Following his move to block multiple news outlets from the White House, President Donald Trump’s complaints about the media continue. This week, he said The New York Times and other outlets should be “arrested for their dishonesty and disservice to our country,” in Monday Truth Social posts.
In the posts, Trump’s complaint was that the Times reported about “empty seats” at a recent rally. While Trump indicated that the Times was referring to an Oct. 3 rally at Butler High School in Vandalia, Ohio, that the president said was “full to the brim,” Newsweek noted that the quote he pulled from the Times was actually referring to a different rally at the Mitchell Center at the University of South Alabama in Mobile. Photos from the Alabama event showed rows of empty seats as Trump talked, the outlet added.
NBC News did report on empty seats at the Ohio event, however. It said “there were several stretches of empty seats in upper bleachers as Trump took the stage – and many more by the time he finished speaking 93 minutes later.”
“My Rally crowds and enthusiasm are unbelievable! Nobody has ever seen anything like it. We are flipping races all over the place. The Fake News knows it, but they don’t want to be truthful with their viewers. It’s all happening! The Dumocrats never counted on this. Thanks you to the great Networks that are covering the Rallies in full. They are being rewarded with BIG RATINGS,” said Trump in a Tuesday Truth Social post.
His complaints about the news media haven’t ended there this week. He took another swing at The New York Times Monday, claiming that the outlet “doctored” photos of Trump National Doral, his gold club in Miami, Fla. He shared a Times photo that shows the club looking more weather-beaten compared to another photo with different lighting in which it appears much cleaner.
“A spokesperson for The New York Times told Newsweek: ‘This image is not doctored. It was taken by a Times photographer in 2020 and accompanies our report about President Trump walking back his decision in 2019 to host the G7 summit at Doral,’” Newsweek reported.
Newsweek did some more digging about the claim that the photo was doctored.
“It is not clear when the image by McIntyre was taken, and available metadata did not confirm or deny any editing. Trump did not provide evidence that the image had been digitally altered beyond juxtaposing it with a brighter photograph that he said reflected the property’s actual appearance,” it said. Furthermore, the outlet found that multiple archival photographs of the property, including Getty Images photos from 2023 and 2026, “appear to show discoloration or weathering on portions of the same facade visible in the Times image.”
According to HuffPost, “several videos, shared by the golf resort’s own social media pages, suggest Trump’s talk of the pristine facade doesn’t comport with reality.”
Trump also complained about the Times’ photo of Trump National Doral – the scheduled location for the upcoming G20 Summit in December – in another Monday Truth Social Post. He ended it by saying: “Some day in the not too distant future The Times will be forced to close its dirty doors, and that will be a Great Day for America!”
The New York Times has operated for nearly two centuries and it is one of the most well-known news outlets in the U.S. Fox News is a much younger institution (it turns 30 years old this week) and it is known for its right-leaning coverage.
Despite its right-wing lean, Fox didn’t escape Trump’s griping about the media this week. In a Tuesday Truth Social post, he complained that Fox was “interviewing the sleazebag, Dan Osborn, right now, who is running against our GREAT Republican Senator, Pete Ricketts, from Nebraska,” referring to Osborn, an independent candidate. Trump also accused Fox of not giving “our people any positive exposure or airtime.”
Even before that post, Trump said in another Truth Social message that: “FoxNews spends more time covering the Jihadist and Dumocrat candidates than they do the good old fashioned Republicans, the people that have saved America, and are making it great again.”
Trump’s criticism of the media comes as Reuters/Ipsos polling showed this week that his approval rating has hit a record low with not even a month to go until the midterm elections. Reuters said his approval rating is at just 32% and that Hispanic voters appear to be spurning the Republican party going into the midterms.
“Hispanic voters helped propel Trump to victory in the 2024 presidential contest, when he won nearly half the Hispanic vote compared with roughly one-third in the 2020 election. But support for the president has waned in recent months as Americans struggle with high inflation triggered by Trump's decision to go to war with Iran,” said the outlet. “Just 24% of Hispanic Americans approve of Trump's performance in the White House, the lowest share in either of Trump's two presidential terms.”
Trump has publicly suggested that people he sees as foes be arrested in the past. For example, last summer Audacy covered his allegation that former President Barack Obama had committed treason, a crime punishable by death.
Since at least his first presidential campaign, Trump has also had a contentious relationship with the media, as shown in this CNN article. Last month, he tried to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House before his administration announced the “Trump TV” project. Trump’s move to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico was met with a lawsuit from the news outlets.
Two days after the suit was filed on Sept. 21, a federal court in the District of Columbia issued a temporary restraining 14-day order against the Trump administration, the American Civil Liberties Union noted. CNN reported Monday that CNN, MS NOW and Politico had made a final written effort to convince a judge to maintain White House access.
