It is not such an exaggeration to call the tension between the Trump administration and the press tasked to hold them accountable an all-out war. President Trump has a light trigger finger when it comes to blasting off tweets disparaging the media, and his staffers reportedly have made a game of intentionally feeding misinformation to reporters.
Never before, then, has there been such a strange and curious time for Politico to run its annual survey of the White House Press Corps. With responses from more than 60 journalists, Politico found that 68 percent believe Trump is "the most openly anti-press president in U.S. history," while 25 percent "occasionally" and 7 percent "often" heard complaints about their stories from the White House.
Perhaps most startling of all, over half of journalists covering the White House say they have been lied to by members of the administration. Seventeen percent said the lies were constant, while 46 percent said they were merely occasional. Just 12 percent said they had never been lied to. The least helpful aide for the press was counselor Kellyanne Conway, followed by chief strategist Stephen Bannon; the most helpful aides were Principal Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, followed by Press Secretary Sean Spicer.
But with all the talk of the media being the "enemy of the American people" coming from the White House, reporters remain relatively unfazed. Seventy-five percent called the accusations a distraction, while only 25 percent said they were a real threat.
See the full responses at Politico, and read The Week's editor William Falk on what it has been like covering the Trump presidency in his editor's letter here.