Trump claims 'dishonest' networks like CNN and MSNBC will be 'turned off' due to declining ratings

WASHINGTON, DC: Donald Trump slammed news networks CNN and MSNBC during a press event in the Oval Office on Friday, March 21.

He accused them of fabricating stories and claimed that they would soon be "turned off" because of declining ratings, as reported by Forbes.

The president began, "We do need honest journalism. We made such big strides over the last two months, but we just need honest journalism and we just don’t have it." 

Donald Trump calls CNN and MSNBC 'dishonest'

"When you have CNN — you have to watch these people every once in a while just to see where they are coming from, and it’s so dishonest. MSNBC is I think probably worse," Donald Trump stated.

The Republican leader also asserted that both the media houses "are doing horribly in the ratings. I think they’re going to be turned off. They’re not doing any ratings."

Besides, during the Oval Office meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Trump dismissed a New York Times article titled "Pentagon Set Up Briefing for Musk on Potential War With China," calling it a "fake story." 

Later, Elon Musk took to X (formerly Twitter) to slam the news outlet, writing, "The New York Times is pure propaganda. Also, I look forward to the prosecutions of those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT. They will be found."

Donald Trump accused CNN and MSNBC of being 'political arms' of the Democratic Party

However, this was not the first time Donald Trump made headlines for his distaste toward certain news networks or outlets.

Last week while giving a speech at the Department of Justice, he said, "The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and MSDNC, and the fake news, CNN and ABC, CBS and NBC, they’ll write whatever they say," as per CNN.

"It’s totally illegal what they do. I just hope you can all watch for it, but it’s totally illegal," Trump claimed. 

The 78-year-old further accused CNN and MSNBC of being "political arms of the Democrat Party," stressing, "In my opinion, they’re really corrupt."

Internet says Donald Trump 'despises free speech' as he attacks CNN and MSNBC

Netizens criticized Donald Trump for attacking media networks and journalists. 

One wrote, "On what grounds does the administration deem these media outlets illegal? Transparency is crucial to uphold the rule of law," and another said, "Trump despises Free Speech His ego cannot stand it."

"Translation:  Total Censorship coming to America NO MORE free press or speech for you," a disgruntled netizen wrote. 

"I don’t think we’ve ever had a president as scared of a free press as Trump is. Also, this is entirely unconstitutional," another comment read.  

One more wrote, "Yeah because they won’t report the news how HE wants it. But he has no control over how these things work," and another person said, "We hate legacy news! But not Fox! We love Fox News because they parrot everything we say no matter how ridiculous or obviously made up it is," taking a jab at the conservative news network. 

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.