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Yet many of these same news organizations have likened Trump to the Taliban and Adolf Hitler, floated false rumors about his use of a Russian prostitute, and accused his administration of being pro-slavery.
After Trump avoided calling on MSNBC during today's presser with Benjamin Netanyahu, MSNBC’s Peter Alexander complained that the conservative journalists he did call on didn’t ask “real questions” like he would have.
“What was striking," Alexander said, was that "President Trump, again, called on a series of more conservative leaning news organizations which didn’t allow for any real questions, trying to zero in on this issue of Mike Flynn, the now former national security advisor."
We can't speak for Trump, but one reason he may not be in a rush to give MSNBC more airtime is that they seem intent on using it to liken him to Adolf Hitler.
On Trump's Inauguration Day, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow likened Trump's election to "Hitler's rise." Her colleague Chris Matthews described Trump's inaugural address as "Hitlerian." Matthews also mocked Trump's family, likening them to the Russian imperial family, the Romanovs. He's so fond of this metaphor he now uses it allthetime.
CNN reporters were likewise angry at not being called on during today's Trump presser.
"In the last three news conferences, Wolf, all of the questions to the American news media have been handled by conservative press, and I think, Wolf, there’s no other way to describe it but the fix is in," CNN's Jim Acosta vented during a post-press conference interview with Wolf Blitzer. "This White House, this president does not want to answer questions, critical questions, about his associates, his aides’ contacts with the Russians during the course of that campaign just as his national security advisor is being run out of this White House on a rail."
CNN's John King echoed his colleague, complaining that conservative journalists are not asking Trump “tough questions."
“Well, it would be nice — it would be nice if the conservative outlets the president is calling on would ask him tough questions," King lamented. "And instead of actually trying to curry favor with this president, they might do him a favor by letting him answer these questions because until he answers these questions this story is not going to go away."
Why might Trump be ignoring CNN?
Trump himself explained his frustration in an earlier press conference, when he noted that CNN ran a report about a rumor -- since discredited -- that he had used the services of a prostitute during a trip to Moscow. Trump even complimented The New York Times for passing on the story. CNN has since stuck by its decision to publish the uncorroborated report.
ABC's Matthew Dowd went so far as to claim today that Trump is "shutting down" the First Amendment by not calling on liberal media outlets during these press conferences.
“Well, I was struck by — when you look at this, this is two democracies, two important democracies in the world and basically the President of the United States is shutting down the part of the First Amendment by not taking questions that are going to be any way antagonistic in this," Dowd said.
What might Trump have against ABC? Well, Dowd himself has accused Trump of pushing legislation that plays to the racial “fears” of his base. On ABC's political show, "The View," hosts have likened Trump to the Taliban, claimed his administration wants to bring back slavery, and said his approach to the media mirrors a dictatorship.
So who did Trump call on today? The Christian Broadcast Network and Townhall.com. Both of these news organizations have run plenty of negative Trump stories. Townhall's two most well known pundits -- Katie Pavlich and Guy Benson -- were both outwardly opposed to Trump during the Republican primary.
One thing they haven't done? Publish anti-Trump fake news and/or compare him to history's most infamous mass murderers.