Trump Takes Credit for the Term ‘Fake News’; Feels No Responsibility for Fallout
In Donald Trump‘s extensive interview with New York Times, the president boasted about how he supposedly invented the term, all while dismissing the idea that his anti-media rhetoric has authoritarian connotations taking root around the world.
Trump made a lot of news when he spoke to Maggie Haberman and Peter Baker, denying he ever spoke to Roger Stone about WikiLeaks while he also suggesting he’ll declare a national emergency to get the funding for his border wall. Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger was also involved in the interview, and his questions focused on Trump’s attacks on the press and how they’ve been emulated by oppressive foreign governments.
From the Times.
“I do notice that people are declaring more and more fake news, where they go, ‘Fake news!’” Trump said. “I even see it in other countries. I don’t necessarily attribute that to me. I think I can attribute the term to me. I think I was the one that started using it, I would say.”
When Mr. Sulzberger said that foreign leaders were increasingly using the term “fake news” to justify suppressing independent scrutiny, Mr. Trump replied: “I don’t like that. I mean I don’t like that.”
Trump may have popularized the term “Fake News” but the notion of a “Lying Press” was popularized in 1930s Germany. According to Washington Post, Lugenpresse is a defamatory political term that was used largely by German political movements for mass media outlets that aren’t believed to be focused on accurate coverage. During the time of the Nazis, it was frequently used to denigrate outlets that criticized or refused to run state propaganda held up as the truth, and therefore, it can be considered synonymous with the term fake news.
Throughout the interview, Trump grumbled about how he’s a “victim” of unfair and inaccurate coverage from most of the media. When asked about how his predecessors typically acted as defenders of the free press, Trump insisted “I think I am, too. I want to be…I guess the one thing I do feel, because you look at network coverage, it’s so bad.”
When the NY Times publisher is reported to have “urged Mr. Trump to reconsider his denigration of the press,” Trump replied:
“The effects are not just being felt with the outlets who you feel are treating you unfairly,” he said. “They’re being felt all over the world, including folks who are literally putting their lives on the line to report the truth.”
“I understand that,” Mr. Trump replied before pivoting, once again, to complaints about how he has been covered.
“I ran, I won, and I’m really doing a good job,” Trump said between more complaints about coverage from the Times and others. “I came from Jamaica, Queens, Jamaica Estates, and I became president of the United States. I’m sort of entitled to a great story — just one — from my newspaper.”
— —
