Saturday, October 7, 2017

In Early Tweetstorm, Trump Praises WaPo, Slams NBC And "Late Night Comedians", Reaches Out To Schumer

It took Trump a little longer to get started on twitter Saturday morning, when shortly after 7am ET, the president launched a pair of tweets in which he unexpectedly offered a rare compliment to the Washington Post for its coverage of “wonderful small donors” who have contributed to the Republican party.


“Can"t believe I finally got a good story in The Washington Post It discusses the enthusiasm of ‘Trump’ voters through campaign contributions. The RNC is taking in far more $"s than the Dems, and much of it by my wonderful small donors. I am working hard for them!”




On Friday, the WaPo reported that the Republican Party which has traditionally relied on contributions from large dollar donors such as corporations, is increasingly raising money from small-dollar contributions. In a grassroots shift, more than $40 million of the $68 million in direct contributions to the RNC by the end of August came in donations of $200 and less, according to campaign finance disclosures.



Then, in the following pair of tweets, Trump then lashed out at "late night" comedians for "unfunny", "repetitive" "alway anti-Trump" material, and suggested that Republicans aren’t given “equal time” to Democrats on television.


"Late Night host are dealing with the Democrats for their very "unfunny" & repetitive material, always anti-Trump! Should we get Equal Time? More and more people are suggesting that Republicans (and me) should be given Equal Time on T.V. when you look at the one-sided coverage?"




As The Hill notes, Trump’s tweets came about an hour after Trump"s favorite news show “Fox and Friends” aired a segment accusing late night comedians like Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel of “[taking] a hard turn to the left.”





In recent weeks Kimmel has delivered emotional monologues against the Graham-Cassidy bill to repeal and replace ObamaCare as well as lawmakers’ responses to the mass shooting at a Las Vegas music festival.



Kimmel became the public face of opposition against the Graham-Cassidy bill after he slammed Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) for failing his own “Jimmy Kimmel test” for healthcare bills.



Shortly after Trump"s tweet, a producer for "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” fired back at Trump for suggesting he should get “equal time” on TV in comparison to “anti-Trump” jokes.


“That"s not how it works. You"re not campaigning. You"re the president,” Mike DiCenzo tweeted. “Now kindly stop tweeting nonsense and go do your job for once.”



Trump wasn"t done, however, and next the president touched on a late Friday night report from Axios, according to which he telephoned Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer on Friday "in an effort to revive health-care legislation." Hoping to achieve the same success as he did when he averted a government shutdown by crossing the aisle and getting a deal done directly with democrats, Trump was said to be seeking "a path forward on health care," a GOP source said.


Several hours later, Trump tweeted that "On Saturday morning, I called Chuck Schumer yesterday to see if the Dems want to do a great HealthCare Bill. ObamaCare is badly broken, big premiums. Who knows!"



Shortly after Trump"s tweet, Schumer gave his version of the Friday phone call:





"The president wanted to make another run at repeal and replace and I told the president that"s off the table. If he wants to work together to improve the existing health care system, we Democrats are open to his suggestions. A good place to start might be the Alexander-Murray negotiations that would stabilize the system and lower costs."



As Axios adds, a Democratic aide added, in an email: "Particularly after the birth control decision yesterday, the administration has to stop sabotaging the law before anything real can happen."


Finally, in what was likely the latest reference to the ongoing Tillerson saga in which the media and the White House disgree on whether the Secretary of State called Trump a "fucking Moron", Trump concluded his morning tweetstorm (so far), by slamming NBC News, which "is so knowingly inaccurate with their reporting. The good news is that the PEOPLE get it, which is really all that matters! Not #1"



Trump has yet to make a comment on the most cryptic topic of the last week,  his repeated suggestions that the current situation is a "calm before the storm."


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