President Donald Trump on Monday ripped into a New York Times story that reported on his media habits, saying the report that he watches four to eight hours of television a day was wrong and that he "seldom, if ever," watches CNN or MSNBC.
However, if it was accurate, Trump would be below the average American and far below the average senior citizen in terms of how many hours he spends in front of the tube.
The New York Times published an extensive story on Saturday about Trump's mercurial White House, which included the anecdote that people close to him estimate he spends up to eight hours per day in front of the TV, "marinating in the no-holds-barred wars of cable news and eager to fire back."
Trump, according to the report, wakes at 5:30 each morning, "flips to CNN for news, moves to "Fox & Friends" for comfort and messaging ideas, and sometimes watches MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" because, friends suspect, it fires him up for the day." The Times also reported Trump "hate-watches" liberal host Don Lemon's nightly CNN show.
Not so, said Trump on Monday.
"Another false story, this time in the Failing @nytimes, that I watch 4-8 hours of television a day - Wrong!" he wrote. "Also, I seldom, if ever, watch CNN or MSNBC, both of which I consider Fake News. I never watch Don Lemon, who I once called the "dumbest man on television!" Bad Reporting."
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/940223974985871360
However, a 2014 "Cross-Platform" report released by Nielsen showed the average American watches more than five hours a day, and the average citizen over age 65 watches more than seven hours a day. Trump is 71.
Ironically, the story Trump criticized via Twitter reported on him using Twitter as his "Excalibur." Trump frequently fires off broadsides at various media outlets in the morning over what he considers "fake news."