President Donald Trump issued a scathing indictment of right-leaning outlets on Thursday morning, citing Fox News and the Wall Street Journal as examples of outlets that have published negative coverage about his administration.
The president tore into the Wall Street Journal after it reported he is holding out on attacking Iran after privately approving a military operation targeting Tehran. Further, the outlet said the president is threatening to join Israel in the hopes of pushing Iran to dismantle its nuclear program. The report was published after Trump met with senior advisers in the White House’s Situation Room on Tuesday.
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“The Wall Street Journal has No Idea what my thoughts are concerning Iran!” he wrote on Truth Social.
Trump criticized Fox News over a new poll showing 53% approval of his handling of the southern border and 46% disapproval. The president received negative ratings on immigration, with 46% approval and 53% disapproval, and foreign policy, with 42% approval and 57% disapproval.
Trump ripped into Fox News and its poll findings, saying its negative coverage of him has long been a problem.
“The Crooked FoxNews Polls got the Election WRONG, I won by much more than they said I would, and have been biased against me for years. They are always wrong and negative,” he wrote on Truth Social. “It’s why MAGA HATES FoxNews, even though their anchors are GREAT. This has gone on for years, but they never change the incompetent polling company that does their work.”
Although he received a slight majority of approval on border security, Trump suggested he should have received a higher rating.
“Now a new FoxNews poll comes out this morning giving me a little more than 50% at the Border, and yet the Border is miraculously perfect, NOBODY WAS ABLE TO COME IN LAST MONTH,” he posted. “60,000 people came in with Sleepy Joe in the same month last year. I hate FAKE pollsters, one of the Worst, but Fox will never change their discredited pollster!”
While he is critical of Fox News and its billionaire founder, Rupert Murdoch, who also owns the Wall Street Journal, Trump often grants interviews to its hosts and praises its anchors.
This isn’t the first time Trump has blasted right-leaning media outlets in recent months.
In May, he took issue with a Wall Street Journal editorial, titled “Trump’s Worst Idea Since Tariffs,” which explored Trump’s plan to expand drug price controls. He recommended that the outlet fire its editor-in-chief, Emma Tucker, and replace her with Keith Poole, editor-in-chief of the New York Post.
In addition to the outlet’s reporting of Trump’s attack plans, its editorial board published an article suggesting the president is under pressure from “MAGA isolationists” not to enter the war between Israel and Iran earlier this week.
The White House’s reported plans for a U.S. attack on Iran come after Israel launched airstrikes targeting Tehran’s nuclear program and regime leadership last week. The Israeli air campaign led to Iranian retaliation, which has continued into this week.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has threatened to target U.S. bases in Arab countries if the United States intervenes in the conflict. So far, Trump has avoided directly answering whether the U.S. will assist Israel against Iran in an offensive capacity, as the U.S. has already helped Israel shoot down Iranian missiles.
TRUMP APPROVED IRAN ATTACK PLANS ON TUESDAY BUT STILL NOT READY TO PULL TRIGGER
“I may do it, I may not do it,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday, again calling for Iran’s unconditional surrender. “The next week is going to be very big, maybe less than a week.”
As Trump weighs military action against Iran, there will be an intelligence briefing in the Situation Room at 11:30 a.m. Thursday.