Mean girl New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Katie Rogers were full of glee Tuesday night as they ran with a smear of President Trump as ‘raging against reality’ based on a White House email leak that he demanded his order be obeyed that CNN not be shown on Air Force One televisions.
Maggie Haberman.
Katie Rogers.
The Rogers-Haberman bylined article is headlined:
Spotting CNN on a TV Aboard Air Force One, Trump Rages Against Reality
Rogers promoted the article on Twitter, “NEW – Got ahold of an email that shows POTUS causing a scene over Air Force One TV channels (FLOTUS’s was tuned to CNN, a no-no). Illustrates how his force field around the outside world has grown since Helsinki. W/ @maggieNYT”
https://twitter.com/katierogers/status/1021919594188034048
Habermann tweeted, “Trump’s unreality bubble holds, grows @katierogers and me”. (Notice how Haberman does not call him President Trump.)
Trump’s unreality bubble holds, grows @katierogers and me https://t.co/OGdDCvikRW
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) July 25, 2018
Haberman followed with a second tweet, ““Believe me, folks.” Trump “ has shifted from blaming American institutions for a bad relationship with Russia to telling people not to believe the facts of what they have seen or heard.””
“Believe me, folks.” Trump “ has shifted from blaming American institutions for a bad relationship with Russia to telling people not to believe the facts of what they have seen or heard.” https://t.co/MO61GFsBG1
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) July 25, 2018
Rogers retweeted Times reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg who gossiped, “NEWS: 1) Trump controls what Melania watches on AF1. Doesn’t want her to see CNN – only Fox. 2) They have separate hotel rooms when they travel. @katierogers @maggieNYT”
NEWS: 1) Trump controls what Melania watches on AF1. Doesn’t want her to see CNN – only Fox. 2) They have separate hotel rooms when they travel. @katierogers @maggieNYT https://t.co/F4wIWMJBlI
— Sheryl Gay Stolberg (@SherylNYT) July 25, 2018
Julie Davis, listed as a contributor to the article, posted her own take on the smear, “Trump is obsessed with maintaining his own bubble of favorable coverage, right down to policing what the first lady watches (FOX not CNN), a mark of just how focused he is on bending reality to his own will. Scoop via @katierogers & @maggieNYT”
Trump is obsessed with maintaining his own bubble of favorable coverage, right down to policing what the first lady watches (FOX not CNN), a mark of just how focused he is on bending reality to his own will. Scoop via @katierogers & @maggieNYT https://t.co/Hg51jbLQmK
— Julie Davis (@juliehdavis) July 25, 2018
The other named contributor, Emily Cochrane, just retweeted Haberman and Rogers.
On the first couple’s recent trip overseas, Melania Trump’s television aboard Air Force One was tuned to CNN. President Trump was not pleased.
He raged at his staff for violating a rule that the White House entourage should begin each trip tuned to Fox — his preferred network over what he considers the “fake news” CNN — and caused “a bit of a stir” aboard Air Force One, according to an email obtained by The New York Times. The email, an internal exchange between officials in the White House Military Office and the White House Communications Agency last Thursday, also called for the ordering of two additional televisions to support Beam, a TiVo-like streaming device, to make sure the president and first lady could both watch TV in their separate hotel rooms when they travel.
At the end of the email chain, officials confirmed that tuning the TVs to Fox would be standard operating procedure going forward.
The channel-flipping flap was the latest example of how Mr. Trump, at a pivotal moment in his presidency, is increasingly living in a world of selected information and bending the truth to his own narrative. As his aides work to keep him insulated from the outside world, Mr. Trump is doubling down in his efforts to tell supporters to trust him over the words of critics and news reports.
…In the White House, little of the outside criticism breaks through. People who have worked for Mr. Trump say he tends to view everything through the lens of a battle. His goal is bring everyone over to his view.”
Curiously, the print edition of the article carries a less inflammatory headline, “‘A Stir’ on Air Force One As a TV Is Tuned to CNN.”
The rest of the article is Rogers and Haberman arguing with Trump on the issues of the day.
The headline and tone of the article gives the impression the Times is pushing for the invocation of the 25th Amendment against Trump, something the anti-Trump media and politicos have been advocating since Trump was sworn into office last year.
Something that may have escaped the Times gossip girl reporters that explains his behavior: Trump is a boss.
