WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump is again setting his sights on the mainstream media as he seeks to deflect withering criticism of his firebrand style of angry political rhetoric.
In a fresh barrage of tweets, Trump is blaming the media for fanning the flames of anger, division and hatred in a country still reeling from the weekend shooting deaths of 11 Jewish worshippers in Pittsburgh.
The president's latest tweetstorm began Sunday night, when he accused media outlets of being oblivious to the consequences of what he called "fake and dishonest reporting."
"There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news," he continued Monday.
"The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People, must stop the open and obvious hostility and report the news accurately and fairly. That will do much to put out the flame of Anger and Outrage and we will then be able to bring all sides together in Peace and Harmony."
Then, a final thought: "Fake News Must End!"
It's an attempt to redirect the criticism his own fiery language has endured in recent days, particularly after a Trump supporter was charged last week in a series of attempted pipe-bomb attacks on prominent Democrats, liberals and presidential critics.
It wasn't until a gunman, reportedly shouting anti-Semitic epithets, shattered the serenity of Pittsburgh's leafy Squirrel Hill neighbourhood Saturday that the president renewed his attacks on the fourth estate.
Conservative politicians well beyond the United States have long complained of liberal bias in the media, partly as an effort to inoculate themselves from negative coverage. Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer appears to be borrowing from that playbook, accusing journalists in Ottawa of favouring Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The shooting rampage at the Tree of Life synagogue killed 11 people, the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history, and linked in part to a conspiracy theory that liberal billionaire and Holocaust survivor George Soros is financing the migrant caravan making its way through Mexico towards the southern U.S. border.
That caravan has been a popular talking point of late for Trump, whose early efforts to ratchet back his rhetoric amid last week's pipe-bomb scare have since given way to old patterns.
"Many Gang Members and some very bad people are mixed into the Caravan heading to our Southern Border," Trump tweeted Monday, shortly after the U.S. announced plans to deploy some 5,000 soldiers to the border.
"Please go back, you will not be admitted into the United States unless you go through the legal process. This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!"