President Trump, seemingly never very busy, today criticized Fox News, accusing the network of “wasting airtime” over its coverage of South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and other Democratic 2020 contenders.
Buttigieg is among two dozen people competing for the Democratic Party’s 2020 nomination to challenge Trump.
Wallace last month praised the mayor as having “interesting, refreshing ideas” and more “substance” than former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), another White House hopeful.
The Fox News anchor is the son of legendary “60 Minutes” correspondent Mike Wallace, who died in 2012.
Trump reminded Fox News of the “people who got them there,” and then took a personal swing at Wallace:
….who got them there. Chris Wallace said, “I actually think, whether you like his opinions or not, that Mayor Pete has a lot of substance…fascinating biography.” Gee, he never speaks well of me – I like Mike Wallace better…and Alfred E. Newman will never be President!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 19, 2019
There are reasons why Wallace may be getting under Trump’s skin.
This morning Wallace verged on open mockery of Trump‘s Iran policy when he repeatedly asked Pennsylvania Republican Senator Pat Toomey “do you understand” what that policy is.
At the end of an interview on this week’s edition of Fox News Sunday, Wallace managed to take two unsubtle shots at Trump’s Iran policy in the space of a single question.
“Over the last week, the president has taken a number of measures,” Wallace said to Toomy. “He’s ordered a carrier strike group to the Persian Gulf, we’re sending long range bombers there, the Pentagon has at least considered a proposal to send 120,000 US troops to the Middle East.”
“Really, two questions, one, do you understand what’s going on with U.S. policy in Iran,” Wallace asked, and then added, with a slight laugh, “and how do you feel about, if you do understand it, what the president’s policy is?”
“I think I do, Chris,” Toomey replied.
On Friday, Wallace said he believes Attorney General Bill Barr “clearly is protecting” Trump and “advocating his point of view.”
“What really comes across to me most of all is that for two years Donald Trump sat there and said ‘I don’t have an attorney general. I don’t have somebody out there looking for and protecting my interests,’ ” said Wallace. “He clearly has that now with Bill Barr.”
Wallace made similar comments about Barr in April after the attorney general held a press conference in which he offered a staunch defense of Trump before the release of the Mueller report.
Since officially launching his 2020 presidential bid in mid-April, Buttigieg has risen to third place in some national polls, behind Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Although political pundits have credited his newfound fame to his growing presence on social media and the news, the 37-year-old candidates’ Fox News appearance comes amid calls by some Democrats for a boycott of the network.
The Democratic National Committee announced in March that it would not allow Fox News to host any of its presidential primary debates this cycle, pointing to an explosive New Yorker article detailing deep ties between the conservative network and Trump’s White House.