WASHINGTON — CNN’s chief Washington correspondent Jim Acosta faced a hostile crowd of Donald Trump supporters before the president took the stage at a rally in Tampa, with shouts of “CNN sucks” and others giving him the finger.
One man had a T-shirt that read, “F— the media.”
Acosta posted video of the crowd on Twitter, writing, “Just a sample of the sad scene we faced at the Trump rally in Tampa. I’m very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt. We should not treat our fellow Americans this way. The press is not the enemy.”
Acosta and other reporters have faced such reaction at many other previous rallies, particularly when Trump directly attacks the media during his speeches. Acosta said that he chatted with some of the Trump supporters, adding, “I took more questions from them than the president has taken from the press lately.”
Eric Trump, who was at the event, tweeted out video of the chants at CNN, with the word, “Truth.” Donald Trump retweeted the post. But Acosta replied, “No Eric. Not the truth. And you know better.”
Trump has attacked the press in a number of tweets in recent days — as he characterization of the “fake” news media as the “enemy of the American people” has shifted to a more emotional broadside. Earlier on Tuesday, he wrote that “the Fake News Media is going CRAZY! They are totally unhinged and in many ways, after witnessing first hand the damage they do to so many innocent and decent people, I enjoy watching. In 7 years, when I am no longer in office, their ratings will dry up and they will be gone!”
