Trump Sent ‘Enemy of the People’ Tweet During Don Lemon Segment, Then CNN Was Evacuated Over Bomb Threat
Donald Trump lashed out at the media again Thursday night with an enraged, all-caps tweet employing his favorite anti-press phrase, “Enemy of the People,” but the timing of that attack again highlights the potential danger of Trump’s campaign against the media.
Trump’s tweet simply read “FAKE NEWS – THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!” with no other context. But the message was posted at 10:08 pm, just five minutes after CNN anchor Don Lemon referred to Trump as the “Hypocrite-in-Chief” over reports that Trump’s Bedminster golf club has knowingly employed undocumented immigrants.
“Donald Trump, hypocrite in chief?” Lemon said. “We’re learning tonight that while this president has been railing against immigrants, calling them criminals, rapists, even animals, his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey where the initiation fee alone is more than $100,000, has employed people, managers allegedly knew were in the country illegally.”
He then went on to detail other examples of Trump hypocrisy on immigration, including his opposition to so-called “chain migration,” a policy that his own family has availed itself of.
It was a blistering segment, but rife with factual citations.
About twenty-nine minutes after Trump’s tweet, CNN’s New York headquarters was evacuated due to a bomb threat. On Friday morning, CNN anchor John Berman also noted the timing of Trump’s tweet in relation to the evacuation and noted that the actual threat was called in before Trump’s tweet. But Berman also noted the alarming nature of the series of events.
This chain of events comes after CNN headquarters in New York and Atlanta were targets of attempted pipe-bombings in October, and as Trump’s response to the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi has come under heavy criticism for sending the message that it’s open season on journalists and dissidents.
Trump has been using the phrase “Enemy of the People” to attack the press for over a year now, a phrase that even Republicans have noted was a favorite epithet of murderous dictator Joseph Stalin‘s. Following the bombings and the Khashoggi murder, even the hosts of Trump’s favorite show, Fox & Friends, criticized him for the “damage” the phrase does.
None of this has dissuaded Trump from engaging in these attacks. Thursday night’s events are unlikely to change that.
