New Trump Attack on Media Has Surprise Target

Not surprising: President Trump went after the New York Times on Twitter on Sunday, accusing it of writing "phony and exaggerated" stories about migrant detention centers. More surprising: Trump also went after Fox News in a three-tweet barrage—or at least the network's weekend crew. Watching the Fox weekend anchors "is worse than watching" CNN or NBC, Trump tweeted. The network "failed in getting the very BORING Dem debates" and "is now loading up with Democrats & even using Fake unsourced @nytimes as a source of information," he added. The initial criticism ended with this: "FoxNews is changing fast, but they forgot the people who got them there!" Three hours later, per Deadline, Trump was back at it with two more tweets, criticizing Fox for hiring Donna Brazile, former chair of the Democratic National Committee.

"Impossible to believe," wrote the president. Politico notes that Trump has previously gone after the Fox weekend team—particularly Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace. And Mediaite points out that, generally speaking, the Fox weekend shows lean toward hard news, as opposed to the weeknight opinion shows hosted by Sean Hannity and others. Slate notes something else that may not have helped: After the US women's soccer team's World Cup win, a Fox News live feed from a bar in France was interrupted by a chant of "F--- Trump!" (The likely reason for that chant: The president's feud with Megan Rapinoe.)