Trump tweets and the TV news stories behind them – CNNMoney

President Donald Trump is poised to go down as both the most voracious tweeter and most passionate cable news consumer to ever reside in the White House. Since his stunning upset in November, Trump’s preoccupation with each has seemingly intensified.

Whether from Trump Tower, his resort at Mar-a-Lago, or the White House Trump has reportedly spent a significant amount of time glued to the television screen, often firing out a response in nearly real-time to his millions of followers on Twitter.

Below, a running tally of each instance since Election Day in which the president’s tweet appears to have been prompted by something he had just seen on Fox News, MSNBC, CNN or another channel.

CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter discussed a New York Times TV advertisement with “New Day” anchor Victor Blackwell. The ad, which is about the importance of truth, is the Times’ first TV spot in seven years. About 10 minutes after the segment, Trump called the ad “a bad one” meant to save the Times’ “failing reputation.”

Trump, 10 minutes later

Fox & Friends Saturday, 7:36 AM

Businessman and former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain lamented that he hadn’t heard “anybody talk about” a particular data point out of Trump’s first month in office. “Did you know that the national debt in President Trump’s first month went down $12 billion?” Cain said. “In the 44th president’s first month, it went up $200 billion.” A little more than 40 minutes later, Trump cited the same figures, which he said the media had overlooked.

Trump, 43 minutes later

Fox & Friends Sunday, 6:24 AM

Fox anchor Abby Huntsman cited State Department figures showing that 72% of refugees to be admitted into the United States from February 3-11 came from the seven countries affected by Trump’s immigration ban. About a half-hour later, Trump tweeted the same statistics.

Trump, 31 minutes later

Morning Joe, 8:03 AM

The hosts of Morning Joe read an excerpt from a blog post published on Lawfare, which cited a statute that perhaps gave legal cover to Trump’s immigration order. Moments later, Trump quoted the very same excerpt in a tweet.

Trump, 12 minutes later

CNN’s New Day, 8:05 AM

CNN’s Chris Cuomo interviewed Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who had said the previous day that Judge Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, had expressed misgivings with the president’s public attacks on a federal judge. Prior to the interview, Trump tweeted that Blumenthal had mischaracterized Gorsuch’s remarks — despite the fact that a Gorsuch spokesperson confirmed them — and also mocked the senator for lying about his Vietnam War service years ago.

Trump, 14 minutes later

CNN’s New Day, 6:56 AM

A discussion on New Day touched on the previous weekend’s edition of SNL, including one sketch that portrayed White House chief strategist Steve Bannon as the de facto president. “This image of Bannon pulling his strings has got to hurt because he knows it’s widely believed,” said anchor Chris Cuomo. CNN’s senior media correspondent Brian Stelter, appearing on the same panel, noted that Trump had thus far “declined to tweet about it.”

Trump, 11 minutes later

CNN’s New Day, 6:30 AM

CNN revealed the findings of its latest poll, which showed that Trump’s approval rating of 44% lagged well behind past presidents. Trump took to Twitter a half-hour later to denounce “[a]ny negative polls” as “fake news.”

Trump, 31 minutes later

Fox & Friends, 6:04 AM

A protest at the University of California-Berkeley was the topic of conversation on Fox and Friends this morning, with the hosts noting that some demonstrators had thrown rocks at cops. The protest led to the cancellation of a planned event featuring right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos. “Here’s what’s troubling,” said host Steve Doocy. “Berkeley was the home of the free speech movement in the 1960s, and last night there was no free speech. A betrayal of Berkeley’s colorful history.”

Trump, 9 minutes later

Fox & Friends, 6:10 AM

The hosts of Fox News Channel’s morning show mocked the technical malfunctions that occurred the night before at a protest held by Democratic leaders, where Nancy Pelosi struggled to be heard due to a faulty microphone. “If you want to know how not to have an event,” said co-host Steve Doocy, “this is it.”

Trump, 11 minutes later

CNN’s New Day, 7:16 AM

Conservative activist Gregg Phillips was interviewed by CNN’s Chris Cuomo about his unfounded claim that millions of illegal votes were cast. Phillips offered no evidence to support his assertion, but Trump – tweeting about an hour later – said he was eager to see the final results.

Trump, 56 minutes later

Fox & Friends, 5:50 AM

Fox News anchor Abby Huntsman reported on an editorial by Chelsea Manning that was critical of President Obama’s time in office. Huntsman suggested that Manning had described Obama as a “weak leader,” although the term was not used in the piece. As Huntsman spoke, a banner describing Manning as an “ungrateful traitor” appeared on screen.

Trump, 14 minutes later

The O’Reilly Factor, 8:13 PM

The O’Reilly Factor segment featuring Horace Cooper, included the following statistics about Chicago’s crime rate: “228 shootings in 2017 (up 5.5% from last year” and “42 homicides in 2017 (up 24% from last year).”

Trump, 1 hour 12 minutes later

NBC, 7:14 AM

NBC correspondent Ari Melber filed a report saying that “companies are willing to deal with this as a PR issue” to avoid critical tweets from Trump. Melber also said that, according to companies he had spoken to, Trump’s job creation and preservation “is very small or nonexistent.” Those remarks were made earlier in the morning.

Trump, 20 minutes later

CNN, 8:01 AM

CNN released its latest poll that morning, and a segment at 8:01 a.m. on New Day highlighted that 53% of Americans are less confident now in Trump. The chyron said, “TRUMP BEGINS WITH HISTORICALLY LOW APPROVAL RATING.”

Trump, 10 minutes later

Fox & Friends, 7:25 AM

Linda Bean, heiress to the L.L. Bean company, appeared on Fox & Friends shortly before 7:30 a.m. – roughly an hour and a half before Trump’s tweet – to talk about a boycott against her company because of a board member who supported Trump.

Trump, 1 hour 25 minutes later

CNN, 6:14 AM

CNN’s Alisyn Camerota teased a panel discussion and said that, “On the campaign trail, President-elect Trump promised to protect women and make Mexico pay for the border wall. But both of those promises may soon be broken.” Trump tweeted about the border wall and the “dishonest media” less than 10 minutes later.

Trump, 5 minutes later

CNN, 12:52 PM

CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter appeared on teleivsion all morning discussing the network’s new book, “Unprecedented,” about the 2016 election. Stelter’s final appearance came about 40 minutes before Trump tweeted about the book. During that appearance, Stelter said the cover photo of Trump was taken a couple weeks after Election Day: “It turns out on Election Night, Trump wouldn’t let any photographers behind the scene … Maybe that’s because Trump was not expecting to win on Election Night.”

Trump, 40 minutes later

CNN, 10:51 AM

Chicago’s crime statistics were all over the news the day Trump tweeted about the city’s murder rate. But a segment on CNN ran a little more than 90 minutes before Trump’s tweet. During the segment, the same statistics cited in the Trump tweet appeared on screen.

Trump, 1 hour 40 minutes later

CNN, 5:10 AM

Shortly after 5 a.m., CNN reported on a “potential conflict of interest” for Trump, citing sources who said he would remain as an executive producer on “The Celebrity Apprentice.”

Trump, 1 hour 17 minutes later

Erin Burnett Outfront, 7:18 PM

CNN’s Erin Burnett conducted an interview with Chuck Jones, the president of United Steelworkers 1999, who disputed Trump’s claim that he saved 1,100 jobs at the Carrier plant in Indiana. “I think he ought to make sure he gets all the facts straight before he starts talking about what he’s done,” Jones said in the interivew.

Trump, 23 minutes later

Fox & Friends, 6:25 AM

Fox News Channel ran a segment about a protest at Amherst College after the school stopped flying all flags. The school’s decision came after students allegedly burned an American flag to protest Trump’s electoral victory.

Trump, 30 minutes later

Additional contributions by Megan Pendergrass and Jill Disis



By Tom Kludt and Tal Yellin

 

Source: Trump tweets and the TV news stories behind them – CNNMoney