Trump makes a storm of news, shows restraint on the press, even while bashing the media

I’m not excited about that donald trump has renewed his attack on the “corrupt media”.

After his $15 million victory over ABC and George Stephanopoulos, Trump sued the Des Moines Register and pollster Gold Ann Selzer yesterday for bad polling. She projected him to lose by 4 points, and he won the state by 13 points. He called this “blatant election interference.”

Trump is also taking legal action against CBS over the “60 Minutes” mistake in substituting a crisper Kamala Harris answer to a different question than the one asked. But the network can argue that it was a regular TV edition.

Trump is unlikely to win these suits, but he doesn’t care. Just putting your perceived opponents to the test and considerable expenditure to defend yourself is reward enough.

A KINDER AND PEOPLE TRUMP? PRESIDENT ELECTED WITH A MORE MODERATE POSITION

Most legal experts say ABC could have won its lawsuit, and Stephanopoulos repeatedly said Trump was found liable for “rape,” rather than “sexual abuse,” in the lawsuit E. Jean Carroll, at cause of the malice standard for a public figure. . Trump would have to show that the network has knowingly shown a reckless disregard for the truth. But ABC would have endured the embarrassment of handing over emails, texts and cellphone records.

What surprised me, though, was that the president-elect went into attack mode just days after saying he had “domesticated” the press and was getting better coverage. So much for the ceasefire.

But some of Trump’s most positive aspects were on display during the hour-long presser, a series of rants I saw in our interview in New York two weeks before the election.

I’ve known Donald Trump for more than three decades, interviewed him twice this year, and now that we’re done with the sometimes incendiary campaign rhetoric, he sounds different.

With seemingly boundless energy at 78, he deliberately speaks a little more slowly and softly, while moderating his positions on a range of divisive issues. He knows how to deflect questions he shouldn’t answer, like “Is he going to retaliate against Iran?” He threw out phrases like “maybe it was my fault,” deflating any superhuman image. He recently admitted that it would be difficult to lower grocery prices.

The incoming president was asked if Republican senators who oppose their candidates should be primaries. His answer was carefully worded.

TRUMP THREATS MORE LITIGATION AGAINST MEDIA LIKE ABC TO PAY $15 MILLION TO FIX CASE

“If they’re unreasonable, I’ll give you a different answer. An answer you’ll be surprised to hear. If they’re unreasonable, if they’re opposed to someone for political or stupid reasons, I’d say yes. It’s nothing to do with me, I’d say which would probably be mainstream, but if they’re reasonable, fair, and really disagree with something or someone, I could see that happening.”

Of course, it is Trump who determines what is reasonable or fair.

Asked about the parade of Silicon Valley executives who have come or are coming to Mar-a-Lago – the leaders of Meta, Amazon, Google, Apple and others – Trump noted that they were “very hostile” in his first term ( “and maybe it was my fault, but I really don’t think so.”) It doesn’t hurt that Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos are making a million dollars for their investment.

“One of the big differences” is that “everyone was fighting with me” in the first term. Now, “everyone wants to be my friend. I don’t know, my personality has changed or something.” That was tongue in cheek.

What was striking about the press conference was the amount of news Trump made on a wide range of topics, some of which were barely mentioned.

He thought about Duke’s false rape accuser, who finally admitted she lied in 2006, saying life would never be the same for lacrosse players who did nothing wrong. He talked about how the Biden team was not leveling up with the public on drones. He described the “sickness” of those who view the alleged killer of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO positively. He supported the polio vaccine. Defended Pete Hegseth. He talked about Venezuela and Syria and Turkey and North Korea and Bibi. He ruminated on TikTok.

There was a sense of deja vu, a stark reminder of how Trump was a 24-hour news source during his first term, even as he spoke to reporters he didn’t like, sometimes denigrating them or contradicting the your coverage The contrast to the soon-to-be Ex Guy, who didn’t make the weekend news as usual in Delaware or at Camp David, it could hardly be bigger.

So, beyond the all-out attack on the media, long his favorite role, the Incoming Guy actually showed restraint and nuance and was clearly enjoying himself.

Now maybe Trump has just been in a bad mood the last few days. After Judge Juan Merchan refused to dismiss the conviction for quiet money on the grounds that his private actions were not covered by the recent Supreme Court Speaking on official events, the incoming president posted this yesterday:

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“Merchan, who is far worse and even more corrupt than (Jack) Smith in his fight for my desperate political opponents, cannot let this farce go. It is because of his conflicts and relationships that he continues to break the Law? stop!. ..

“In a completely illegal psychotic order, the deeply conflicted, corrupt, biased and incompetent Interim Judge Juan Merchan has completely disrespected the United States Supreme Court and its landmark Immunity Decision. But even without immunity, this illegitimate case is nothing more than a manipulated hoax.”

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Now there is the Donald we all met during the trial.