'Does That Sound Like Me?': Trump Scolds Media for Claim Aides Wrote His Weekend 'Talking Points'
President Donald Trump called out The Washington Post for publishing “fake news” about how his team handled the aftermath of the president’s criticism of four progressive lawmakers in a series of tweets on Sunday and Monday.
“The Amazon Washington Post front page story yesterday was total Fake News. They said ‘Advisors wrote new talking points and handed him reams of opposition research on the four Congresswoman,’” Trump tweeted.
“Now really, does that sound like me?”
The Amazon Washington Post front page story yesterday was total Fake News. They said “Advisors wrote new talking points and handed him reams of opposition research on the four Congresswomen.” Now really, does that sound like me? What advisors, there were no talking points,….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 22, 2019
The president added that “there were no talking points” that he didn’t come up with himself and he didn’t receive “reams of paper.”
Trump’s latest Twitter retort came in response to a Sunday article in The Post that said Trump did not anticipate the backlash he received from his tweets about Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley, in which he told them to “go back” to where they came from.
The Post reported, “over the coming days, dozens of friends, advisers and political allies would work behind the scenes to try to fix the mess without any public admission of error because that was not the Trump way.”
The Post cited anonymous sources who said Trump’s advisers came up with new talking points.
“Pivot to patriotism. Focus on their ideas and behavior, not identity,” the article read. “Some would still see a racist agenda, the argument went, but at least it would not be so explicit.”
In his Twitter rebuke of The Post’s report, Trump doubled down on his criticism of the congresswomen, who have come to be known as “the squad.”
“I don’t believe the four Congresswomen are capable of loving our Country. They should apologize to America (and Israel) for the horrible (hateful) things they have said,” he tweeted.
“They are destroying the Democrat Party, but are weak & insecure people who can never destroy our great Nation.”
I don’t believe the four Congresswomen are capable of loving our Country. They should apologize to America (and Israel) for the horrible (hateful) things they have said. They are destroying the Democrat Party, but are weak & insecure people who can never destroy our great Nation!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 21, 2019
Trump added that the “Mainstream Media is out of control.”
“It has never been this bad. They have gone bonkers, & no longer care what is right or wrong,” he tweeted. “This large scale false reporting is sick!”
Despite the backlash Trump’s original tweets received, several House Democrats told CNN host Jake Tapper that “the president won this one.”
“What the president has done is politically brilliant,” a House Democrat told Tapper. “Pelosi was trying to marginalize these folks and the president has now identified the entire party with them.”
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