Donald Trump's Statement About The Wall Street Journal Is Causing A Stir
In the latest installment of everyone's favorite political soap opera, How Can We Miss Him if He Won't Ever Leave?, Donald Trump lashed out at the "mainstream media" for what he perceives as their unfair treatment of him. A few days ago, the Wall Street Journal printed an op-ed piece where they endorsed the increasingly popular opinion that the Republican Party really needs to move on from Trump and Trumpism. (And yes, we can use the term "printed" here, as there is still an ink and paper version of this venerable newspaper in addition to its online edition.)
While Trump's address to the Conservative Political Action Committee last Sunday, an occasion that marked his return to public speaking, was well-received by its audience, the WSJ pointed out that "if CPAC represented America, Mr. Trump would still reside in the White House, not Mar-a-Lago." Specifically addressing all of the boasting Trump did about his great successes over the course of the past year where he single-handedly defeated the pandemic, the paper went on to ask: "If 2020 was so fabulous, why are Republicans shut out of power up and down Pennsylvania Avenue?" Unsurprisingly, Trump was less than pleased with what he considered to be fighting words.
Trump tells off the media, yet again
Although the former POTUS no longer has access to his favorite bully pulpit, Twitter, he hasn't been muzzled. All he needs to do is to release a statement, as he did in this case, and all the media outlets, mainstream and otherwise, are sure to get wind of it. In Trump's statement addressing the Wall Street Journal criticism (via The Hill), he blasted back at a paper he says has "lost great credibility" and characterized the recent editorial as a sign that the paper is " fight[ing} for RINOS that have so badly hurt the Republican Party."
Trump even went so far as to attack the paper's conservative credentials. The Wall Street Journal, according to Investopedia, is owned by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, also owner of Fox News. Although Murdoch's media usually reflects the man's right-of-center political views, Team Trump was already enraged over Fox's coverage of the election results. By this point it seems Murdoch may be off the Mar-a-Lago guest list for good, as Trump leveled accusations that the WSJ supports such evils as "bad trade deals, open borders, and endless wars." Trump wrapped up his diatribe by opining that "nobody cares much about The Wall Street Journal editorial anymore," but whether anybody much cares what Trump thinks about the WSJ remains to be seen.