President Trump spent most of his campaign-style rally in Las Vegas on Thursday night convincing supporters that everyone loves him—including his harshest critics in the media, who he says are sure to endorse him in 2020.
Trump, who was in Nevada to stump for Republican Dean Heller ahead of a midterm challenge for his U.S. Senate seat, spent most of his speech praising himself for making America “respected again” by creating economic growth. But he repeatedly interrupted his comments to mock the media.
“Do you remember the tears from the fake news media when it was obvious that we were going to win [in 2016]? And you know what? They’re still crying,” he said. “They don’t know what the hell happened, but it happened, and that’s why we’re setting all-time records, that’s why we’re doing so well.”
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Describing the media as the “great ally” of the Democratic resistance—which he said consists of “left-wing haters, angry mobs, and socialist fanatics”—the president expressed particular scorn for The New York Times.
“People don’t read The New York Times because it’s a dishonest newspaper, it’s terrible,” he said, claiming the paper had been forced to issue an apology for covering the 2016 election “so badly.”
He went on to complain that the media’s overall coverage of his accomplishments has been “so unfair” for failing to cover positive developments.
Yet it is the media that is at his mercy, and not the other way around, he suggested.
“They’re making more money than they’ve ever made because of us. But you know what’s going to happen? About six months after we start, six months before the [2020] election, they’re going to endorse Donald Trump for president. You know why? Because if they don’t, those broadcasting companies, The New York Times, all of those, they are going bankrupt so fast. So they’ll be endorsing us,” he said.
He seemed similarly confident about his relations with other world leaders, despite a string of reports in recent months suggesting perceptions about the U.S. leadership have suffered after he took office.
“Every time a person comes into the Oval Office—a king, a queen, a prime minister—they say, ‘Mr. President, congratulations on what you’ve done with this country.’ We’ve never seen anything like it.”
