This week’s Mainstream Media Scream features a representative of the type of media criticism President Trump faced following his Saturday morning Twitter rant against former President Obama.
The reaction of New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman, on Meet the Press, was that Trump is a “juvenile.”
Friedman on the March 5 Meet the Press:
“Waking up at 6 AM in the morning, tweeting out one of the most damning accusations one president could make after another, and then, as Danielle [Pletka] said, then talking about Arnold Schwarzenegger, that is non-presidential behavior. That is not adult behavior. That is juvenile behavior. And the fact that we have a president who engages in that is, to me, deeply disturbing. Because think about this. Now he’s going to have to go to Europe very soon and interact with other European leaders, other world leaders. What would you think if you’re a world leader going into a meeting with – ‘What do I say to this guy?’ ‘What might he say about this meeting?’
“He is everywhere we look. And we talked about this before. I quoted my friend, Dov Seidman, who makes the point there’s a big difference between formal authority and moral authority. This president has formal authority. But every day you see him eroding his moral authority. And in the end, that is really going to hurt us….
“A few more mornings like this of 6:00 AM tweets, and people are not going to be talking about taking away his twitter, they’re going to be talking about taking away his football. And I mean the nuclear codes.”
Media Research Center Vice President of Research Brent Baker explains the pick: “So, in accusing President Trump of juvenile behavior, Friedman tells a juvenile joke. As for Trump losing his ‘moral authority,’ when did Friedman, or any of his New York Times colleagues, ever bestow ‘moral authority’ onto Trump?”
Rating:
Four out of five screams.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
