According to Trump, the only books and articles about him that are real are written by people that he knows.
Trump tweeted:
Fascinating to watch people writing books and major articles about me and yet they know nothing about me & have zero access. #FAKE NEWS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 12, 2017
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Since we know that this president doesn’t read outside of the major newspapers and the folder of press clippings that is handed to him, this was a fit about negative press coverage of his behavior. Trump has taken his definition of “fake news” to a whole new crazy place.
Now anything written about Trump is fake unless the person doing the writing has access or knows him. In practical terms, this means that according to the President, the only real stories about him come from his friends in conservative media, tweets, and the White House.
Since Trump doesn’t hold press conferences by himself in the White House and limited his access to mostly friendly media, he is saying that any objective story written about him from a non-Trump approved source is fake.
Trump is the president, and he is trying to discredit anything written about him that isn’t propaganda.
Donald Trump’s impulses are authoritarian, crazy, and a danger to the free press in the US.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association