CNN media reporter Brian Stelter is infamous for his ridiculous and hyperbolic pontifications against President Trump and his over the top adulation for the media. Those two points met yet again during Sunday’s “Reliable Sources” when the hyperventilating CNN host decried the President’s attacks on the press and declared Trump was leading, what he called, a “hate movement” akin to Stalin and Hitler.
Stelter appeared exhausted and somber as he began the show with his usual introductory spiel. “This weekend, breaking news from President Trump. He's upping his ferocious language against the news media and Robert Mueller,” he complained.
“A lot of thought to get to, a lot of angles to discuss, because the President is really attacking the press with renewed vigor,” he whined. “It's something we need to analyze in detail because it's something that's being talked about the newsrooms across the country right now.”
He huffed about President Trump’s feud with the media becoming “normalized in some way.” Trying to spell it out for his viewers, he opined about how, “I think it's as simple as this: President Trump's newest attempt to strip away our legitimacy and, indeed, our humanity is coming through on Twitter.”
In the tweet in question, President Trump argued: “The Fake News hates me saying that they are the Enemy of the People only because they know it’s TRUE. I am providing a great service by explaining this to the American People. They purposely cause great division & distrust. They can also cause War! They are very dangerous & sick!”
Stelter suggested that the President was lashing out at the media because he had “his back up against the wall” presumably because the press and the Russia investigation were about to get him. “I know we're all used to him tweeting all the time but think about what he's saying here … saying journalists are dangerous, sick, enemies of the people. That's where we are. This is America,” he moaned.
The dreary CNN reporter fawned over responses from his fellow anti-Trumpers. He gushed about a tweet from NBC’s Chuck Todd opining about how he was “taking the bait in hopes that rational folks realize this is wrong and dangerous.” He did the same for a tweet from Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol who said the President was “closer in spirit to Vladimir Putin than America.”
“And S.V. Date, a White House reporter for the Huff Post pointed out that other leaders in the past have always used the phrase enemy of the people. Among those leaders, Joseph Stalin and Adolph Hitler,” Stelter boasted. How is this kind of response supposed to turn down the heat the media is concerned about?
“But you think about what happened this weekend there's been three days of rallies, the President singing the same tune but singing it more loudly. He's shouting some of these attacks nowadays,” Stelter continued. “And there's certainly been a newfound focus on how he whips up his crowds against the press corps. More and more I think ‘hate movement’ is the proper term for what's going on.”
Flaunting his humbleness, Stelter actually bragged about how the phrase he coined was catching on. “The first time I saw it, I think, was by NYU’s Jay Rosen. Others are picking up on it as well. It's a helpful frame to understand what the President is doing,” he said. He added that Trump supporters who boo journalists and those who send in death threats were linked and “all part of this hate movement.”
All weekend, the liberal media had been decrying Trump’s attacks on the press and suggested it would lead to violence against them. Clearly, they only care for themselves because what do they think will come from their own anti-Trump and anti-conservative “hate movement”? This is just another way to delegitamize perfectly reasonable criticism of the the media.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN
Reliable Sources
August 5, 2018
11:00:12 a.m. EasternBRIAN STELTER: Hey, I'm Brian Stelter. It's time for Reliable Sources. This is our weekly look at the story behind the story, of how the media really works, and how the news gets made. This weekend, breaking news from President Trump. He's upping his ferocious language against the news media and Robert Mueller. New York Times columnist David Leonhardt is here with a theory about what's going on. Plus, think of him as the storyteller in chief. Are we in the news media over analyzing his statements, his stories. Should we be analyzing him more like a novelist?
A lot of thought to get to, a lot of angles to discuss, because the President is really attacking the press with renewed vigor. It's something we need to analyze in detail because it's something that's being talked about the newsrooms across the country right now. You might say his attacks against the media are becoming normalized in some way. Let me show you what I mean. I think it's as simple as this. President Trump's newest attempt to strip away our legitimacy and, indeed, our humanity is coming through on Twitter. He's posting these kinds of tweets.
Here’s one of them I want us to look at and dissect. He’s saying, “the fake news hates being called the enemy of the people only because they know it's true.” He's claiming he is, “providing a great service to the public by explaining this.” Here’s what the President says about journalists. He says journalists “cause great division and distrust.” “They can also cause war,” he says. “They are very dangerous and sick.”
I know we're all used to him tweeting all the time but think about what he's saying here. The President, with his back up against the wall, is saying journalists are dangerous, sick, enemies of the people. That's where we are. This is America.
Let me show you a few of the reactions from journalists this morning. Chuck Todd calling this “outrageous.” He’s saying here, he tries not to take the bait but this time he’s reacting in the “hopes rational folks realize this is wrong and dangerous.” Bill Kristol, an outspoken Trump critic, says the President sounds “closer in spirit to Vladimir Putin than America.” And S.V. Date, a White House reporter for the Huff Post pointed out that other leaders in the past have always used the phrase enemy of the people. Among those leaders, Joseph Stalin and Adolph Hitler.
Look, enemy of the people does have a Stalin-era connotation. It was used in order to inflict pain and cause violence on populations of people throughout history. If the President doesn't know that, surely someone has told him by now.
But you think about what happened this weekend there's been three days of rallies, the President singing the same tune but singing it more loudly. He's shouting some of these attacks nowadays. And there's certainly been a newfound focus on how he whips up his crowds against the press corps. More and more I think “hate movement” is the proper term for what's going on.
President Trump is not just telling his fans to ignore what we report. He's telling people we are the enemy. Trump and some of his allies are promoting a hate movement against the American press. Now, I've been seeing that term used more and more. The first time I saw it, I think, was by NYU’s Jay Rosen. Others are picking up on it as well. It's a helpful frame to understand what the President is doing. When we see people booing journalists at rallies. When we see the death threats that come in over social media. It's all part of this hate movement.
(…)
