by Eddie Scarry\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Washington Examiner<\/p>\n
President Trump used his Thanksgiving holiday to return\u00a0again and again<\/a>\u00a0to his antipathy for the news media, which left many in the press scratching their heads over the long break.<\/p>\n Between Nov. 23, Thanksgiving Day, and Monday, the president fired off 26 tweets (and two retweets of other accounts) on topics ranging from pending tax legislation to the Alabama Senate race to personnel moves at the Consumer Finance Protection Agency. Of those tweets, eight were about the media, and on more than one occasion they were targeted at specific outlets and scathing in tone.<\/p>\n Reacting to a tweet from White House social media director Dan Scavino about the MSNBC program \u201cMorning Joe\u201d on Monday, Trump\u00a0tweeted<\/a>, \u201cThe good news is that their ratings are terrible, nobody cares!”<\/p>\n Trump is known to be an avid Twitter user, posting his thoughts about the day\u2019s news most frequently in the mornings when his messages seem to coincide with cable news segments on any topic that animates him.<\/p>\n But there is often little or no discernible pattern to his Twitter activity and the holiday weekend was no exception.<\/p>\n \u201cI have no clue why he weighed in so much,\u201d one CNN producer told the\u00a0Washington Examiner<\/em>. The producer, whose network was perhaps Trump\u2019s biggest target over the holiday, was not authorized to speak on the record.<\/p>\n On Saturday, Trump tweeted, \u201c@FoxNews is MUCH more important in the United States than CNN, but outside of the U.S., CNN International is still a major source of (Fake) news, and they represent our Nation to the WORLD very poorly. The outside world does not see the truth from them!\u201d<\/p>\n The network and some of its on-air talent took exception with the slight.<\/p>\n CNN\u2019s publicity department used its own Twitter account to reply, \u201cIt’s not CNN’s job to represent the U.S. to the world. That’s yours. Our job is to report the news. #FactsFirst.”<\/p>\n One of Trump\u2019s media tweets seemed crafted purely for the sake of causing mischief.<\/p>\n \u201cTime Magazine called to say that I was PROBABLY going to be named \u2018Man (Person) of the Year,\u2019 like last year, but I would have to agree to an interview and a major photo shoot,\u201d he said Friday. \u201cI said probably is no good and took a pass. Thanks anyway!\u201d<\/p>\n The magazine denied that it had ever indicated Trump would be its \u201cPerson of the Year.\u201d<\/p>\n After Trump\u2019s broadside against \u201cMorning Joe,\u201d a producer at MSNBC speculated that Trump was likely on a tirade against the media in anticipation of some pending news story that may break and consume the White House.<\/p>\n \u201cSomething might be coming this week that has him wanting to diminish the credibility of cable news,\u201d the producer said.<\/p>\n Related:<\/strong>\u00a05 times Trump tweeted to change the subject<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n