Donald Trump Does “Beat the Press”
President Donald Trump is obviously worried about the midterm elections, and he is pursuing a multi-pronged strategy to prevent a Democratic victory.
First, Trump unleashed a gerrymandering war that has given Republicans an additional 10 safe seats, by effectively stripping Southern Blacks of their voting rights. In other democracies, this would be called cheating.
Second, Trump is stepping up his assaults on the press as “crooked”, as he seeks to discredit the media.
Third, Trump calls our electoral system “rigged”, as he sows doubts about the fairness of our elections.
And Trump often attacks the press and our electoral system simultaneously.
What is Trump’s main motive? He is laying the groundwork for challenging—or overturning—the results in November. But there is another reason: as he grows more autocratic, Trump apparently thinks that reporters should not ask him tough questions or run negative stories about him.
We should expect Trump to accelerate his pressure campaign as we approach the elections, particularly if the news on inflation remains bad. In May, inflation rose to 4.2%, mostly because of higher energy prices caused by Trump’s war in Iran.
Vitriolic Rhetoric
Trump has always bashed the press and claimed that elections are “rigged”. He even claimed early in the 2016 election that it would be rigged—probably because he expected to lose. But his rhetoric has become even more vitriolic.
This month, the President launched highly personal attacks against two well-known female reporters, Kaitlan Collins and Kristen Welker, within the same week. Trump all but called them and their networks “enemies of the state”.
In the short term, Trump’s lies about our elections and free press are dangerous because he may use them to justify interfering with the midterms. The long-term effects are also sinister. Trump’s relentless assaults on these two pillars of our democracy have badly weakened many Americans’ faith in our system of government. He is laying the foundation for censorship and dictatorship.
“She Never Smiles”
On June 3, when CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took part in a press conference in the Oval Office, the President singled her out for remarkable abuse. First, Trump launched a diatribe against Collins and her network:
“CNN is crooked as hell. CNN is a very corrupt organization with a very corrupt reporter standing right there (pointing at Collins). “
Trump then viciously attacked the journalist alone:
“She never smiles. She’s a young beautiful woman. I see her standing there with hatred in her eyes, like she has hatred because we have borders… [Trump lists a series of his “achievements”] so the reporter should be happy, they [sic] should not be unhappy.“
Trump’s remarks about Collins’ looks were inappropriate and irrelevant, of course; they are part of his pattern of demeaning women.
Furthermore, his comments about Collins’ supposed feelings are ominous. A reporter’s role is to be an objective observer, not a cheerleader for a President. But Trump implied that Collins is somehow unpatriotic or subversive, because she is not one of his fans.
The context matters, too. David Ellison, a Trump ally and the CEO of Paramount Skydance, has agreed to acquire Warner Bros Discovery, which owns CNN. (He is the son of Larry Ellison, who co-founded Oracle Corporation.) However, the deal requires government approval. Trump may have been warning Ellison, as CNN’s prospective new owner, to soften the network’s coverage of his administration once the acquisition closes.
The Clash on “Meet the Press”
On June 7, Trump met with Kristen Welker of “Meet the Press” for an extensive interview. Their conversation lasted about 40 minutes, until Trump abruptly terminated it and walked off in a huff.
Most of the interview proceeded in a normal fashion, as Welker raised questions about the war in Iran and the economy. Trump lied almost constantly, and he seemed vague on some important details. He apparently could not remember the name of Iran’s current Supreme Leader, for example. Nonetheless, Trump appeared rational and kept his composure, until 35 minutes into the interview.
Then Welker asked him about his $1.776 billion slush fund. Trump argued that the January 6 participants had been “badly hurt by corrupt politicians and should be reimbursed for that”. When Welker asked if he thought that those who injured Capitol police officers should be compensated, Trump quickly became evasive.
Welker had clearly hit a nerve, because in Trump’s mythology, January 6 was a peaceful protest of an election that was stolen. Trump pivoted, claiming that the election currently taking place in California was rigged. This was his rationale: the state had not produced a tally four days after election day, so Democrats were obviously cheating.
Trashing the “Crooked Press”
Welker pushed back, noting “that’s the way California counts votes” and “state and local officials acknowledge they’re slow”. Suddenly, Trump went off the rails. His face contorted with anger, Trump barked, “No, they are crooked, just like you are crooked, the press is crooked, “Meet the Press” is crooked”.
Welker tried to turn down the temperature, gently admonishing Trump by saying, “To be fair, I’m not crooked”.
Trump then launched an unhinged tirade that lasted for minutes. In his first salvo, he roared:
“You play right into their hands. You’re either crooked or stupid. [Welker graduated from Harvard magna cum laude, i.e., with high honors.] You know that these elections are rigged, your network knows that these elections are rigged.”
Welter tried several times to change the subject, proposing that they discuss Todd Blanche, but Trump refused. Trump complained that the press only reported negative news about him and snarled, “You have no credibility”.
“Like a Third World Country”
As he continued to rant, Trump combined his lines of attack in another one of his Big Lies. He condemned the electoral system, the press, generally, and the three major TV networks specifically:
“We’re like a Third World country. Your elections are crooked. And you’re crooked and Meet the Press is crooked. The press is crooked. So is ABC and CBS and CNN. You’re one-sided, crooked networks.”
This outburst was bizarre, partly because it was so repetitive. And what did Trump mean by “crooked”? That the media criticized him? That they were taking money from Democrats?
Then the President of the United States issued a veiled threat, saying to Welker:
“You ought to straighten out your press. You know what? A country can never be great with a dishonest press.”
Trump seemed to imply that to make America great again, the government would have to stop journalists’ “dishonesty” ...that is, control what the media reports.
Sounds like censorship to me.
When Welker tried to continue the interview, Trump said, “I’ve had enough”. Then, patting Welker on the arm, he added, “Thank you, darling”, which was patronizing.
Assault on ABC
The Trump Administration has already taken radical steps to intimidate the media. In an unprecedented move, Trump, a sitting President, filed a personal lawsuit against ABC based on a shaky claim of defamation. To its shame, ABC paid Trump $15 million, even though Trump’s odds of success were very low under long-established case law.
Despite this humiliating capitulation, Brendan Carr, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, has continued to put pressure on ABC. He recently announced that the FCC would conduct a full-blown review of ABC’s broadcasting licenses to examine its DEI policies. HR policies have not previously been considered relevant to a broadcaster’s fitness to retain its licenses.
In any case, ABC’s licenses are not due for renewal until 2028. The move has been widely seen as a tactic to pressure ABC to curtail negative reporting about the Administration.
Muzzling CBS News
In August 2025, David Ellison, then CEO of Skydance, acquired Paramount Pictures, which owned CBS. Ellison pledged that CBS News would remain free from editorial interference. However, in October 2025, he brought in Bari Weiss as the new head of CBS News, even though she did not have a background in TV journalism or managing a large enterprise. Weiss is generally regarded as conservative.
Weiss’ tenure at CBS News has been highly controversial. In December, she stunned the news staff by suspending the release of a “60 Minutes” segment on a prison in Nicaragua, just three hours before it was to go on the air. The Trump administration had sent large numbers of undocumented immigrants to the prison. The “60 Minutes” report was highly critical of the facility and its treatment of its prisoners.
Last week, Weiss conducted a purge at “60 Minutes”, firing the executive producer and three senior correspondents. Only three senior reporters remain. Anderson Cooper left the show several months ago because he did not want to work for Weiss, according to his former colleague Scott Pelley.
Pelley was fired on June 2, after he criticized Nick Bilton, the new head of “60 Minutes”, face to face during a staff meeting. In an interview with the New York Times after his firing, Pelley said that Weiss had tried to inject falsehoods and bias into a “60 Minutes” report on Renee Good’s death in Minnesota. He cited specific examples.
What is CNN’s Future?
Ellison has agreed to buy Warner Bros Discovery, the parent company of CNN. This pending acquisition has raised a great deal of concern for several reasons:
· Ellison’s company will be a dominant force in the media world, controlling CBS, CNN and two major film studios
· Ellison is an ally of Trump
· Ellison presumably hired Weiss to rein in CBS’ negative coverage of the Trump Administration and curry favor with government officials
Industry observers believe that Ellison is likely to seek cost savings by combining CBS and CNN’s operations, assuming the government approves the acquisition. Many expect Weiss to head the merged units. Given her track record at CBS, it is likely that she will seek to make CNN’s coverage more “balanced”, that is, less critical of Trump.
What Can You Do?
Trump is waging an all-out war on our free press and spreading lies about our electoral system.
How can you fight back?
Defend reporters when you speak with conservative friends…and tell them our elections are free of fraud.
Subscribe to independent news publications and media.
Vote in November.
The Wall Street Democrat
CNN has already become vanilla. My "like" for Jake Tapper faded when he put out the book about Biden. And I have been in the Philadelphia area, his home territory, for forty years. Watching Wolf Blitzer fumble through interviews, trying to ask that "big question" ,we already know the answer to, gets tiring. The final straw for my wife and I was Renee Goode's murder in Minneapolis. CNN reporters were hemming and hawing about the video. They were checking with their lawyers, probably. I went online and found it in seconds and when we switched to MSNOW they were showing it already. We changed the channel and never went back.
So vast the darkness cast by this ignorant, rage-filled president. Great account of it, Ryan.