Bill O’Reilly is questioning why anyone is surprised by President Donald Trump’s attacks on the press.
“While there is no question that Trump is hammering his detractors in very personal ways, why is anyone surprised?” said O’Reilly, the former host of “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News.
His comments came in an opinion column posted by The Hill.
“As a presidential candidate, (Trump) routinely denigrated his opposition by using schoolyard descriptions, and ultimately he vanquished them,” O’Reilly said. “So why would he change his maverick style now?”
O’Reilly noted he had warned Trump during the presidential campaign that the “national press would eventually attack in very personal ways.” However, O’Reilly doubted Trump believed him at the time.
“Some leftist journalists wanted Trump to win the nomination, figuring Hillary Clinton would wipe him out in the general election, and the country would then keep the policies of the media-beloved Barack Obama in place,” he said. “When Donald Trump shocked the world, media bitterness quickly set in and the “resistance” began.
O’Reilly maintained there are two levels to the “hate-Trump media movement.” The first one is: The media does not believe he is qualified, he noted.
“The second level is pure ideology” O’Reilly said. “Under President Obama, the United States lurched left in a dramatic way. Political correctness became the order of the day, and conservative thinkers were branded racists and bigots simply for opposing liberal policies. The press encouraged that massive deception, and the demonization of selective conservative individuals became acceptable.”
And, O’Reilly believes some Americans began to realize the national media stopped “searching for the truth and instead promoted “leftist thought and policy.”
“Working in conjunction with Democratic Party interests, the national media has run wild with the destroy-Trump strategy and the president knows it,” he said. “So, he’s striking back in ways designed to whip up his base. The war is on.”
He referred to Trump’s tweets about “Morning Joe’s co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough without mentioning the two by name.
“No one really cares about cable TV morning commentators or what they did on New Year’s Eve,” O’Reilly said. “Wasting time on that stuff does little to advance the country’s interest.”
And he noted Trump’s “scorched earth ‘fake news’ campaign runs the risk of getting tiresome.”
“Tweet facts, Mr. President, not insults,” he said. “Hammer your opposition with verifiable statements. Do that, and you may ultimately prevail against a press that often abuses its freedom — a media where seeking the truth is becoming obsolete.”
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