“A lot of the reporters are creating violence by not writing the truth,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn Friday after being asked if his rhetoric was at all responsible for any violence.
“You’re creating violence by your questions,” he said. “The fake news is creating violence,” he said. “If the media would write correctly and write accurately and write fairly, you’d have a lot less violence in this country.”
Trump’s remarks came the same day liberal political donor Tom Steyer said a second possible mail bomb was sent to him and a few days after another suspicious package was sent to CNN, this time at its Atlanta office. Die-hard Trump supporter Cesar Sayoc was arrested last week for allegedly sending bombs to several of Trump’s political opponents including George Soros and the Clintons.
Trump has not stopped describing the media as the “enemy of the people” and has repeatedly denied that he is responsible for his supporters taking his comments as an excuse for violent actions, instead blaming the media itself. When Axios asked Trump if he was “worried at all” if his words—specifically calling the media the “enemy of the people”—could inspire violence, he said, “it’s my only form of fighting back, I couldn’t be here if I didn’t do that.”
