President Donald Trump renewed his attacks on the media yet again during a White House luncheon with GOP senators. The president was also full of praise for Attorney General William Barr for his “fast” work of justice with regards to the release of the Mueller report. According to a report published in the New York Times, Trump reportedly told GOP senators that “people love it when you attack the press.” The president also asked the group not to leak the info.
Trump has been gloating publicly over the last few days after the Justice Department delivered a summary of the principal conclusions of the Mueller investigation. The four-page summary by Attorney General William Barr noted that the probe didn’t find any evidence that the Trump campaign coordinated with Russian operatives to influence the 2016 election. The White House saw this as a huge victory. In fact, Trump tweeted that it was a complete “exoneration.” The same message was reiterated by the White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders.
The final report by the Special Counsel did not, however, answer whether Trump obstructed justice. It also said clearly that, even though there was no evidence of wrongdoing on Trump’s part, it didn’t exonerate him. Nonetheless, the president and his allies have relished the political victory. It seems like a huge cloud has been lifted as we head to the 2020 elections.
Trump’s relationship with the press has never been cordial. The president has accused the mainstream media of covering his presidency negatively. He has even called various media houses “fake news” on several occasions. Many critics of the president have often pointed out that the job of the media is to speak truth to power. Most believe that Trump wants the media to agree with him on everything, something that’s probably never going to happen.
The president has also accused major tech companies including Google, Facebook, and Twitter of bias against conservative viewpoints. These companies have denied all allegations. It’s clear that this relationship is already broken. Many analysts feel that the continued attacks on the press will continue simply because this is a galvanizing message to the president’s base.
In addition to the recent report by Robert Mueller, the president has also seen additional political victories on his border wall. The House of Representative failed to overrule a Trump veto on a resolution to overturn the emergency declaration. Trump declared the emergency in an effort to divert funds to build the wall.
This has been a delicate issue for the White House. Despite previous attempts to secure funding from Congress, the president Trump has fallen short. Even with a Republican majority in both chambers, Trump was still not able to get the financing needed for the wall. However, it seems his strategy to declare an emergency on the border may actually work. All these victories are quite important as we head into the 2020 polls. A number of Democrats are already in the race and it promises to be a very interesting primary.
