Just after 8 a.m., President Donald Trump fired off three tweets criticizing the New York Times and the Washington Post.
The failing @nytimes has been wrong about me from the very beginning. Said I would lose the primaries, then the general election. FAKE NEWS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2017
Thr coverage about me in the @nytimes and the @washingtonpost gas been so false and angry that the times actually apologized to its.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2017
(As of Saturday afternoon, Trump has not deleted or corrected the two typos in the above tweet. In the past, he has commonly deleted tweets with misspelled words and sent out corrected versions.)
...dwindling subscribers and readers.They got me wrong right from the beginning and still have not changed course, and never will. DISHONEST
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2017
Trump’s critiques are largely in line with his previous comments about the news media in general and those two newspapers in particular. On Nov. 13, shortly after winning the election, Trump tweeted that the New York Times was losing subscribers because of their “very poor and highly inaccurate coverage of the "Trump phenomena.”
The @nytimes sent a letter to their subscribers apologizing for their BAD coverage of me. I wonder if it will change - doubt it?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2016
Trump has also been sharply critical of the Washington Post’s coverage of him, at one point revoking the paper’s media credentials because of their “inaccurate” coverage of him.
The tax scam Washington Post does among the most inaccurate stories of all. Really dishonest reporting.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2016
Both the Times and the Post disputed Trump’s claims Saturday, stating that subscriptions and readership are actually on the rise.
.@realDonaldTrump Fact check: @nytimes subscribers & audience at all-time highs. Supporting independent journalism matters. pic.twitter.com/yzh90y6ih0
— NYTCo Communications (@NYTimesComm) January 28, 2017
Fact check: WaPo's paid subscriber base and readership are doing the opposite of dwindling. pic.twitter.com/JCrdnfyFqf
— J. Freedom du Lac (@jfdulac) January 28, 2017
Later, Trump sent out a tweet memorializing the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster that occurred 31 years ago on Jan. 28.
Today, we remember the crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger, 31 years later. #NeverForget pic.twitter.com/OhshQsFRfl
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2017
McClatchy will be compiling and providing links to fact checks of Trump’s tweets on merit throughout his presidency.
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