “just like” U.S. broadcaster CNN, which had published grotesque, false claims about the president.
Mr. Trump has hit out at the BBC before, implying they were sabotaging the “special relationship” by accusing him of bigotry at his first press conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May.
The “impartial” BBC used their late-night news show Newsnight to seemingly hit back Thursday night. “Is Donald Trump on the verge of a nervous breakdown?” was the opening line of the show, asking if Mr. Trump was “unhinged” and “weird” and “if it’s as strange as it looks”?
“I think it’s pathetic that the BBC would use words of that nature and also the adjective ‘weird’”, the president’s Deputy Assistant Sebastian Gorka told the show’s presenter. “It’s only weird to journalists like yourself who are biased.”
Mr. Gorka’s interview followed one with CNN correspondent Brian Stelter, who accused the president of “distract and deflect” tactics, “troubling” attacks on the media, and “unpopularity”.
“I mean, Brian Stelter is your authority?” questioned Mr. Gorka. “This is a man who on CNN, by his own media colleague, was called ‘ridiculous’ for his obsession for attacking President Trump.”
Despite Mr. Stelter’s claims, a Rasmussen poll released on the same day as the press conference showed Mr. Trump’s approval ratings had risen to 55 per cent.
Furthermore, nearly half (48 per cent) of American voters agreed that most reporters are biased against the president. Only 12 per cent believed they are biased in favour of Mr. Trump.
“It looks almost narcissistic; it look almost a bit childish to be talking the way he does in ‘campaign mode’ when he’s the leader of the free world”, the BBC presenter went on to ask.
Mr. Gorker responded: “It is incredible the amount of work we [the administration] have already done, and to say we are basking in a former glory? Please, be a little be more factual yourselves because otherwise you’ll be accused of ‘fake news’ as well.”
“If you [the BBC] didn’t have an agenda driven question list it would be so much easier to have a good relationship with you.” he said. “This is a… mainstream media who have accused us of being anti-Semitic and white supremacist. This is how bad it is.”
He finished by explaining how the president’s team would continue to communicate with audiences and voters directly via social media to end the mainstream media’s “monopoly” on news.
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