The media is “cheering on Democrats” and doesn’t give President-elect Donald Trump the respect he’s due, says incoming White House spokesman Sean Spicer.
“There’s some positive aspects here and there, but largely it still continues to not treat him with the respect that he deserves,” Spicer told The Hill.
“I think for a lot of folks inside the beltway, and inside pundit-world, they don’t fully appreciate the understanding that he has of where the American people are,” Spicer added. “They continue to mock him in ways, when it frankly just shows the lack of understanding of that they have of where the American people are and what they think.”
A longtime spokesman for the Republican National Committee, Spicer seared the press for “cheering on Democrats.”
“There are countless examples of the media engaging — overtly or covertly — cheering on Democrats and there’s no accountability. But it’s also not even frowned upon,” Spicer said.
Once seen as awarding then-candidate Trump with wall-to-wall coverage, the media became increasingly adversarial toward Trump’s campaign. In the months leading up to Election Day, the GOP nominee said as much, describing the media as “disgusting and corrupt.”
“I am not only fighting Crooked Hillary, I am fighting the dishonest and corrupt media and her government protection process. People get it!” Trump wrote on Twitter. “It is not “freedom of the press” when newspapers and others are allowed to say and write whatever they want even if it is completely false!”
Trump’s frustration with and distrust of the media was validated when emails from John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign chairman, revealed collusion between reporters covering the campaign and Clinton camp.
Weeks after his victory, Trump met with heads of the same media organizations whose reporters were conspiring with Democrats to attack Trump.
Now, just weeks before the Trump administration is set to establish its agenda, Spicer says they will be in daily communication with the media. “It will be a daily something. When I say ‘something,’ maybe it’s a gaggle, maybe it’s an on-camera briefing,” Spicer said.
“Maybe we solicit talk radio and regional newspapers to submit questions — because they can’t afford to be in Washington — but they still have a question. Maybe we just let the American people submit questions that we read off as well,” he continued.
Spicer, who will lead the communication team for the Trump White House, said the President-elect’s use of Twitter is no worry for the people who elected Trump:
I think this is nonsense. I really do. Because at the end of the day the American people want more than anything else is results. And success. And he’s delivering already. And I think the American people — the people who have their jobs because of his actions — the taxpayers who have watched him save tax dollars, are appreciative, and I’m not too sure they’re concerned with the means by which he achieves that.
Trump will not hesitate to hold the media accountable for its coverage of his administration, he said. “Journalists and everyone in America has a constitutional right to express themselves or write what they want to write,” Spicer said.
“He equally has a right to make sure that the record is set straight, the facts are known, and that people can’t just take potshots without being held accountable.”
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson