Donald Trump's feud with media 'bloodsuckers' is escalating to new heights

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donald trump

AP Photo/Jim Cole

Donald Trump.

Networks are bristling as Donald Trump's presidential campaign is increasingly restricting reporters at events, The Washington Post's Paul Farhi reported Sunday and Monday.

Five major TV news networks are even reportedly meeting sometime Monday to discuss pushing back against the Trump operation.

Their complaints include the Trump campaign restricting reporters to a designated media pen during events - and the threat to "blacklist" reporters who don't agree to the rules.

"Until today, journalists have generally been able to move about freely before Trump's events. Limiting their movement before rallies appears to reflect a new restriction by Trump's aides," Farhi wrote.

The Post's reports suggested that the Trump campaign wants to limit reporters' access to protesters and hecklers, who can often be scattered throughout the billionaire's jam-packed events.

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At an event last week, Trump's campaign manager was reportedly overheard telling another staffer to tell a CNN reporter to "get back in the pen or he's f---ing blacklisted."

For his part, Trump has also been throwing sharp barbs at the media lately. At his most recent campaign event on Saturday in Birmingham, Alabama, he said the following things about the press:

  • On columnist George Will: "George Will, I swear he looks smart because he has those little glasses. If you take the glasses away from him, he's a dummy. He needs those glasses, those little spectacles."
  • On the reporters in the room: "Look at all those guys. Highly paid - highly paid! - guys, of which I think 25% of them are good people, OK? No, it's true. Look at them."
  • On veteran journalist Cokie Roberts: "I saw the other day - I think her name is Cokie Roberts. What a lightweight. She was on 'Morning Joe.' 'Morning Joe' was saying how well Trump is doing in the polls, the polls. [Roberts said,] 'Well, I don't know.' Then I was saying to myself, 'You know, they talk about these people as intellectuals. I'm much more of an intellectual, I'm much smarter than them.'"
  • On wire-service news outlets: "They usually write bad stuff about me. They don't even like me, right? Reuters, [other outlets,] they all write bad about me. They love to write bad. The good stuff, they don't want to write. I say, 'What about that story?' [They say,] 'No, no, we don't want to write that.'"
  • On a New York Times report covering Trump's Muslim-database controversy: "Today, in The New York Times, they had a report on the front page that was false - really false. ... I love being on the front page, I'm from New York. New York Times front page! But it's a false story."
  • On the cameramen following a protester being ejected: " You want to see something funny. Look at those cameras. They're turned around. They're following the few people that are being thrown out. ... Look at those bloodsuckers back there. … They don't want to show the crowd because they're dishonest people, I'm telling you. They're dishonest people. The media is so dishonest."
  • More on the cameramen: "These are just lying people. They're bad people. The press is really bad. Fan the cameras over here, fellows! Fan the cameras. Show them. Look, they don't do it. They don't do it. They don't do it! They're very dishonest people."
  • On an NBC News reporter who asked him about a Muslim database: "Some little wise guy, he looked like he was 12 years old."

And that was all from a single, hour-long speech. At the same event, Trump also showered praise on journalists he felt were treating him better, including ABC's Barbara Walters and conservative talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh.

Meanwhile, Trump continued to rail against media outlets on Monday morning:

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