Trump blames ‘purposely false and inaccurate reporting’ for incivility

Sarah Sanders says ‘everyone has a role to play’ in preventing violence but it’s ‘absolutely ludicrous’ to blame the president for bomb threats against liberals as Trump doubles down on claim that it’s the media’s fault

  • President Trump rallied the GOP faithful in Mosinee, Wis., on Wednesday night
  • The crowd cheered and waved when Air Force One pulled up behind the stage 
  • Trump called for a ‘civil tone’ in the wake of Wednesday’s attempting bombings 
  • ‘Any acts or threats of political violence are an attack on our democracy,’ he said 
  • He also turned to one of his favorite targets – the media
  • ‘The media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility and constant negative and oftentimes false attacks and stories,’ he said 
  • He also worked to temper his own language
  • ‘I’m trying to be nice,’ he said many times throughout the evening 
  • His rally is part of a campaign swing to keep Republicans in control of Congress 

President Trump doubled down on his rebuke of the media on Thursday morning as the number of bomb threats to liberals jumped to at least nine separate instances.

Echoing comments he made at a rally in Wisconsin, Trump said in a tweet: ‘A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News. It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!’ 

Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, also refused to lay any of the blame at the president’s feet.

‘The president’s condemned violence in all forms, has done that since day one, will continue to do that, but certainly feel that everyone has a role to play,’ she told DailyMail.com as she briefed the press.

Asked a second time, Sarah Sanders said: ‘There’s a big difference made between comments made and actions taken. The president is certainly not responsible for sending suspicious packages to someone – no more than Bernie Sanders was responsible for a supporter of his shooting up a Republican baseball field practice last year.

‘The idea that this is at the hands of the president is absolutely ludicrous,’ she contended.

President Trump doubled down on his rebuke of the media on Thursday morning as the number of bomb threats to liberals jumped to at least nine separate instances 

Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, refused to lay any of the blame at the president’s feet

‘The president’s condemned violence in all forms, has done that since day one, will continue to do that, but certainly feel that everyone has a role to play,’ she told DailyMail.com as she briefed the press

Appearing on Fox News immediately prior, the president’s spokeswoman argued that Trump had been a paragon of civility as he addressed the attacks on Wednesday afternoon, hours after the Secret Service announced that his 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton, and his predecessor, Barack Obama, had been targets.

‘The president I think could not have been more presidential yesterday when he spoke directly to the American people. He condemned this violence,’ she said. 

Sanders told ‘Fox & Friends’ in the Thursday morning interview that the party ultimately responsible for the ‘heinous act’ is the person who sent the devices. 

‘Let’s not forget that that is ultimately the person that is responsible, and will be held responsible by this administration,’ she said.

As Sanders was walking out to the interview, one of the targets of the pipe bombs, John Brennan, broke his silence. The former CIA director told Trump in a tweet that he should ‘look in the mirror’ instead of blaming the media.

‘Stop blaming others. Look in the mirror. Your inflammatory rhetoric, insults, lies, & encouragement of physical violence are disgraceful. Clean up your act….try to act Presidential. The American people deserve much better. BTW, your critics will not be intimidated into silence,’ he said.

Sanders declined to take Brennan to task on Fox. She noted that the White House has clashed with Obama-era official whose security clearance the president threatened, however, as she responded to the charged comment.

‘I think we’ve made our opinions on former director Brennan pretty clear over the past several months, certainly don’t support the type of activity that he has engaged in,’ she said. ‘And don’t think it’s becoming of somebody that is a former director of the intelligence agency that he was.’

Trump has twice pointed the finger at the media in the 24 hours since the Secret Service first acknowledged that suspicious packages had been sent to former high-level Obama administration officials.

In addition to his Thursday morning tweet, Trump said at a rally that ‘the media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility and constant negative and oftentimes false attacks and stories’ during brief remarks on the bomb scare. 

Trump called for and struck a ‘civil tone’ at the campaign event in Mosinee, Wisconsin. 

The president, who often engages in provocative language and taunts his political opponents at the splashy campaign rallies, carefully tempered his words before the cheering crowd and repeatedly pointed out his own affable behavior. 

‘And by the way, do you see how nice I’m behaving tonight?’ Trump asked the crowd. ‘Have you ever seen this? We’re all behaving very well.’

‘And hopefully we can keep it that way, right? We’re going to keep it that way,’ he added.

‘I’m trying to be nice,’ he said several times throughout the evening. 

Trump opened the rally by addressing the disturbing attempts to maim his political rivals, calling them ‘an attack on our democracy itself.’

‘As part of a larger national effort to bridge our divides and bring people together, the media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility and constant negative and oftentimes false attacks and stories. Have to do it. They’ve got to stop,’ the president said as the crowd cheered. 

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper called the president’s remarks ‘hypocritical.’ 

CNN president Jeff Zucker had criticized President Trump and his White House earlier on Wednesday for a series of attacks on the press corps after the network had its New York headquarters evacuated because of a bombing attempt.

‘There is a total and complete lack of understanding at the White House about the seriousness of their continued attacks on the media,’ said Zucker.

‘The President, and especially the White House Press Secretary, should understand their words matter. Thus far, they have shown no comprehension of that,’ Zucker added.

The president worked on Wednesday evening to temper his own political language – notably not using some of the negative names he has used at past campaign rallies.

He didn’t stray from attacking his opponents but his language was more measured. The crowd offered a few shouts of ‘CNN sucks’ and ‘build the wall’ throughout the evening but Trump didn’t acknowledge the cheers as he has done at past events and, instead, kept on with his remarks. 

He didn’t slam any of his potential Democratic rivals in 2020, as he has done in past rallies.  

There was no labeling Sen. Elizabeth Warren ‘Pocahontas’ as he did in Texas on Monday night. 

‘A sad thing happened last week. Because Elizabeth Warren was exposed as being a total fraud,’ he said Monday in Houston of a DNA test Warren took, which showed she likely had a family member six to 10 generations ago who was Native American.  

‘I can’t call her Pocahontas. She doesn’t qualify,’ Trump continued. 

But Warren wasn’t mentioned Wednesday evening, nor was California Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who is a favorite Trump target. Waters had bombs mailed to her offices in Washington D.C. and Los Angeles. 

Trump also praised his own civil tone. When he mentioned liberal Senator Tammy Baldwin, who is leading in the polls against her Republican opponent, he criticized her stance on several issues, including immigration, noting of her: ‘This is bad time to be in favor of open borders but she is.’

But he added he was talking about her ‘nicely.’  

‘I’m trying to say that very nicely,’ he said of his criticism of Baldwin. ‘See normally I’m screaming ‘they want a socialist takeover.’

‘I’m trying to be nice, right,’ he added.

President Trump praised his own civil tone at Wednesday’s rally

He dig get in a few digs at Democrats but not in his usual manner

Politics wasn’t absent from the evening. It was a political rally and part of a final campaign swing by the president less than two weeks from the midterms, where Trump and his Republican Party are trying to stop a blue wave from giving Democrats control on Capitol Hill.

Republicans have been more more hopeful they will retain control of the Senate even as polls and independent political prognosticators give Democrats the odds of winning control of the House of Representatives.

Speaker Paul Ryan was in the crowd and Trump teased him about the blue wave.

‘What happened to this blue wave, Paul?,’ Trump said. ‘Early voting looks extraordinarily good for the Republicans.’

He also said Republicans were going to focus on health care – a new line from the president coming as polls show it’s a top concern for voters.

‘Health care is going to be our major focus,’ Trump said, adding ‘one of our major focuses.’ 

‘Republicans will always protect Americans with pre-existing conditions, 100%,’ he added. 

He urged the crowd to vote but noted: ‘If you’re going to vote Democrat, don’t bother.’ 

He also got in some digs at the Democrats, claiming they were encouraging caravans of migrants to ‘violate our laws and to break into our country.’

‘As we speak, the Democrat Party is openly encouraging caravan after caravan of illegal aliens to violate our laws and to break into our country,’ he said,

He emphasized that the caravan of over 7,000 migrants making their way to the U.S.  is a ‘crisis on the border’ and continued to blame Democrats for America’s immigration policies.

‘Right now is the sole result of Democrat laws and activist Democrat judges that do whatever they want and that prevent us from returning illegal aliens back home to Central America and other parts of the world,’ he said. 

Trump worked to temper his own derogatory language at his rally Wednesday evening

White House senior advisor Jared Kushner and press secretary Sarah Sanders attend a campaign rally in Mosinee, Wisconsin

Trump offered reassurance to the crowd here in Wisconsin that the government was conducting ‘an aggressive investigation’ in the bombing attempts.

‘My highest duty as you know as president is to keep America safe,’ he said.  

‘Any acts or threats of political violence are an attack on our democracy, itself. No nation can succeed that tolerates violence or the threat of violence as a method of political intimidation, coercion, or control,’ he said. 

And he called on ‘all sides to come together in peace and harmony.’ 

‘We want all sides to come together in peace and harmony. We can do it. We can do it. We can do it. It will happen. More broadly, there’s much we can do to bring our nation together. For example, those engaged in the political arena must stop treating political opponents as being morally defective. Have to do that. The language of moral condemnation and destructive routine, these are arguments and disagreements that have to stop. No one should carelessly compare political opponents to historical villains, which is done often. It’s done all the time. Got to stop. We should not mob people in public spaces or destroy public property,’ Trump said.

Several of his staff – including press secretary Sarah Sanders – and lawmakers who support him have been attacked in public places or, in Sanders’ case, asked to leave a restaurant.

Trump urged the crowd to settle its differences at the ballot box.

‘There is one way to settle our disagreements. It’s called peacefully at the ballot box. That’s what we want. That’s what we want,’ he said.  

He then launched into his typical stump speech and offered his endorsement to Republicans in the state there that night.

As the crowd cheered his words, he said: ‘Did you see how nice I’m behaving tonight?’ 

‘I’m trying to be nice,’ the president noted. 

‘Great country. We’re all going to get along,’ he told the cheering crowd.  

Trump was in Mosinee, Wisconsin, as part of his final campaign push before voters held to the polls in less than two weeks for the midterm elections.

He laid out the stakes for his base, particularly touted his work for Wisconsin, particularly the FoxConn electronics plant whose opening the president visited in June. He also praised his immigration policy and his nomination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. 

‘This will be the election of the caravans, Kavanaugh, law and order, and common sense,’ Trump said.

The president arrived at his rally here in Mosinee, Wisconsin, in style, with Air Force One pulling right behind the stage at the hanger at the Central Wisconsin Airport.

The crowd went wild when Air Force One pulled up with its signature blue and white markings, cheering, waving, and taking photos with their smart phones.

Trump addressed them in an airport hanger a few feet from where Air Force One landed.

American flags hung on the walls and the crowd of supporters wore red Make America Great Again caps. They waved signs that read ‘Make America Great Again,’ ‘Jobs not Mobs,’ and ‘Finish the Wall.’

Long lines waited to get in and big screens were set up outside for those who couldn’t make it in the hanger. 

The president’s stop follows a round of bomb scares on Wednesday up and down the East Coast. 

The White House immediately condemned the attempted violence against Trump’s political rivals on Wednesday as suspicious packages were intercepted by the Secret Service en route to the residences of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Both packages and a third one that was sent to CNN contained pipe bombs, law enforcement officials said. 

A fourth one that was intended for former Attorney General Eric Holder but was sent to the wrong address was confiscated by the Secret Service as it was returned to the listed sender, the office of Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. 

And, late on Wednesday, authorities are investigating a suspicious package that may have been sent to former Vice PresidentJoe Biden but was misaddressed. 

Speaker Ryan condemned Wednesday’s bombing attempts as an act of terrorism

But Senate candidate Leah Vukmir echoed some of Trump’s attack lines when she criticized the media

Speaker Paul Ryan addressed the bombing threats at the beginning of his remarks at the rally Wednesday evening, calling them an ‘act of terrorism.’

‘Let me say something that needs to be said on a day like today,’ he said as the crowd shouted ‘build a wall,’ ‘build a wall’ in response. ‘I’ll get to that,’ he told them.

Then he called the attempted bombings ‘an act of terrorism.’ 

‘There is no place for that in our democracy. We reject that. I say thank god for our law enforcement,’ Ryan said.

Republican Congressman Sean Duffy kicked off the line of speakers Wednesday evening, telling the crowd ‘you guys are one damn good looking rally.’

Duffy was greeted with cheers by the friendly crowd. He spoke after the singing of the National Anthem and told the crowd, many of whom sported Green Bay Packer gear, that he was ‘proud to look out and not one of you were kneeling.’  

Trump is adding 10 more campaign rallies to his schedule and pouring another $9 million into the midterms two weeks out before Election Day.

That brings the president’s total investment into the 2018 election to over $20 million, according to his campaign, which revealed their new campaign efforts on Tuesday, as Republicans work to stop a blue wave from covering the country.

Trump isn’t on the ballot in November but the results will be seen as a referendum on his presidency. His 2020 campaign has been on a fundraising tear, raising roughly $100 million to date.

His campaign promises it will be an ‘epic ride.’ 

Republican Gov. Scott Walker and GOP Senate candidate Leah Vukmir were present on Wednesday evening – Trump has endorsed both their campaigns.

But he hinted he doesn’t forget in his remarks on Wednesday night.

‘I don’t know if she liked me at the beginning, but she likes me now,’ he said of Vukmir.

And he reminded the crowd Walker challenged him for the GOP nomination in 2016. 

And Trump’s former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, a Wisconsin native, joined him on Air Force One and at the rally.

Trump gave him a shout out. 

‘It took us all about five years to figure out how the hell to pronounce his name,’ he said. And then told Priebus, who he fired from the job after six months: ‘That was a lot of fun’ – likely referring to their work together in the White House.

It’s Trump’s second rally of the week, following one in Houston Monday night where he hugged it out with his former rival Ted Cruz, endorsing his reelection bid for Senate.

The president heads to Charlotte, N.C., on Friday evening. 

Trump won Wisconsin by one point in 2016 but he carried the county he’s appearing in by 56 percent.

Both Vukmir and Scott need him to rally his base to get them to the ballot box. 


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Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin is leading Vukmir in the polls. 

And the GOP Senate candidate echoed some of the president’s popular attack lines in her remarks.  

‘One thing the media back there won’t report but I will: President Trump has donated his paychecks to help our veterans,’ she said as the crowd booed. 

But the contest that really has Republicans worried is the governor’s contest: Walker and Democratic challenger Tony Evers, the state schools superintendent, are in a tossup. 

Walker focused on the contrasts between him and his Democratic rival Tony Evers, rallying the crowd to volunteer for his campaign.   

‘We can protect people with pre-existing and not protect the failures of Obamacare in this state,’ Walker told the crowd, who chanted ‘Walker,’ ‘Walker,’ ‘Walker’ when he left the stage.

The relationship between the president and two GOP candidates is complicated. 

Walker ran against Trump for president and was supported by Vukmir and most Wisconsin Republicans. 

But he has been a Trump backer since the president won office although Vukmir has tied her campaign more closely to Trump than Walker has.

Democrats are bringing their own big guns to the state, focusing their efforts on Milwaukee, the state’s largest city and a bastion of Democratic voters.

It’s a change in strategy from 2016, when Hillary Clinton visited Wisconsin once, lost the Democratic primary to Bernie Sanders, and never returned, leaving Trump to carry the state. 

It was a decision Democrats questioned in the Monday morning quarterbacking that came with his victory. 

Sanders rallied the faithful on Monday at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, former President Barack Obama is holding an event in Milwaukee on Friday, and former Vice President Joe Biden visits the state on Tuesday. 

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