well go figure....nothing wrong with the news before....they start telling the public stuff trump didn't want the public to know...and then they are all of a sudden fake news.....but he also bullshits .....
Fact Check: Did Media Approval Rating Fall Below Congress After Trump Presidency?
Donald Trump revived his attacks against the mainstream media during a gathering at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Saturday night. The former president fired shots at his former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley and repeated unfounded "stolen election" claims.
Trump also appeared to take credit for the falling levels of trust in the media among Americans, labeling his media enemies "crooked b*****ds."
The Claim
In his speech to the conservative group
Turning Point USA, which was streamed live by Jack Posobiec, Trump aired his grievances against the U.S. press, saying they are "the most dishonest group of people."
"I am proud to say that when I first announced I was running in 2015, they had a 94-95 percent approval rating. And now they have a lower approval rating than
Congress," the former president claimed.
The Facts
While there is no doubt that Trump has been very consistent in expressing his disdain for the press, and trust in the news media has indeed seen a
long-term decline in America, it appears he is overstating his role in that process.
While trust in the media dipped in 2015 as Trump announced his presidential campaign, reaching a low point of 32 percent, neither then nor at any point during Trump's presidency was the public's opinion of the press worse than its views on Congress.
Congress' approval rating ranged from 15 to 20 percent through 2015, and between 13 and 20 percent in 2016. In fact, after the 2016 election, the public's trust in the press began to rise, briefly hitting 45 percent in 2018, and then falling again to 36 percent in 2021.
Other sources paint a similar picture. For example, Edelman's annual trust barometer showed that the percentage of Americans who trust traditional media rose steadily from 2015 to 2019, peaking at 59 percent before a significant drop that left it at 45 percent at the end of 2020—still significantly higher than that of Congress.