President Donald Trump is receiving harsh criticism from those who are connecting his inflamed rhetoric to a number of hate crimes that have occurred in the country over the past week.  But Trump is pushing back on that criticism in a manner reminiscent of the elementary schoolyard debate projection of “I am not, you are!”

There appears to at least be an agreement between Trump and his critics that we are now living in an extremely divided and heated political time. But while nonconservative media outlets lay the blame for this at Trump’s feet, the Commander in Chief is putting it right back on them.

Trump tweeted:

There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news. The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People, must stop the open & obvious hostility & report the news accurately & fairly. That will do much to put out the flame…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2018

….of Anger and Outrage and we will then be able to bring all sides together in Peace and Harmony. Fake News Must End!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2018

These tweets are a direct pushback on various cable news outlets who have tied what they see as irresponsible and dangerous fear-mongering rhetoric to the events of the past few days.

An individual arrested in connection with the mailing of at least 13 explosive devices to political opponents of Trump appears to have been an enormous Trump supporter (who literally had Trump rhetoric emblazoned on the van in which he lived.)

And the individual who shot and killed 11 Jewish worshippers at a Pittsburgh-based Synagogue was reportedly unsettled by reports of “invaders” in a caravan currently near the border of the Mexico-Guatemala border. The caravan of migrants (though over 1,000 miles away and traveling by foot) has been consistently presented by Trump and conservative media as an imminent crisis that threatens the national security of the United States.

By most accounts, the caravan won’t arrive in the United States border until early December, and there is zero confirmed evidence that the caravan was in any way underwritten by conservative bogeyman George Soros.

Chief among the criticisms levied towards the President during this trying time is his apparent unwillingness/inability to strike a unifying tone. That his narcissism does not allow for a reflective tone that transcends the dialog from “us vs them,” to just “us.”

His doubling down on blaming the “fake news” (which he has described as about 80 to 90% of all news media) as the “enemy of the people” isn’t going to tamp down tensions. In fact, one could reasonably argue that he’s fanning the fans of animus even more.

from Mediaite https://ift.tt/2Q1A85B