President Donald Trump slammed the “progressive” media for pulling the “racist card” against him and his fellow Republicans.
In an interview that aired Tuesday night the president spoke with Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly. Trump and O’Reilly talked about the media and Trump once again slammed the “progressive” media as fake news.
“I don’t think they like anybody on ‘our side,’” Trump said.
“They’re saying that you’re anti-Muslim. They’re saying that you’re anti-Black. They’re saying that you’re anti-poor. … Does it hurt your feelings that they are making you into a hater?” O’Reilly asked.
“No, because they always do it,” Trump responded. “The first thing they do, with the Republicans or conservatives, is the racist card. They pull out the racist card. They always do that, not just me. They do it with everybody. And I see that, and once you know that, you feel a lot better about it.”
Trump’s demand that “sanctuary cities” publish lists of crimes committed by undocumented is undaunted by far higher criminality of people born here.
Trump’s regard for race relations has been under scrutiny since the day he kicked off his presidential campaign, at which time he called Mexican immigrants “criminals” and “rapists.” Since taking office he has come under fire for his Muslim travel ban and for appearing to believe civil rights activist Frederick Douglass is still alive. Douglass passed away in 1895.
Later, O’Reilly asked if Trump believes he will ever be able to change the media’s mind about him.
“There are entities in this country that despise you and your administration,” he said. “Do you think you can ever convince them to take it down a bit?”
“I think success will do that,” Trump responded. “I think jobs will do that. I think companies coming back into our country will do that. Yeah, I think I can.”
Trump also pointed out that Time magazine named him Person of the Year but also wrote on the cover, “President of the Divided States of America.”
“I don’t think it’s fair. Maybe other people do think it’s fair,” he said.
Millennials also cite feelings of disgust and fear following Trump’s victory on Election Day.
Data indicates that people do think it’s a fair assessment and have for the past few months. A January poll by Pew Research Center found that 86 percent of the country believes the nation is more politically divided than it has been in the past — the highest percentage since at least 2004 (this changes only slightly when broken down by party — 88 percent of Democrats compared to 84 percent of Republicans). A CNN/ORC poll conducted in November about a week after the election found that 85 percent of respondents feel the nation is more divided than in the past. A November Gallup poll drew similar conclusions, with 77 percent of respondents perceiving the nation as divided — the highest since 2009, at which time the number was 69 percent. PRRI, a public policy think tank, conducted a poll in September and found that about three-quarters of the nation believe there is division.
Trump also talked about his unsubstantiated allegations that “massive voter fraud” is the reason he lost the election’s popular vote to Hillary Clinton.
“Is there any validity to the criticism of you that you say things you can’t back up factually, as the president?” O’Reilly asked. “You can do that as a candidate or a businessman. But if you say, for example, that there are 3 million illegal aliens who voted and then you don’t have the data to back it up, some people are gonna say that’s irresponsible for a president to say that. Is there any validity to that?”
“Many people have come out and said I’m right,” Trump responded. “You know that.”
Trump has seemingly based his voter fraud allegations on an unsubstantiated claim from a Twitter user. Gregg Phillips, the self-proclaimed founder of a voter fraud reporting app, tweeted in November — just days after the election — that he and a group of volunteers had “verified more than three million votes” cast illegally. The tweet was sent before any states had even certified their results.
President Donald Trump seemingly based his “voter fraud” cry on an unsubstantiated tweet from November alleging “verified” voter fraud.
“It doesn’t have to do with the vote, although that’s the end result; it has to do with the registration,” Trump said to O’Reilly. “Look Bill, we can be babies, but you take a look at the registration — you have illegals, you have dead people, you have this — it’s really a bad situation. It’s really bad.”
The Associated Press discovered that Phillips is registered to vote in three separate states: Alabama, Mississippi and Texas. He is considered “inactive” in Mississippi and his status his “suspended” in Texas. Officials reported to AP that “Phillips could have voted, however, by producing identification and updating his address at the polls.”
“So you think you’re gonna be proven correct in that statement?” O’Reilly asked Trump.
“Well, I think I already have. A lot of people have come out and said that I’m correct,” the president answered.
A News 21 study found just 56 cases of noncitizens voting between 2001 and 2011.
In addition to other numerous studies debunking voter fraud as a myth, some of Trump’s fellow Republicans have come out to disagree with the president.
“I would urge the President to knock this off; this is the greatest democracy on Earth, we’re the leader of the free world, and people are going to start doubting you as a person if you keep making accusations against our electoral system without justification,” Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s former opponents in the election, said. “This is going to erode his ability to govern this country if he does not stop it.”
Texas Republican Rep. Will Hurd also weighed in to say, “I would suggest the White House looks in their windshield and not the rearview mirror. They did something that nobody thought they could do. They should be proud [of] that and not let this be a distraction.”
Meanwhile, as Trump prepares an investigation into the fraud, to be led by Vice President Mike Pence, Republicans this week voted to do away with the Elections Assistance Commission, a bipartisan commission charged with ensuring elections run smoothly and that appropriate guidelines are followed during voting.
“It is my firm belief that the EAC has outlived its usefulness and purpose,” Committee chair Gregg Harper (R-MS) said of the decision.
