Trump floats idea of his own news network to counter CNN

President Donald Trump on Thursday proposed starting a news network to counter one of his favorite media targets.

“CNN is a voice that really seems to be the voice out there and it’s a terrible thing for our country,” Trump said, diverging from his speech on protecting Medicare for seniors at an event in The Villages, Fla. “We ought to start our own network and put some real news out there, because they are so bad for our country.”

“We’re looking at that. We should do something about it, too,” he added. “Put some really talented people and get a real voice out there, not a voice that's fake.”

The president initially slammed the media within minutes of the event, pointing at journalists in attendance while saying that “the fake news is back there.” The comment was met with an uproar of boos from the crowd.

It’s not the first time the president has floated the idea of a state-run news agency as an alternative to what he deems the “enemy of the people.”

Trump has previously suggested in a tweet the creation of a “Worldwide Network to show the World the way we really are,” as opposed to what he called CNN’s “unfair” coverage.

“CNN outside of the United States is much more important than it is in the United States,” Trump said on Thursday. “And a lot of what you see here is broadcast throughout the world. And that’s not working out too well.”

A potential example of Trump’s version of the news can be seen in a 2017 clip posted to his campaign Twitter account, in which commentator Kayleigh McEnany, now national press secretary for the president’s reelection campaign, gave a rundown of the “news of the week” from Trump Tower in New York, touting positive figures about the economy thanks to Trump’s efforts.

Trump’s attacks against CNN on Thursday sparked cheers and applause from the audience. “Some idiot at CNN said you can’t win without CNN,” he said. “I guess we showed them, I guess we showed them.”

CNN also received backlash earlier on Thursday from the Trump campaign when the network refused to run an ad on its platform. CNN said the 30-second video, titled “Biden Corruption,” contained inaccuracies about former Vice President Joe Biden and his son in connection with Ukraine.

Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine