Donald Trump actually loves the media, despite sounding just the opposite during his
angry press conference on Tuesday, according to columnist Michael Wolff, who interviewed the presumptive GOP nominee at his Hollywood home for an extensive cover feature for the June 10 edition of
The Hollywood Reporter.
"I just spent a piece of time with Donald Trump in his house in Beverly hills, reclining on the couch, eating ice cream," Wolff told MSNBC's
"Morning Joe" program. "One of the things we spent a lot of time talking about, because it's my wheelhouse, is the media. I'm going to tell you Donald Trump loves the media. I don't know what he's talking about here."
In Tuesday's press conference, Trump railed against the "dishonest" national media, telling reporters that "the press should be ashamed of themselves," and singling out ABC News' Tom Llamas as a "sleaze" and CNN's Jim Acosta as "a real beauty."
But Wolff said Wednesday that Trump "certainly was not saying anyone was dishonest to me, quite the opposite. He was lavishing praise on everybody. As a matter of fact, he didn't want to talk about politicians, he wanted to talk about the media. As a matter of fact you can kind of say the media is Donald Trump's party."
And, Wolff said, Trump is "in many ways totally at one with that party."
In the article, Wolff describes the nation's media heads as Trump's "party whips," including Fox News' Roger Ailes; CNN's Jeff Zucker, who while at NBC bought "The Apprentice," making Trump a television star; and NBC's Andy Lack.
"Despite his tweets about the 'dishonest media,' Trump is lavish in his praise of all of them," Wolff wrote in the article. I ask them to rate them. 'That's an unfair question,' he says, making a rare grab for politesse. 'I know Jeff very well. I know Roger very well. And, less well, but I think Andy has done a very good job.'"
But he did discuss several powerful media leaders in the article, calling media magnate Rupert Murdoch "a tremendous guy" and "one of the people I really respect and like" and CBS president and CEO Leslie Moonves a "great guy. The greatest. We're on the same page. We think alike."
Overall, Trump's angry press conference, Wolff said Wednesday, was "about performance, Donald Trump's personality."
Also, said Wolff, people who have only seen Trump during the campaign would think "oh, my God, this is an angry guy. Donald Trump is not an angry guy. Donald Trump is not a hostile guy. Donald Trump is the happiest man in America."
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