Seeking to inoculate himself from negative press, Donald Trump is wielding his most aggressive and focused attack on the media to date.
Following a weekend in which he called CNN “disgusting” and said The New York Times is “going to hell,” Trump is now portraying his candidacy as a dual-pronged campaign against both Hillary Clinton and the media.
On Monday, the Trump campaign sought to fundraise off this anti-media sentiment by sending out a Mainstream Media Accountability Survey.
“We are running against the very dishonest and totally biased media!” the email reads. “It’s time to hold the media accountable for trying to rig this election against us.”
Once completed, the survey directs supporters to a campaign donation page: “Thank you for standing up to the media’s lies and attacks. Now take the next step and make a contribution to fight back,” the page reads.
The fundraising effort follows days of negative news reports, controversial statements by the candidate, and calls from conservative stalwarts for Trump to drop out of the race.
On Sunday, the Times published a bombshell about the secret work that Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, had done for former Ukrainian president Viktor F. Yanukovych.
Manafort responded that the Times had chosen to “purposefully ignore facts and professional journalism to fit their political agenda, choosing to attack my character and reputation rather than present an honest report.”
The same day, the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board said that Trump either needed to change his act or “turn the nomination over to Mike Pence,” his running mate.
Trump is currently trailing Clinton by 6.8 points in national polls, according to the most recent RealClearPolitics aggregate. The New York Times gives him a mere 12-percent chance of winning the presidency.
