President Donald Trump stirred up yet another twitter shitstorm over the weekend when he once again slammed his favorite fake news network – CNN – for using its international arm, CNN International, to spread fake news across the world.
At the same time, the president praised Fox News, claiming his favorite news network is “much more important” in the US.
The exasperation this tweet provoked cannot be understated, as liberals and anti-Trump conservatives joined forces to blast the president for his blatant disregard for the first amendment (to be fair, Trump said nothing about shuttering CNN or revoking its license to operate). But one voice that cut through the noise was that of Michael Hayden, a former general who ran the NSA and then the CIA under President George W Bush and has directed national intelligence agencies under the previous three presidents, as the Hill pointed out.
Hayden blasted Trump for his “outrageous assault” on the first amendment, saying “if this is who we are or who we are becoming, I have wasted 40 years of my life."
If this is who we are or who we are becoming, I have wasted 40 years of my life. Until now it was not possible for me to conceive of an American President capable of such an outrageous assault on truth, a free press or the first amendment.
— Gen Michael Hayden (@GenMhayden) November 26, 2017
Of course, the hypocrisy embedded in Hayden’s rebuttal is nothing short of galling: He served in the Bush administration and was complicit in deceiving the American people to justify invading Iraq, a decision that has cost hundreds of thousands of lives and down chaos in a region that persists to this day.
.@FoxNews is MUCH more important in the United States than CNN, but outside of the U.S., CNN International is still a major source of (Fake) news, and they represent our Nation to the WORLD very poorly. The outside world does not see the truth from them!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 25, 2017
Of course, the criticism didn’t stop Trump from bashing CNN again this morning.
We should have a contest as to which of the Networks, plus CNN and not including Fox, is the most dishonest, corrupt and/or distorted in its political coverage of your favorite President (me). They are all bad. Winner to receive the FAKE NEWS TROPHY!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2017
He also criticized MSNBC’s Morning Joe, a perennial target of the president's ire (remember the infamous Mika Brzezinski facelift tweet?).
The good news is that their ratings are terrible, nobody cares! https://t.co/I7h4Ryin3h
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2017
Of course, Trump also took time out from his holiday vacation to blast the Democrats and their single-minded focus on the Russia collusion narrative, which elicited this entertaining response from former US Attorney Preet Bharara.
Marcia, Marcia, Marcia! The President of the United States is Jan Brady. https://t.co/1WkL7FJvv0
— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) November 26, 2017