Trump takes on the media during July 4th speech
Fox News media analyst Howard Kurtz on the media's attacks on President Trump.
Fox News media analyst Howard Kurtz, host of "MediaBuzz," said many in the media appear emboldened by President Trump slipping in recent polls and are not even trying to mask their personal views.
On Monday's "Daily Briefing," Kurtz pointed to headlines like "Trump's push to amplify racism unnerves Republicans" and a reference to the president's Independence Day speech as "a call to arms for Red America vs. Blue America," as examples.
"President Trump knew full well that his fiery rhetoric would spark media explosion, but most of the media are acting so shocked and horrified and appalled that they have kind of given up any pretense of fairness and essentially are calling the president a racist," he said.
"The Washington Post: Trump’s push to amplify racism unnerves his Republicans; CNN: Unadulterated call to arms for red America against blue America – I think many pundits believed this all along but they are emboldened now because they looked at the polls and they decided President Trump is going to lose."
During his address, Trump called out part of the media for "falsely and consistently label[ing] their opponents as racists, [and] condemning patriotic citizens who offer a clear and truthful defense of American unity."
Kurtz said there are and were political journalists who have tried to be fair to the president, but that trend is slackening.
"There's something about the speeches and the issue of race – there, it's legit criticism," he said. "When the president talks about angry mobs and liberal fascism, a left-wing revolution designed to overthrow the American revolution, he’s using incendiary language designed to fire up his base in [an] election [year] and that’s fine."
Kurtz said that the reporters who locked onto that rhetoric appear to have ignored more "uplifting" messages of national unity and condemnation of discrimination and slavery in Trump's words.
"The media barely acknowledged there is a sizable portion of this country that agrees with Donald Trump when it comes to riots – when it comes to cancel culture and extremism and toppling statues," he added. "There's another side to this political debate, and in the last few days, we've mostly gotten one side."
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However, Kurtz noted that when Trump took to Twitter earlier Monday to slam NASCAR driver Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr., the president likely brought any criticism on himself because much of the country had stopped talking about the incident in which Wallace said a noose had been found in his garage before a recent race. The FBI later determined no federal crime had been committed.
Trump also criticized NASCAR's governing body for deciding to ban the Confederate battle flag at its events after lobbying from Wallace, the Cup Series' only Black driver. Prior to last month, NASCAR discouraged but did not outright ban the presence of the flag.
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