US President Donald Trump's top advisor and White House Chief Strategist Stephen K Bannon on Thursday (January 26) lashed out at the media for its coverage of the former, calling it as "the opposition party" and asked it "to keep its mouth shut and listen for a while."
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Bannon said the news organisations had been "humiliated" by the outcome of the US election last November as Donald Trump won.
"The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while," Bannon told The New York Times in a telephonic interview.
"I want you to quote this. The media here is the opposition party. They don't understand this country. They still do not understand why Donald Trump is the president of the United States," Bannon added.
Trump had a major face-off with the mainstream media during his campaign days and the tussle has continued even after he defeated Hillary Clinton to become the president of the US. His administration has taken on the media for its coverage, including the turnout at his inauguration on January 20. Trump was left fuming after the media showed images of a 'low turnout' at the event and accused it of not projecting the right picture.
A day after the inauguration, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer slammed the media for showing "false reports" about the size of the audience at the ceremony. He claimed the crowd at Trump's swearing-in was "the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration — period." However, the media debunked his claims with pictures and facts as Trump's team defended Spicer's statements, calling them "alternative facts."
The president himself said that he is in a "running war" with the media organisations and recently called journalists "among the most dishonest people on earth."
Bannon, who before bagging the top White House position, had headed the far-fight, pro-Trump Breitbart News network, said: "The elite media got it dead wrong, 100 percent dead wrong." He said the media's coverage of Trump was a "humiliating defeat that they will never wash away, that will always be there". He accused the media of having zero integrity, zero intelligence and doing no hard work. He said it was the media and not the Democratic Party which was acting as the opposition.
Trump is also embroiled in a fresh spar with media after he told Congressional leaders that around three to five million people voted illegally in the November election, costing him the popular vote against Hillary. On Thursday, he also issued orders to investigate voter fraud despite no evidence in support of the claim.
