Trump says media ‘doesn’t want to report’ extremist attacks
ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Donald Trump spoke at the U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base.
MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. >>President Donald Trump accused the media today of deliberately minimizing coverage of the threat posed by the Islamic State group, saying news outlets “have their reasons” for not reporting what he described as a “genocide” underway at the hands of the group.
The president did not immediately offer evidence to support his claim, made during the new commander in chief’s first visit to the headquarters for U.S. Central Command. Later, the White House released a list of 78 attacks it described as “executed or inspired by” the Islamic State group since September 2014. The White House said “most” on the list did not get sufficient media attention, although it did not explain how it defined the term. Some of the incidents on the list received widespread attention and deep reporting.
“You’ve seen what happened in Paris and Nice. All over Europe it’s happening. It’s gotten to a point where it’s not even being reported,” Trump told a group of military leaders and troops during the visit. “And in many cases, the very, very dishonest press doesn’t want to report it. They have their reasons and you understand that.”
Trump, who has made relentless criticism of the media a hallmark of his presidency, did not explain why he thinks news outlets minimize attention on such attacks.
Later, White House spokesman Sean Spicer tried to tone down the president’s remarks, saying it was a question of balance: “Like a protest gets blown out of the water, and yet an attack or a foiled attack doesn’t necessarily get the same coverage.”
The list released late today included incidents like a truck massacre in Nice, France, that killed dozens and received widespread attention, as well as less high-profile incidents in which nobody was killed.
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The AP could not verify that each of the incidents had connections to the Islamic State group. The list appeared to be hastily assembled, including several misspellings of the word “attacker.”
Trump also used the visit to CENTCOM to defend his immigration and refugee restrictions and reaffirm his support for NATO.
He laced his speech with references to homeland security amid a court battle over his travel ban on people from seven majority-Muslim countries. He did not directly mention the case now before a federal appeals court after a lower court temporarily suspended the ban.
“We need strong programs” so that “people that love us and want to love our country and will end up loving our country are allowed in” and those who “want to destroy us and destroy our country” are kept out, Trump said.
“Freedom, security and justice will prevail,” Trump added. “We will defeat radical Islamic terrorism and we will not allow it to take root in our country. We’re not going to allow it.”
Trump touched upon various alliances in his remarks, noting, “we strongly support NATO.”
He spoke Sunday with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. A White House statement said the two “discussed how to encourage all NATO allies to meet their defense spending commitments,” and also talked about the crisis in Ukraine and security challenges facing NATO countries.
Trump once dismissed the trans-Atlantic military alliance as “obsolete,” and said he would decide whether to protect NATO countries against Russian aggression based on whether those countries “have fulfilled their obligations to us.”
Speaking as commander in chief, Trump repeated his promises to defeat “radical Islamic terrorists” but provided no specifics on any policy changes he wants in the fight against the Islamic State.
Before his remarks, Trump sat down for lunch with a room full of troops in fatigues from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, as well as senior members of his White House staff.
Trump made small talk with some of the soldiers, discussing everything from football to military careers.
“Gonna make it a career?” Trump asked one person.
“C’mon, you have to stay,” he urged another.
Trump also hailed New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, saying he “cemented his place” in football history after his fifth Super Bowl win Sunday.
Trump stopped at the base on the way back to Washington after his first weekend away from the White House. Trump spent the weekend at his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, with first lady Melania Trump, who had not appeared in public since shortly after her husband took office.
At MacDill, the president was briefed by CENTCOM and SOCOM leaders. A number of his advisers, including Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Michael Flynn, Trump’s national security adviser, also attended.
Trump met with Florida Gov. Rick Scott before delivering his remarks, telling the crowd at CENTCOM that Scott’s endorsement of his candidacy for president “makes him a better friend of mine,” adding that with those who don’t offer their endorsement, “it’s never quite the same.”
CENTCOM oversaw a recent raid by U.S. special operations forces on an al-Qaida compound in Yemen, the first military operation authorized by Trump. A Navy SEAL, Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator William “Ryan” Owens, 36, of Peoria, Illinois, was killed, making him the first known U.S. combat casualty under Trump.
Three other U.S. service members were wounded in the operation. More than half a dozen suspected militants and more than a dozen civilians were also killed, including the 8-year-old daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical cleric and U.S. citizen who was targeted and killed in 2011 by a U.S. drone strike.
Trump made no mention of Owens or the raid in Yemen during his remarks today, but he paid recognition to the sacrifices of American military families and the spouses of American soldiers, vowing his support to those who risk their lives for the country.
“We protect those who protect us, and we will never, ever let you down,” he said.
23 responses to “Trump says media ‘doesn’t want to report’ extremist attacks”
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Trump, who appears to having some kind of meltdown, said that the media did not cover the attacks in Orlando or San Bernardino, among others. Mr Trump famously will not read anything that doesn’t include coverage of himself, so he may have missed the non-stop, dawn to dusk coverage of those events. He listed others as well, that were all thoroughly covered by various media.
Mr. Trump is profoundly mentally ill. This will end badly for the United States.
Mr. “so-called president” was extremely angered by the lack of media coverage of the massacre at Bowling Green. He questioned why reporters didn’t contact Kellyanne Conway, who would have gladly given them a tour of the devastation.
It seems impossible that such a defective person was actually elected President of the United States. He is proving to the world that he knows absolutely nothing.
His discussion about Frederick Douglass – Trump spoke about him as if he was alive – really showed the depth of Trump’s ignorance. It’s more shocking every day. Probably the best we can hope for is an early exit by Trump and the assumption of the office by Mr. Pence. I don’t agree with Pence on most anything, I think he is fundamentally evil when it comes to LGBT issues, but at least he isn’t insane.
That’s the new standard for President. “At least he’s not insane.”
I always thought trump was a vile, childish, petulant, vindictive narcissist, but I’m beginning to believe that he really is mentally ill. How else could one explain the bizarre, ridiculous things he’s doing. Steve bannon, meanwhile, is taking advantage of the situation to advance his agenda.
The only hope is that the gop leadership will grow a pair and assist in impeaching trump. However, based on what I’ve seen so far, I’m not hopeful.
Quick! Somebody find Donald’s pacifier before he has another melt down!
This makes absolutely no sense to me. The media loves have a disaster to cover; why would they want to minimize it? I remember after the San Bernardino shooting there was live coverage as they tracked the killers. How can you be unaware of the various attacks happening around the world unless you never watch TV, read newspapers, or turn on the internet? There was one this past week; the guy w/the sword outside the Louvre. How did I learn about it? Thru the media!
Yes, he’s right — the Bowling Green Massacre got a lot of media coverage, but it wasn’t until the third time that Conway told the story in an interview that it really went national.
LOL
Wow! This president is using disinformation and misinformation to excite his base and says he’s doing it for love of country and for the safety of our country and instilling national pride. On one hand I though this guy is insane…but think that his is a smart manipulative person, building the “us against them,” concept. In the mean time he is gaining loyal supportors and consolidating power. One person did this in Europe and his last name started with H.
Can I get some balance here. is there no Trumpster here to defend the grand orange clown?
There was a Trump rally held in Maine to defend him and eight people showed up. Eight.
It’s nearly 3 a.m. on the East Coast. Wait for the first tweet: “A crowd of 8, 9, 10 … thousand rallied in Portland, Maine, in support of my …”
Yes, well. It was the camera angles the media chose. That, they lie.
It is very simple why the media refuses to report on the majority of Terrorist attacks around the world, by doing so they will only be agreeing with President Trump on how bad the situation really is and god forbid if that ever happens. The media is only focused on trying to discredit President Trump because of the beat down he put on their stellar candidate Hilliar. You would think by now that the Democrats and their left wing radical supporters along with the media would have learnt their lesson by now. The Trump train can not be de-railed, get on board and enjoy the ride.
Except that the list of so-called “terrorist incidents” provided by Sean Spicer recieved considerable media coverage, in many cases the Google score for the coverage was many times greater than it was for Trump’s inauguration. Why does Trump continue to make easily disprovable claims? Is it just to keep his themes of fear and Islamophobia front and center, even in the absence of a record of terrorist incidents in this country originating from the seven countries on his list?
another accusation without proof. If he doesn’t like the media who is going to spread the news. There are people that don’t tweet. If the media stopped reporting on Trumps crazy tweets, there wouldn’t be as much airtime for Trump. I wouldn’t be surprised if he issued an executive order FORCING the “dishonest” media to broadcast his “news items” verbatim without further comment or they’ll have their licenscess revocked.
The only ride the trump train is on is down the drain. When it happens, it’s gonna go fast!
davcon – You are a liar. All terrorist attacks are covered extensively.
Lying does not support Mr. Trump.
I refuse to get on this train that praises the leadership of Russia and is based on lies and bigotry. This train is dragging down our once great country.
Just so you liberal left winger heeeeehaaaaaaws get the idea of what we are dealing with watch the video.
https://www.funker530.com/recent-propaganda-video/
Everybody knows this already. It’s been widely reported in the news media here and around the world, and all civilized people are disgusted, which just underscores the point: the media that Trump doesn’t like is already on the job and doing it well. PBS Frontline did an entire hour program about it three months ago.
Ok Ok you saw it first. NOW your really really cool. Hope you feel all that much better about yourself.