The analysis has been unanimous: President Trump royally botched his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.
CNN “journalist” Jim Acosta gave a typical readout of the leaders’ summit on Monday.
“It was astonishing, just astonishing, to be in room with the U.S president and with the Russian president on this critical question of election interference and to hear the president of the United States retreat back to these talking points about DNC servers and Hillary Clinton’s emails when he had a chance, right there in front of us, right there in front of the world to confront Vladimir Putin and tell him to stay the hell out of American democracy, and he just didn’t do it,” Acosta said.
But Trump has spent the last couple of days back in the White House defending himself, and on Thursday morning he summed up what he sees as the mainstream media’s motives.
“The Fake News Media wants so badly to see a major confrontation with Russia, even a confrontation that could lead to war. They are pushing so recklessly hard and hate the fact that I’ll probably have a good relationship with Putin. We are doing MUCH better than any other country!” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Trump went on about “fake news.”
“The Fake News Media is going Crazy! They make up stories without any backup, sources or proof. Many of the stories written about me, and the good people surrounding me, are total fiction. Problem is, when you complain you just give them more publicity. But I’ll complain anyway!” he tweeted.
Trump also praised Fox News for showing a video montage of several times Trump has publicly stated he believed Russia did in fact attempt to interfere in the 2016 election. “The Fake News wants no part of that narrative!” he wrote.