Trump calls media ‘enemy of American people’

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump ratcheted up his attacks on the media Friday, blasting the press as “the enemy of the American people!”
Shortly after landing at his holiday home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida — where he is spending a third consecutive weekend — the president lashed out in 140 characters.
“The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Trump had tweeted an earlier post which targeted the New York Times, CNN, NBC “and many more” media — and ended with the exclamation “SICK!”
But he swiftly deleted that missive before reposting the definitive version — adding two more “enemies” to his blacklist.
The 70-year-old Trump built his campaign on criticizing the press as biased. In addition to regularly accusing the media of overstating his setbacks, he has also accused journalists of failing to show sufficient respect for his accomplishments.
On Thursday, he launched a long diatribe at a grievance-filled news conference, in which he blamed the media for his one-month-old administration’s problems.
On Friday, Trump said he has four people under consideration including acting national security adviser (NSA) Keith Kellogg.
Trump ousted Michael Flynn on Monday in a controversy over the retired lieutenant general’s contacts with Russia. Retired Vice Admiral Robert Harward on Thursday turned down the Republican president’s offer to replace Flynn.
“General Keith Kellogg, who I have known for a long time, is very much in play for NSA — as are three others,” Trump said on Twitter, without naming the other candidates.
Former CIA chief David Petraeus was previously identified as a candidate by a White House official.
Former NSA head Keith Alexander and former supreme allied commander in Europe James Jones, who held the NSA post under former Democratic President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2010, were also thought to be under consideration. Both are retired generals.
Two others also thought to be in contention were John Bolton, former US ambassador to the UN, and Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who holds a senior post with the US Army Training and Doctrine Command.