It's just adorable how Brian Stelter assumes Donald Trump's base uses sound judgment or critical thinking skills to evaluate Donald Trump's tweets. Geesh!
BRIAN STELTER: But first today, slippery slime-ball liars and third-rate reporter flunkies. Is there no end to the commander in chief's name-calling? President Trump is putting the bully in bully pulpit. He's on the attack this weekend, seemingly supporting calls for a Justice Department probe into his opponent, but of all the tweets, I want to hone in on just one of the many attacks.
This is his bald-faced lie about New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman. Trump lashed out after reading this story in the paper by Haberman and two other reporters.
It says that personal lawyer Michael Cohen could flip. Now, Trump took exception to some of the quotes in the story. The quotes saying that he treated Cohen like garbage. So I guess now he's treating Haberman like garbage. He's calling her a third-rate reporter and a crooked Hillary flunkie, who I don't speak to and have nothing to do with.
Let's just stop right there. That tweet is wrong in at least four different ways. He didn't even spell her name right. And he called her a third-rate reporter, even though he knows she dominates the White House leaks [Ed. note: because he calls her with the leaks]. Heck, she just won a Pulitzer a few days ago, and next weekend, she's accepting another award, this time at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, for in the words of the judges, showing her deep understanding of what makes President Trump tick.
That's what makes this tweet a lie. You know, sometimes covering the president is difficult to determine what is actually a lie, but this one is crystal clear. Trump said, quote, I don't speak to her, and I have nothing to do with her.
And here they are in the Oval Office together. Haberman has interviewed Trump on the record more than a dozen times since 2015. And by the way, she doubles as a political analyst here at CNN. And I know she takes these attacks in stride, but I don't want to.
Lying is disrespectful. It's not just disrespectful to Haberman or to journalists, but to the public.
We all know the president uses Twitter to deliver talking points to his base. It's very effective for him, but it's also disrespectful. Is he really -- does he really think that his believers, his supporters are going to believe this lie? You know, when there's photographic proof to the contrary?
Trump's base has "photographic evidence" that Trump is a liar times 2000.
They. Don't. Care.
If Brian Stelter hasn't figured out by now that his "base" is Fox News-brainwashed, memory-hole addicted, and white supremacist tribal cultists? Maybe he should grab a dictionary:
cult - a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.
Or maybe Stelter should go look up "faith," "Trump" and "MAGA" on Twitter. There are hoards of MAGA types declaring loyalty to Jesus and Trump in the same breath. It's utterly real and utterly disgusting.
Trump's supporters will believe whatever he tells them to believe. That's what they are and the sooner we vote their will out of office and put an end to this nightmare the better.
