President Trump parroted the hosts of Fox & Friends Thursday morning, complaining that the New York Times had become a ‘lobbyist’ for the Democrats on tax reform.
‘The Failing @NYTimes, the pipe organ for the Democrat Party, has become a virtual lobbyist for them with regard to our massive Tax Cut Bill,’ Trump wrote. ‘They are wrong so often that now I know we have a winner!’ he added, seemingly referencing a tweet he sent out Monday where he suggested news organizations should compete for a ‘FAKE NEWS TROPHY!’
The Fox & Friends hosts, and then Trump, were riled up over the New York Times’ op-ed board’s Twitter push yesterday to get Americans to call their senators to sway the lawmakers to vote no on the Republican tax reform bill.
President Trump lashed out at the New York Times Thursday morning after the paper’s op-ed board took over the @nytopinion account Wednesday and tweeted out the phone numbers of senators people could call to stop the Republican tax bill
Parroting the hosts of Fox & Friends, who made similar points on television this morning, President Trump called the Times a ‘lobbyist’ for the Democratic Party
Fox & Friends’ Brian Kilmeade pointed out that the Times issued new social media guidelines a month ago, a point that President Trump made on his Twitter account shortly thereafter
President Trump is pictured coming home Wednesday night after giving a speech on tax reform in the suburbs of St. Louis
Not 10 minutes into the Thursday morning broadcast, Fox & Friends’ Steve Doocy called out the Times.
‘The New York Times, the Gray Lady, it looks as if has been rented out to the Democrats because yesterday they essentially turned over everything to stop this tax bill,’ Doocy.
The op-ed board took the @nytopinion account and tweeted numerous times about what senators to call, with the messages including the senators’ phone numbers in D.C. and also in their states.
‘The NYT Editorial Board is urging Senators to vote against the tax bill,’ one tweet said.
All of the tweets used the hashtag, #thetaxbillhurts.
Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade suggested that the Times was breaking its own social media policy.
The New York Times’ editorial board took over the @nytopinion Twitter handle on Wednesday and asked Americans to contact certain senators to pressure them to vote against the Republican tax reform bill
The Times’ editorial board provided phone numbers for both the senators’ Washington and state offices
The Times’ editorial board also offered suggested talking points, while using the hashtag #thetaxbillhurts
In this tweet, the New York Times’ editorial board asks Americans to pressure retiring Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, who has the reputation of being a deficit hawk
‘In social media posts, our journalists must not express partisan opinions, promote political views, endorse candidates, make offensive comments or do anything else that undercuts The Times’s journalistic reputation,’ he said, reading guidelines that were introduced by Times executive editor Dean Baquet in October.
The guidelines were put in place to keep individual journalists and editors working for the Times from posting content on their personal social media channels that might sully the newspaper’s reputation.
The president caught a whiff of this point too and sent out a second tweet on the matter.
‘The Failing @nytimes has totally gone against the Social Media Guidelines that they installed to preserve some credibility after many of their biased reporters went Rogue!’ Trump wrote Thursday morning, tagging @foxandfriends in his tweet, so Twitter watchers were aware of his source.
In a follow-up segment on Fox & Friends, where the major points were all brought up again, ex-Rep. Jason Chaffetz laid the issue out.
‘But to start putting telephone numbers and to move to advocacy and actually call not just the senators’ office, but the districts and they’re putting out hashtags to do this, that’s just new stuff,’ the former Republican lawmaker complained. ‘And you’re right, against what they said they were going to do a month ago,’ he added, referring to the new social media rules.