The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a nonpartisan group, has new data that paints an alarming picture of the drumbeat of anti-press sentiment expressed by Donald Trump since he announced his candidacy for president on June 16, 2015.
Here’s the key part:
— U.S. Press Freedom Tracker
Consider that: If you average out the nearly 3,500 social media attacks on the press from Donald Trump over the past ten years, you get that he averaged an anti-media post just about every single day of that time period. No days off. For ten years.
(Sidebar: Aside from sleeping and breathing, I can’t think of anything I have done every day for the last 10 years straight.)
That’s a remarkable (and scary) testament to the regularity of attacks on the press. Want a few other scary numbers?
- Trump has used the term “fake news” 1,500 times on social media over the last decade.
- Trump has called the press the “enemy of the people” in 70 distinct posts.
- Trump’s top 3 media targets? CNN is number one at 460 posts followed by Fox News(!) at 451 and the New York Times at 369.
What’s the impact of that relentless repetition of attacks? In 2016—not that long ago, though it may feel like forever—7 in 10 Republicans said they had “some” or “a lot of” trust in national organizations, according to this Pew poll from 2024 . Last year that number was at just 53%—and that’s up from where it stood in 2020.
To be clear: Donald Trump didn’t start the erosion of trust in the media. And he doesn’t bear the entirety of the blame for it.
I think journalists—myself included—and the organizations they work for bear blame too. We have not been nearly transparent enough in why we cover what we do. We have been slow to admit mistake, if we admit them at all. We still can’t acknowledge that, yes, the overwhelming majority of journalists vote for Democrats.
And yet, it’s impossible for me to see how the concerted campaign to delegitimize journalism and journalists by Trump hasn’t served as a massive accelerant to the doubts and distrust people feel toward the media.
What’s worse is that Trump doesn’t believe it. He loves the media. Cares about what the media thinks of him. All of this “fake news” stuff is pure schtick—and it works. It gets his base fired up. It gives them a common enemy.
The political game no longer has referees that everyone (or most people) can recognize as attempting to be fair and impartial. Which means we don’t have rules anymore. It’s the Wild West.
Want more ball and strike calling—no matter what uniform the batter at the plate is wearing? Check out Chris Cillizza’s Substack and YouTube channel.
