A day after challenging Donald Trump over controversial comments the real estate mogul made about Arizona Sen. John McCain’s “war hero” status, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly defended the Republican hopeful, saying the media despise Trump because “he has no fear.”
“He could not care less about censoring himself, and the press does not intimidate him,” O’Reilly said on “The O’Reilly Factor” Tuesday. “Because of that approach, the media believe they need to punish Mr. Trump for being disrespectful and not cowering before them. Plus they don’t like his politics, generally speaking.”
If the media deem “someone unworthy,” O’Reilly added, “they will try to destroy that person. … Unfortunately, the American media, although there are exceptions, are not looking out for you. They have an agenda, these people. And they often use that agenda in corrupt ways. You, as a media consumer, should walk away when you see that happen.”
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of Fox News parent News Corp., tweeted his own disgust with Trump.
“When is Donald Trump going to stop embarrassing his friends, let alone the whole country?” Murdoch wrote on Twitter.
A day after challenging Donald Trump over controversial comments the real estate mogul made about Arizona Sen. John McCain’s “war hero” status, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly defended the Republican hopeful, saying the media despise Trump because “he has no fear.”
“He could not care less about censoring himself, and the press does not intimidate him,” O’Reilly said on “The O’Reilly Factor” Tuesday. “Because of that approach, the media believe they need to punish Mr. Trump for being disrespectful and not cowering before them. Plus they don’t like his politics, generally speaking.”
If the media deem “someone unworthy,” O’Reilly added, “they will try to destroy that person. … Unfortunately, the American media, although there are exceptions, are not looking out for you. They have an agenda, these people. And they often use that agenda in corrupt ways. You, as a media consumer, should walk away when you see that happen.”
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of Fox News parent News Corp., tweeted his own disgust with Trump.
“When is Donald Trump going to stop embarrassing his friends, let alone the whole country?” Murdoch wrote on Twitter.
An ABC News/Washington Post poll released Monday shows Trump has opened up a double-digit lead in the race for the Republican nomination.
According to the survey, Trump has the support of 24 percent of registered Republicans and Republican-leaning independents — 11 points higher than Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (13 percent) and 12 points ahead of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
The bulk of the survey, though, was conducted before Trump’s controversial comments about McCain.
“He’s not a war hero,” Trump said at a GOP summit in Ames, Iowa, Saturday. “He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
During the poll’s first three days, Trump was the choice of 28 percent of respondents. But on Sunday, less than 10 percent of respondents said they would support him — a signal that Trump’s comments about McCain may cause his lead to evaporate.
The same day, the Des Moines Register published a blistering editorial calling on Trump to “pull the plug on his bloviating side show”:
In the five weeks since he announced his campaign to seek the GOP nomination for president, Trump has been more focused on promoting himself, and his brand, than in addressing the problems facing the nation. If he were merely a self-absorbed, B-list celebrity, his unchecked ego could be tolerated as a source of mild amusement. But he now wants to become president, which means that he aspires to be the leader of the free world and the keeper of our nuclear launch codes.
…
He has become “the distraction with traction” — a feckless blowhard who can generate headlines, name recognition and polling numbers not by provoking thought, but by provoking outrage.
Trump, not surprisingly, fired back:
As one of the most liberal newspapers in the United States, the poll results were just too much for them to bear. The Des Moines Register has lost much circulation, advertising, and power over the last number of years. They will do anything for a headline, and this poorly written “non-endorsement” got them some desperately needed ink.
