Donald Trump kicked off his morning on Wednesday with a routine bashing of the news media, putting special attention on a story reported by NBC News. While Fox News has been a mostly political safe space for the president, one host decided to give Trump a history lesson in defense of the rival network.

Fox News on Trump

For over two years, Donald Trump and the majority of the mainstream media have been at odds with each other. It started during Trump's campaign announcement when he addressed the issue of illegal immigration and referred to those coming into the country from Mexico as "murderers" and "rapists." The media quickly held Trump's feet to the fire, and they've done so ever since.

After defeating Hillary Clinton in November and being sworn into office in January, the former host of "The Apprentice" has only increased his criticism of the press. Trump makes a habit of bashing reporters and media outlets on Twitter, dismissing reports that reflect negatively on him as nothing more than "fake news." Trump continued his attack on the news media on Wednesday during a multi-tweet rant on Twitter, while targeting NBC News over a recent story about the president wanting to increase the United States' nuclear arsenal. After Trump threatened to take action against NBC News in regards to their journalistic license, the issue became a hot topic during a October 11 segment on Fox News.

On Thursday afternoon, Fox News host Shepard Smith ripped into Donald Trump over his recent treatment of NBC News and the media as a whole, while comparing him to disgraced former Republican President Richard Nixon. "This presidential tactic is not new in the Trump era," Smith said in regards to Trump's media attacks. "It dates back to the Richard Nixon administration," he continued, before describing the strategy as "working the refs."

Shepard Smith then compared how Donald Trump and Richard Nixon both handled the press by citing the former president's behavior during the time of the Watergate scandal.

Smith went on to quote Nixon's press secretary Ronald Ziegler who spoke about demonizing the media for their negative coverage, stating that they would pay for their reporting "sooner or later and one way or another." Not stopping there, Smith explained that "journalism ended (Nixon's) political career," while noting "The First Amendment stood firm and almost 50 years later, it does today."

Next up

As Donald Trump expands his criticism of the press, it appears that even some in the more conservative media are coming to the defense of their rivals. Despite the backlash against him, Trump doesn't' seem willing to change his tune anytime soon, even with his approval rating having dropped to just 35 percent.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED