President Donald Trump‘s Twitter latest spree has intensified, with the nation’s chief executive posting 19 tweets over the past 24 hours. His latest attacks the “fake news media” for what he claims is “vicious” treatment of the First Lady.
“The Fake News Media has been so unfair, and vicious, to my wife and our great First Lady, Melania,” Trump tweeted Wednesday morning. “During her recovery from surgery they reported everything from near death, to facelift, to left the W.H. (and me) for N.Y. or Virginia, to abuse. All Fake, she is doing really well!”
Melania Trump a month ago with no notice to the press underwent what the White House described as routine kidney surgery. Medical experts noted the procedure the White House described ordinarily requires at most a one day recovery. She spent nearly five days in the hospital, and the press was barred from filming her return to the White House.
It’s unclear what Trump is calling the “fake news media.” The mainstream media did not report she had a facelift, was near death, left the president, or was abused, but Trump’s media consumption tends to focus on extremist publications. Many on social media certainly speculated all of the above and more, but that’s the fault of the White House for not properly managing what should have been a very simple event.
Trump went on to claim that several reporters saw the First Lady in the White House last week but intentionally did not report that. That’s false. There were several posts by reporters on Twitter stating they had seen Melania Trump, but the word “merrily” was not used.
Trump, among the nation’s most prolific spreaders of fake news, concluded, “Fake news is really bad!”
The First Lady will be seen in public for the first time later on Wednesday. She was seen briefly at an event for Gold Star families closed to the press Tuesday.