After President Donald Trump’s lengthy press conference wrapped up Thursday afternoon, “unhinged” appeared to emerge as the word of the day on Twitter as journalists who found themselves labeled again as purveyors of “fake news” consoled each other on social media.
NBC News political director Chuck Todd perhaps took the press conference the hardest, at least publicly, calling Trump’s attempts to delegitimize the press “un-American” and no laughing matter.
First word out of @WolfBlitzer's mouth after the POTUS press conference: "Wow."
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 16, 2017
.@jaketapper reacts to Donald Trump's news conference: It was unhinged.. it was wild https://t.co/Ezi1b5j4VC https://t.co/ZDII92SgGm
— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) February 16, 2017
CBS's Scott Pelley: "Today, we learned the length of the president's fuse: 28 days."
— David Goodman (@davidgoodmanTV) February 16, 2017
Bloomberg’s Deena Shanker tweeted a link to her piece, “How to Stay Sane in a World of Crazy News,” and advised reporters to indulge in some down-time.
https://twitter.com/deenashanker/status/832311327053983745
Throughout the campaign season, Trump would call out the press at campaign rallies, and reporters would relay stories of how one kind person would approach and thank them for their work. That seems to be happening still; check out this thank-you card making the rounds online.
https://twitter.com/L821L/status/832391630120435712
Maybe the likes and shares will pick up should the card go viral, but until then, Peter Alexander can rest assured that actress Alyssa Milano believes his fact-checking of Trump at the presser earned him the title of super hero.
Watch this. Watch this. Watch this. Everyone NEEDS to see this. This journalist should be wearing a cape. He's a super hero. https://t.co/y96K7gGUhC
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) February 16, 2017
Thanks, Alyssa. https://t.co/x03AoI5oFW
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) February 16, 2017
Maybe if each of us could say a kind word to a journalist just once this week, the healing could begin.
Other day, in convo w/ stranger at coffee shop: Told her what I did, she put her hand on my arm, looked me in the eye and said, “Thank you.” https://t.co/FDewhCe898
— ana marie c?x (@anamariecox) February 17, 2017
That’s nice, but it can’t begin to compete with a Valentine’s Day letter written by some D.C. fourth-graders and sent to the Washington Post. Fact-checker Michelle Ye Hee Lee posted it on Facebook, explaining that the young students wanted it to “go to journalists.”
Sweet Valentine from 4th graders. "One day we may be reporters like you too because that's a cool thing to do." pic.twitter.com/Lli33Xn31R
— Michelle Ye Hee Lee (@myhlee) February 15, 2017
Ishaan Tharoor is a foreign affairs writer for the Washington Post who wan’t impressed with the president’s performance at Thursday’s press conference.
"So much anger and hatred," says president whose politics are built on anger and hatred.
— Ishaan Tharoor (@ishaantharoor) February 16, 2017
He is really ranting and raving.
— Ishaan Tharoor (@ishaantharoor) February 16, 2017
Trump's base will gobble this circus up with glee, which was the entire point in the first place
— Ishaan Tharoor (@ishaantharoor) February 16, 2017
At least Tharoor has the consolation of having that same Valentine posted in the newsroom to remind him that he’s cool, awesome, wonderful, special, magnificent, and terrific.
A letter from DC 4th graders to the WaPo newsroom pic.twitter.com/KPPmX8BJbd
— Ishaan Tharoor (@ishaantharoor) February 15, 2017
Reactions to this letter seem to fall into two categories:
1) "I'm crying/melting"
2) "I'm a jerk"https://t.co/B0vnQKyyyM— Ishaan Tharoor (@ishaantharoor) February 16, 2017
There’s a third category it seems.
https://twitter.com/sean_nelson1/status/832108288615469056
@geoff_calkins so we are supposed to believe a class of 4th graders wrote this? Do you know any 4th graders. Come on
— Brad (@gocat132) February 16, 2017
How incredibly sad these brainwashed and indoctrinated children are. Wow.
— Kim (@MontanaGnostic) February 16, 2017
My goodness who came up with the idea for the assignment? Let's try not to turn classroom into political indoctrination.
— "Beltway" Greg Boyd (@BeltwayGreg) February 16, 2017
no bunch of 4th graders wrote that without "input" from their teacher…anyone who believes they did is kidding themselves
— bigimp65 (@bigimp65) February 17, 2017
@keithkloor Perhaps some journalistic skepticism is in order as to who wrote the letter for the children to sign.
— Richard Lobb (@RLobb) February 16, 2017
https://twitter.com/DocPhilMcGraw/status/832285667522641922
A propaganda letter ginned up by their teacher and shamelessly promoted by @washingtonpost Shame.
— Kristinn Taylor (@KristinnFR) February 16, 2017
https://twitter.com/dadofad/status/832062190458855425
Hey, now … behave.
For the grumpy conservatives in my mentions saying the teacher wrote it, here's a 10-year-old calling for communism https://t.co/nzKmjbd5VJ
— Ishaan Tharoor (@ishaantharoor) February 16, 2017
Does Tharoor keep that video handy for inspiration for those long stretches between Valentine’s Day fan mail?
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