Donald Trump has made animus toward the mainstream press part of his populist brand since he first ran for office. But over the past week, Trump’s threats toward the media and criticism of reporters have grown darker, cruder and more frequent, chipping further away at American norms of free media and speech and edging Trump closer to authoritarianism.
Consider: Traveling on Air Force One on Friday, a Bloomberg News White House reporter sought to ask Trump about releasing documents, including emails, linked to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump, who had for months encouraged people to move on from the issue, turned toward the journalist and scolded, “Quiet. Quiet, piggy.”
The same day, in a series of social media posts, Trump went after NBC late-night host Seth Meyers, saying he has “no talent,” and suggesting his show is a “ratings DISASTER.” More ominously, he asserted that “NBC should fire him IMMEDIATELY.” The president’s comments were reposted by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, raising the specter that Trump and Carr were aligned in an attack on a regulated broadcaster. It wouldn’t be the first time. Both had pressured The Walt Disney Co., the parent company of ABC, in September to remove late-night host Jimmy Kimmel from the airwaves.
Although Trump has threatened lawsuits against multiple media outlets, and reached multimillion-dollar settlements with ABC and CBS over the past year, his attorneys upped the ante last week. Trump’s personal attorneys said they would file a lawsuit seeking $1 billion in damages from the BBC if the British public broadcaster didn’t retract a program that had distorted Trump’s speech on Jan. 6, 2021, apologize and compensate the president. (The BBC has apologized for its editing but has declined to pay Trump.)
But the air of menace may have grown thickest on Tuesday, when Trump hosted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
But the air of menace may have grown thickest on Tuesday, when Trump hosted Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, widely known as MBS. It was the crown prince’s first visit to the White House since the 2018 murder of Saudi dissident and Washington Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded during Trump’s first term that Khashoggi’s murder and dismemberment inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul could not have taken place without the prince’s approval.
When ABC News reporter Mary Bruce posed a question about Khashoggi’s murder, Trump dismissed the columnist as “extremely controversial.” “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about,” the U.S. president said. “Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen.”
He continued that the prince “knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at that. You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that.”
That’s right. According to Trump, it was Bruce who was out of line for asking about Khashoggi in the first place. Trump went on: “It’s not the question that I mind. It’s your attitude. I think you are a terrible reporter. It’s the way you ask these questions,” he said. “You start off with a man who is highly respected,” Trump said, referring to MBS, “asking him a horrible, insubordinate and just terrible question” — as if U.S. reporters are subordinate to a foreign potentate.
Then, Trump dove deeper into media bashing, berating ABC as “a crappy company” that should lose its broadcast license, for the sin, apparently, of asking the president a question he didn’t like. (For the record, networks such as ABC don’t have licenses; their individual stations do.)
Trump’s courting of MBS and the kingdom is, of course, an act of realpolitik. Saudi Arabia is an important global economic player and U.S. military ally, particularly as a regional bulwark against Iran. Presidents have sought close relations with the Saudi royal family for decades; witness then-President Joe Biden’s awkward fist bump with MBS on a 2022 visit to Riyadh. Biden didn’t call out MBS then for Khashoggi’s killing (though Biden’s administration sanctioned those identified as members of the assassination team). Trump has been losing lately, and is perhaps losing it as a result. But there is a notable context to the intensity of Trump’s recent vitriol toward the media, even if a fusillade of insults fits Trump’s long-term pattern. Trump has been losing lately, and is perhaps losing it as a result. After months resisting release of the Epstein files and referring to the issue as a Democratic hoax, Trump reversed himself on Sunday. Congress swiftly voted with near unanimity to release the documents, delivering what amounts to a stinging rebuke of the president. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is considering a challenge to Trump’s authority to set international tariffs, potentially undoing one of his signature economic initiatives. Inflation and public dissatisfaction with the economy continue despite Trump’s efforts to talk them down. Amid all this, Trump’s approval ratings have ticked steadily downward. On Tuesday, as the drama in the Oval Office played out, Reuters reported that only 38% of those it surveyed approved of Trump’s performance in office, the lowest rating of his second term. There’s plenty for the president to be unhappy about. Trump has already damaged the media by stripping funding for public broadcasting and intimidating network TV owners into multimillion-dollar lawsuit settlements. There’s no telling where a frustrated president, triggered by criticism, will lash out next.
Paul Farhi is a former media reporter for The Washington Post, where he was a staff writer for more than 35 years. He writes about the media industry for The Atlantic, The Daily Beast and Columbia Journalism Review, among other outlets. 
