US President Donald Trump took a jab at ‘fake press’, which he deemed responsible for creating 93 to 97 per cent ‘bad publicity’ on him. Blaming his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, for the negative coverage, Trump jokingly remarked “You’re doing a terrible job.”
Speaking at a White House press interaction on Tuesday, Trump said, “I got 93 to 97 per cent bad publicity. Maybe Karoline’s doing a poor job…Should we keep her? I think we’ll keep her.”
The remark on Leavitt, who is the youngest White House press secretary, was understood as a joke. Trump regularly mentions Leavitt while speaking to the press. Speaking to reporters amid a slightly turbulent stretch on Air Force One, Trump had said, "I’m looking for something to grab and it's not going to be Karoline."
Trump’s quib at Leavitt was a part of a wider criticism of the American media, having alleged that the New York Times and Washington Post have been spreading false news about him.
Talking about how the overwhelming negative coverage contradicts his repeated electoral successes, Trump said, “We have to straighten our media…The papers that are being dishonest. People don’t believe the media.”
In opinion polls, Trump’s approval ratings have significantly dropped since his first term. A month into the war in Iran, CNN reported on Wednesday that two thirds of Americans disapprove of US actions in the Middle East.
The report also shows that 67 per cent of Americans do not believe that Trump has a clear plan for handling the situation in Iran. This figure has risen seven per cent since February.
Trump’s approval rating for handling the Iran situation sits at 33 per cent, just below his overall 35 per cent and his 36 per cent rating on foreign policy, reported CNN.