Speaking to right-wing radio sycophants, Trump whines about negative news reports

“All I know is Fox is good. Fox -- we love you, Fox.”

During interviews with a litany of conservative talk radio hosts, President Donald Trump continued his attacks on mainstream media, claiming certain outlets have “an agenda” and are routinely “inaccurate.”

In interviews with conservative radio hosts Mike Gallagher and Chris Plante, Trump attacked several mainstream outlets, including CNN, MSNBC, and NBC, calling them “so inaccurate” and alleging that the outlets “have an agenda.” Trump also lashed out at the media during an interview with Brian Kilmeade, host of the radio show Kilmeade & Friends and the Fox News morning show Fox & Friends, calling the media “a bunch of fakers.” Trump mentioned that Kilmeade has been “fair” to him and added, “Fox is good. Fox -- we love you, Fox.”

Trump has a long history of smearing legitimate news outlets, often calling unflattering coverage and entire media companies “fake news.”

From the October 17 edition of Fox News Radio's Kilmeade and Friends:

BRIAN KILMEADE (HOST): Can I ask you what you thought about when you brought up past presidents and what they've done. Do you want to clarify anything there?

DONALD TRUMP: Well there's nothing to clarify because if you look at my whole, and this was again Fake News CNN. I mean, they're just a bunch of fakers. So, they asked me that question. And for the most part, to the best of my knowledge, I think I've called every family of somebody that's died.

[...]

KILMEADE: Nine months in. You happy?

TRUMP: I love doing it. I'm getting tremendous support even in your polls I'm getting tremendous support. And it's hard to believe I can get support when you have so many phony stories out there. You know like CNN, like MSNBC, like NBC. NBC is probably worse than CNN. But all I know is Fox is good. Fox -- we love you, Fox.

KILMEADE: We’re fair.

TRUMP: You are fair.

KILMEADE: Thank you.

TRUMP: You know what, truth is, you hit me when it’s needed, you do. I mean, you do in particular, right? But the fact is, you’re fair.

KILMEADE: I think we’re fair.

TRUMP All I want is fair. I don’t want anything else. I just want fair, and Fox has really been fair and I appreciate it.

From the October 17 edition of Salem Radio Network’s The Mike Gallagher Show:

DONALD TRUMP: I’ll tell you, CNN is fake news. MSNBC and NBC are terrible. They're probably as bad, or worse, than CNN.

MIKE GALLAGHER (HOST): Well, again, and I don’t mean to beat a dead horse here, but I'm the train coming here reading on a CNN site that you don't reach out to talk radio. I'm like, wait a minute, what am I doing in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday?

TRUMP: They're really despicable.

GALLAGHER: It’s terrible.

TRUMP: They're despicable people. They do a terrible job. Their ratings are reflecting it. They do very badly, relative to others.

GALLAGHER: Right.

TRUMP: And I'll tell you what, it’s just something that we have done so well with legislation. I'll give you an example, we have way over 50 legislative approvals, where we went through the Senate, where we went through the House. Nobody talks about it. They say we have none. They actually say we have none. We almost a record a number. It’s almost a record number, and it may be a record but I always say “almost” because then they’ll check you. And they’ll say, “Well, you know, in 1824.” So, they’ll say, “Donald Trump isn’t telling the truth.” These are very, very terrible people.

[...]

GALLAGHER: I talk to people. The disconnect between the people, the millions who support you, and the media is extraordinary. It's as if the media is tone deaf about the people who want you to succeed so that the country succeeds.

TRUMP: The New York Times, The Washington Post are so inaccurate, so inaccurate. They will take a good event and make it bad. They will take something that really is positive -- I’m going to just speak, it’s just the way it is. And actually, people admit it. And actually, The New York Times almost admits it, they say, we don't even care.

From the October 17 edition of WMAL’s The Chris Plante Show:

CHRIS PLANTE (HOST): What’s surprised you the most in terms of big messes left on your plate when you got here that just, sort of, knocked you back?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, I think I’ve been surprised by a lot of things. And when you say surprised, I know the level of viciousness in the world. I know the level of hate in the world. I know the level of -- Actually, dishonesty in the media is one of the things that’s surprised me the most. I thought after I won the media would become much more stable and much more honest. They’ve gone crazy. CNN is a joke. NBC is a total joke. You watch what they report. It bears no relationship to what I’m doing. But the media is absolutely dishonest. And I have never seen, frankly, I’ve never seen anything quite like it. But, The New York Times, The Washington Post, they write whatever they want to write. You know, they have an agenda. We’ll have to figure out what their agenda is. But they do have an agenda. I think that's one of the biggest surprises is the level of dishonesty. Interestingly, after I won, I said, well now I’ll bet the media starts to shape up and it’s over so, now -- And it actually has gotten worse than during the campaign.