Chuck Schumer Slams Trump's Fox News Attack: 'Dictators' Do That
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) rebuked President Donald Trump on Tuesday for his recent attack on Fox News ― a network that has generally treated him with favorable and sometimes fawning coverage ― comparing the commander-in-chief to a dictator.
“What kind of thin skin does this man have?” Schumer asked in a Senate floor speech. “It shows he really doesn’t believe in freedom of the press. Dictators shut down the press, try to shame the press when they speak truth to power, which is what our press has done in all the years of this republic.”
On Sunday, Trump unleashed a firestorm of criticism against Fox News on Twitter, calling it “worse than watching low ratings Fake News CNN.”
He took aim in particular at Fox News’ weekend anchors, who include moderate hosts like Chris Wallace and Howard Kurtz. Trump was also miffed that the channel welcomed Democrats to interview on its programs, writing that the network “forgot the people who got them there!”
Schumer contended it was a sign that Trump is unfit for office.
“When President Trump can even attack Fox News, because once in a blue moon, it says something he doesn’t like, that shows that he doesn’t really deserve to be president, because a president must protect our liberties whether he’s under fire or not,” he said.
Trump appears to be growing frustrated with Fox News, whose opinion hosts have rallied around his administration, as certain anchors in the network’s news division have taken a different approach.
In May, the president bashed the outlet for holding a town hall discussion with South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a Democratic presidential candidate whom Trump dismissed as a waste of time.
“Fox is moving more and more to the losing (wrong) side in covering the Dems,” Trump tweeted, complaining that Wallace, who interviewed Buttigieg, “never speaks well of me.”
Trump doubled down on the criticism in June, tweeting that the network’s polls “are always bad for me” and adding that there was “something weird going on at Fox.”
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
