CNN anchor Jake Tapper ripped President Trump on Wednesday for claiming “no politician in history” has been treated worse by the media than he has, calling the president’s claim “self-pity.”
“Look at the way I’ve been treated lately, especially by the media,” Trump told graduates of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Wednesday afternoon. “No politician in history – and I say this with great surety – has been treated worse or more unfairly.”
“You can’t let them get you down. You can’t let the critics and the naysayers get in the way of your dreams. Adversity makes you stronger,” Trump said.
Tapper, during a CNN interview later in the day, hit Trump for the statement, reminding him that other presidents have been assassinated.
{mosads}“I think there are people that have been treated worse than President Trump has been,” Tapper said. “Every single one of the president’s wounds is self-inflicted. Every single one. I don’t really understand the propensity for self-pity at a time like this.”
“My second reaction is, four U.S. presidents have been actually literally assassinated and killed,” he said. “But more broadly speaking, when it comes to a president that has been treated unfairly, I mean that president led the charge claiming that the first African-American president was born in Africa. Which is not only a charge that is false, but is not a little bit racist.”
Trump repeatedly called on former President Obama to release his birth certificate to prove he was born in the United States. Trump’s requests, referred to commonly as the “birther movement” or “birther campaign” have been deemed by many as both racist and unfounded.
The president has frequently claimed unfair treatment from the media since his inauguration, but such criticism of news outlets has increased over the last week after a series of bombshell reports on the Trump administration.