President Donald Trump should be more specific in his criticism of the media and shoot from the hip less to avoid the confusion he caused over his Sweden comments on Saturday, Fox News host Tucker Carlson tells Newsmax TV.
Appearing Monday on "The Joe Pags Show," Carlson said he has no problem with Trump calling out the press for inaccuracy, bias or stupidity, but added, "What frustrates me is his unwillingness to impose a little discipline on himself."
Carlson said that he knows a lot of what is wrong with the press, having grown up as the son of legendary newsman Dick Carlson and spending a career in the media himself.
Still, he said, "I wish Trump would say, 'Here's what I'm mad about specifically,' rather than making blanket statements like, 'They're the enemy of America,' or whatever. I just think that's not as helpful. It's better to make a specific case than it is to use generalizations."
Trump came under fire from the media over the weekend for a statement he made during his rally in Melbourne, Florida on Saturday.
Warning about the dangers of unchecked immigration, Trump said, "You look at what's happening in Germany, you look at what's happening last night in Sweden. They took in large numbers, they're having problems like they never thought possible."
The media jumped on the fact that Trump seemed to say an act of terrorism had happened in Sweden Friday night. Actually, Trump misspoke, and later said he had been talking about an interview he saw Friday night on Carlson's Fox News show "Tucker Carlson Tonight" in which filmmaker Ami Horowitz detailed the problems refugees from Muslim countries had brought into Sweden.
Host Joe Pagliarulo noted that Trump was simply shooting from the hip — which his followers love.
"But at the same time when you shoot from the hip and you're wrong, the media loves that because now they can see, 'See, we told you, he's a big idiot,'" he added.
"I would say never shoot from the hip," Carlson advised. "Always be right. Never make a mistake. Always say exactly what you intend to say. You're the president; you have an obligation to be accurate and precise always."
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But, he added, that while Trump can properly be called out for making an imprecise statement on Saturday, "That doesn't change the fact that Sweden and the rest of Western Europe … is falling apart because of their reckless immigration and refugees policy."
The conversation is relevant in the United States because it has a direct effect on us, he said. "We should be learning from them, and we're not. And the press, because they're so stupid, is not helping at all."
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