“They’ll take a statement that you make, which is perfect, and they’ll cut it up and chop it up.”
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump criticized U.S. foreign policy and slammed journalists as “unbelievably dishonest” during a sweeping interview with Larry King on Russian state-owned television on Thursday.
Fresh off the candidate’s Vladimir Putin-praising appearance during Wednesday’s commander-in-chief forum, Trump called in to chat with King for a segment on RT America. King began the interview asking Trump what “surprised [him] the most about running for office.”
His answer: “the dishonesty of the media.”
“The media has been unbelievably dishonest,” Trump said. “I mean, they’ll take a statement that you make, which is perfect, and they’ll cut it up and chop it up and shorten it or lengthen it, or do something with it, then all of a sudden, it doesn’t look like as good as it did when you actually said it.”
This refrain has become a common one for the Trump camp, which has called the media “disgusting,” “corrupt” and “failing” over its coverage of his campaign. Until this week, that ire had extended to a blacklist for some outlets, including The Huffington Post, that were generally denied press credentials and unable to speak with him; the ban ended on Thursday.
Trump went on to criticize American intervention in Iraq (which he once supported) and told King he thought it was “pretty unlikely” that Russia was involved in the recent hack of the Democratic National Committee, despite American intelligence agencies suggesting otherwise.
The interview with King is the latest in an odd series of moves from the Trump campaign, which hasn’t tried to distance itself from the Russian leader. RT America is funded by the Kremlin, and its parent company, RT, is well known for holding pro-Russia stances.
More: Trump Slams ‘Dishonest’ U.S. Media On Russian State-Owned Network
It seems to me that this, combined with some of his previous anti-American statements, borders on treason. Why would Trump even be speaking on a commie network?
