President Donald Trump and his chief strategist Steve Bannon aimed a significant amount of their rhetoric at the Conservative Political Action Conference at attacking the news media.
Bannon appeared on stage Thursday at the conservative gathering in National Harbor, Md. alongside White House chief of staff Reince Priebus. The former Breitbart executive repeatedly attacked the press as the “opposition party,” and even said that it will try and undermine efforts to improve the American economy.
Bannon said that as Trump “continues to press his agenda, and as economic conditions get better,” the “corporatist, globalist” press is “going to continue to fight” against the administration. “If you think they are going to let you get your country back without a fight, you are sadly mistaken,” the White House chief strategist added. (RELATED: Source: Bannon Agrees With Piece From His Former Publication Slamming Priebus)
President Trump doubled down on calling The New York Times, NBC News, ABC News, CBS News, and CNN the “enemy of the American people” during his speech Friday. “Many of these groups are part of the large media corporations that have their own agenda, and it’s not your agenda and it’s not the country’s agenda, it’s their own agenda. They have a professional obligation as members of the press to report honestly, but as you saw throughout the entire campaign and even now the fake news doesn’t tell the truth,” Trump added. “It doesn’t represent the people, it never will represent the people, and we are going to do something about it, because we have to go out and we have to speak our minds and we have to be honest.”
The president said that the press “shouldn’t be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody’s name.” Two hours prior the White House gave a briefing to reporters on the condition of anonymity. The attacks on the press at CPAC should play well with attendees as a recent poll found that 91 percent of Republicans believe the news media is untruthful.