Rachel Maddow Reveals What Trump Gets From His Press Attacks

MS NOW / MS NOW Rachel Maddow has a theory about Donald Trump’s latest war on the press—and it has less to do with what the president thinks of the news media than what he gets from attacking the free press.

Trump announced Friday that he was banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House, accusing the outlets of reporting “FICTION and LIES” about him and his administration.

By Saturday morning, reporters from all three outlets had been turned away from the White House, with their press credentials confiscated or deactivated.

But Maddow, speaking with her MS NOW colleague Peter Alexander, suggested Trump’s motivation goes beyond his familiar complaints about “FAKE NEWS” and unfavorable stories.

“I think he gets the First Amendment, and I think he knows what he can and cannot do as president,” Maddow said.

She argued that Trump’s repeated attacks on the press are because he enjoys the reaction they elicit from his supporters.

Maddow recalled covering Trump rallies during his first campaign and presidency, when he would frequently single out journalists and direct the crowd’s attention toward them.

At those events, she said, Trump’s attacks on the press could turn into a kind of spectacle, with the crowd joining in.

And Maddow has a particularly grim name for the spectacle.

“He would direct the attention of the crowd to the press,” she said, describing what she called an “Orwellian two minutes hate” in which Trump supporters would scream at reporters after the president insulted them.

In Maddow’s view, the press-bashing is less the point than the payoff.

“All politicians, certainly all presidents, are dissatisfied with the press,” she said.

“But I think the reason that he said that, and then kept doing it, is because of what would happen right after he made those calls out to the crowd.” She pointed to the reaction she said she and other reporters repeatedly witnessed at Trump events.

“The whole crowd turns around and starts flipping off the press and screaming at them and baying for blood,” Maddow said.