by digby
Trump is always thrilled when the New York Times gives him some love and they came through for him bigly yesterday:
Sometime after he doubted the character of George Washington (“Didn’t he have a couple things in his past?”), urged a wire-service reporter to ask a tough question (“Give it to me, Reuters!”) and referred to a Kurdish correspondent as “Mr. Kurd,” President Trump paused to directly address the dozens of journalists who had gathered for a rare solo news conference.
“Can you imagine,” he said, “if you didn’t have me?”]
Mr. Trump denounces news organizations as “the enemy of the people.” His supporters turned “fake news” into a political rallying cry. And the daily White House press briefing is all but a thing of the past.
But in 80 minutes on Wednesday, Mr. Trump made clear that he is never more comfortable, never more engaged, than when he is sparring with the news media that he loves to say he hates.
Trump denies that the UN was actually laughing at him yesterday, instead claims "they were laughing with me." 😂 pic.twitter.com/WL9GaxFkTz— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 26, 2018
Trump declines to cite any evidence to substantiate claim he made today that China is meddling in the midterm election against him.— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 26, 2018
The president goes on to cite a commentator who allegedly said that China "has total respect for Donald Trump's very large brain." #BeyondParody pic.twitter.com/KpvbGtuUC9
Trump gets upset with @Acosta after he points out that he hasn't called on any female reporters yet pic.twitter.com/iGvOyFdvbM— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 26, 2018
Acosta asks Trump why he always seems to side with men when they're accused of sexual assault. Trump responds by pointing out that.... [checks notes] ..... women can get hit with misconduct accusations too. pic.twitter.com/Cc5F4ZjfcO— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 26, 2018
REPORTER: How would you compare alleged Chinese interference in our elections with Russia?— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 26, 2018
TRUMP: [spends 5 minutes ranting about the media] pic.twitter.com/u150RHaQ3D
TRUMP on CHINA: "They are doing studies on Donald Trump, they're trying to figure it all out because this has never happened to them before. It has never happened. Think of it." #wut pic.twitter.com/2rp7rAltS7— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 26, 2018
Trump is again unable to talk about his Iraq policy, then punts on a question about Syria and instead rants about China and Obama pic.twitter.com/66igIfcPcs— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 26, 2018
Asked about the Russia investigation, Trump talks about Brett Kavanaugh and somehow ends up ranting, bizarrely, about how "women are so angry" because of how Democrats have treated him pic.twitter.com/JACpFUiLrx— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 26, 2018
listen to this rant and keep in mind that the question Trump was "responding" to what about a timetable for North Korea denuclearization pic.twitter.com/80YEEcHMXJ— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 26, 2018
Trump says he wants to have a second summit with his pen pal Kim Jong Un because that's what Kim Jong Un wants to do.— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 26, 2018
The president then makes the baseless claim that Obama was about to go to war with North Korea because he took office. #gaslighting pic.twitter.com/e8mqvD2xtH