Press calling Trump's shifts 'erratic'

This is a rush transcript from "Media Buzz," August 25, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

HOWARD KURTZ, HOST: On "Media Buzz" this Sunday, President Trump accusing the press of trying to tank the economy sparks a media uproar by calling his handpicked chairman of the Federal Reserve an enemy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC HOST: Why is he attacking his Fed chair so publicly? Does he think he can lower rates and help the economy get some more soup (ph) in it if he just bashes this guy every day on television?

CHUCK TODD, MSNBC HOST: If you thought we hit peak presidential chaos earlier this week or even earlier today, the rest of the day was a reminder that oh, no, there's always more chaos to come with this president. President Trump sent the stock market tumbling today.

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: When you have the president of the United States sort of flailing around this way and ordering companies to move back to the U.S. and saying that the head of the Federal Reserve is an enemy of the country, is that going to create more consumer confidence about the state of the economy or not?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: As Trump meets with world leaders in France, is this a fight over who bears to blame, the president, the press, the Fed, if there's an economic downturn?

Maria Bartiromo, who has covered the business world for decades, joins our discussion. A major media backlash as Trump moves from attacking two Muslim congresswomen to questioning the loyalty of Jewish Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Did the president really just insult America's Jewish voters as dumb or disloyal if they vote for Democrats?

DAVID ASMAN, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK ANCHOR: What's really extraordinary to me is to see charges of anti-Semitism against a president whose daughter just became Jewish, was converted to Judaism, whose son-in-law is obviously Jewish, who is the best friend, according to many Israelis, that Israel has ever head.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: It's also just incredible arrogance when you consider that 70 percent of Jews voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. Are they all stupid? Are they all ignorant?

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: And stop with the, oh, don't say disloyal. Trump has called Hitler every day on TV. You're upset about one word, disloyal?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: But is the press right that this is insulting to many American Jews or is the press soft on the anti-Semitic language of Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib?

With the White House seeming to shift positions on guns, on tax cuts, on the odd notion of buying Greenland, the pundits keep calling Trump erratic. Is this a culture clash about how to govern?

Plus, why the huge journalistic uproar over Sean Spicer being tapped for "Dancing with the Stars?"

I'm Howard Kurtz and this is "Media Buzz."

It has been a crazy week even by Trumpian standards. The media first went on high alert when President Trump having successfully urged Israel to bar entry to two Muslim congresswomen, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, shifted the spotlight by saying this about Jewish voters who support the Democratic Party and standing his ground in the session with reporters.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Your critics have said that is an anti- Semitic remark. How do you respond to that?

TRUMP: I haven't heard anybody say that, just the opposite. I think that if you vote for a Democrat, you're very, very disloyal to Israel and to the Jewish people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KURTZ: Joining us to analyze the coverage: Emily Jashinsky, culture editor at The Federalist; Susan Ferrechio, chief congressional correspondent for The Washington Examiner; and Mo Elleithee, a Fox News contributor, former DNC official, and director of Georgetown University's Institute of Politics.

Emily, President Trump has been quite open about trying to paint these congresswomen as the face of the Democrats. The media say he crossed a bright red line in saying that Jewish Democrats, Jewish voters who support Democrats, are either not too bright or being disloyal.

EMILY JASHINSKY, CULTURE EDITOR, THE FEDERALIST: This extremely poor choice of words on the President Trump's part to use the word disloyal in reference to Jews community, obviously you should know better than to do that. At the same time, there are two sides to the story. The other side of the story is that he is talking about this mainstreaming of anti-Semitic --

KURTZ: OK.

JASHINSKY: -- right-left progressives.

KURTZ: Let me move on because we are having a problem with your mic. So, Mo, I'll ask you. What has brought the denunciations is the notion that Jews vote only on the issue of Israel, and if they don't like the Trump- Netanyahu policy, they are disloyal?

MO ELLEITHEE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR, DIRECTOR OF GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF POLITICS: Yeah. It's a ridiculous argument to say that someone is disloyal because of that to this country. This is exactly what the president criticized Ilhan Omar of saying just in the reverse when she was questioning the loyalty of those who supported Israel.

She was (INAUDIBLE) by this president and she was (INAUDIBLE) by the press for doing that. So here, now you have the president doing the exact same thing. If you got a problem with one, you ought to have a problem with the other.

KURTZ: Emily, just finish your point. You started by saying poor choice of words by the president --

JASHINSKY: Yeah.

KURTZ: but you said there is another side to this and that is?

JASHINSKY: Right. To most point, I think there's a really great point to be made that it is the same thing of what Ilhan Omar did and that is the other side of the story. When I was looking to the coverage of the president's remarks this week, I actually saw that story of the potential anti-Semitism that shared by people like Ilhan Omar and the Democratic Party not really given full scope in like, for instance, The New York Times report where they just kind of reference it.

And, you know, maybe they mentioned her comments about foreign allegiance at one point that she made those comments, but doesn't get into the full scope of the remarks that she's made that generally offended Jewish community. And that's important. That's what the president was responding to. And so the media needs to at least talk in greater depths about what he's discussing.

KURTZ: That is certainly a related issue and important issue and one that should be covered. But when the spotlight shifted, Susan, to the president's words about Jews and how they vote, the press now is putting Donald Trump's own words on trial.

SUSAN FERRECHIO, CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Absolutely. But to your point which is really excellent, it's important to put the president's words on trial because that's an anti- Semitic remark about dual loyalty. No question. It's important for us to point that out to the president. But he --

KURTZ: Dual loyalty but that's how many --

FERRECHIO: Disloyal. That's the way it's been interpreted.

KURTZ: Right.

FERRECHIO: You really could soundly interpret it that way. But the problem is when the Democrats have been committing these problems especially House Democrats and the leadership has protected them, has moved to protect them --

JASHINSKY: And the media.

FERRECHIO: Let me finish, though, the media has not covered it that way. And what the president is doing, the president is raising questions about where the Democratic Party is headed when it comes to the issue of Israel and the Jewish people.

That has not gotten full coverage in the media. They don't use that same kind of outage, same kind of hyper-scrutiny when it's the Democratic Party, coequal branch of government and their leadership, where are the questions about that?

ELLEITHEE: I think the press was very hard on Ilhan Omar when she made her comments, just as they were made. And what's really interesting, if we want to talk about the lack of context, how divorce this is from the president's comments post Charlottesville when he said that there -- if he wants to be now the voice, the advocate, and the fighter against anti-Semitism when he made those pretty reprehensible comments after Charlottesville saying that there were very fine people marching alongside neo-Nazis who are chanting "Jews will not replace us" --

FERRECHIO: That's not who he was talking about. You keep repeating that false claim. Go ahead.

ELLEITHEE: That's not at all a false claim.

FERRECHIO: Well, yes, I don't think agree with you. I don't think --

ELLEITHEE: We were talking about --

FERRECHIO: I don't think he was referring to those people.

ELLEITHEE: The people who were marching in Charlottesville, he was very clear. Look, my point is I'm not here to litigate whether or not he is anti-Semitic. My point is he made comments --

KURTZ: I got --

ELLEITHEE: -- that were seen as -- that were wrong to question the loyalty of any American.

KURTZ: I think it is wrong for people on the left to criticize Trump's voters as crazy or racist --

ELLEITHEE: Yes.

KURTZ: -- or whatever. I think that criticizing Jews for not voting in a certain way is ultimately kind of self-destructive.

But let me move to this border point because there has been a growing media drumbeat, louder every day. Trump is erratic, Trump's government is in chaos as he has -- as he or the White House have sent mixed messages, sometimes its leaks about tax cuts, guns, Greenland.

Today at the G-7, he told reporters he had second thoughts about getting tough on trying to trade policy. The White House clearly clarified this is not what he meant when he said he should have been tougher. So, is it fair game for the media to portray the Trump administration as now being in chaos?  JASHINSKY: I don't necessarily say that it would be chaotic because at this point, we've had several years of the Trump administration and we know that the way the president governs is often kind of stream of consciousness.

So he airs his thought process on Twitter and kind of freely in press conferences. I don't think that necessarily implies administration is mired in chaos so much as it says he is working for these issues (ph). He is just doing it in public view.

KURTZ: I think Emily has now the vote (ph) because the press wants a tidy process. Most administrations, they announce a policy and that's the policy. In this situation, the president kind of freelance this. He floats ideas, he takes them back, he watches cable, he changes his mind, he talks to somebody else and he changes his mind again.

ELLEITHEE: I think sometimes the press overdoes it. But this -- the end of this week was really an interesting case study in this where because of the president's approach and the president's style, the way he went after the Fed chair, then launching -- escalating the trade war with China, what we saw was real-world implications. If you were watching -- if you got anyone who watches this program, if you got a 401(k) account --

KURTZ: Right.

ELLEITHEE: -- you have less money in your retirement account at the end of the day on Friday than you did at the beginning of the day, the press covered that and rightfully so. I will give one place where it didn't cover it well and that was prime time on this network. If you were watching prime time on this network, you wouldn't have known that. So to really focus on the president's behavior and how it has real-world implications, I think, is the role of the press.

KURTZ: We had trouble finding anyone on the airwaves defending the particular comments about, for example, attacking Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. We will talk about that later with Maria Bartiromo.

Susan, Politico had a headline this week, the case for tuning out the White House. Insinuation is there. What is the point of covering all this stuff that he and the White House said because they change every day, sometimes every hour, but how do you not cover it? That's the way this administration operates.

FERRECHIO: That's absolutely ridiculous. You have to cover the president. Let's think now. The next president, do you think, is going to ignore Twitter or are they going to be trying to raise the bar themselves on Twitter? We can't ignore just because the way of covering presidents has changed so dramatically under President Trump.

KURTZ: Let me get to a sound bite that has caused a lot of media chatter. The subject was in fact the tariff war increasingly -- serious tariff war with China. Here we go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Somebody -- excuse me, somebody had to do it. I am the chosen one. Somebody had to do it. So I'm taking on China.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: Emily, the president went on to say, "I was joking, I was being sarcastic, the reporters were smiling, little did I know the media would claim I had a Messiah complex." I kind of (INAUDIBLE) him on this one. It looks (INAUDIBLE) to me.

JASHINSKY: Right. This is the ridiculous game sometimes. He says something that is not normal presidential behavior but he is joking. He is a reality television host. The media personality said something clearly that was a joke and was covered in bad faith by the press.

It is such a silly game that we have to go through this every time this president who has been in office for years now says something, like, do I need to be covered? Absolutely! Do I think we need to cover it like President Donald Trump really thinks that he's the Messiah? No.

KURTZ: But Mo, it came after the president quoted in a tweet of his own -- someone else, a radio host, who said he's the second calling of God and the king of Israel. So it kind of fit into a media narrative, that Trump is so narcissistic and so full of himself that he thinks he's on some kind of divine mission. But in that particular case, do you think he was dead serious?

ELLEITHEE: Look, I think you're right. It does fit into a narrative. I don't think ultimately he was serious. I do think it fits into narrative going back to the convention when he stood up there at the republican convention saying, "I alone can fix this." He does have a very self -- he does have borderline messianic complex sometimes about himself.

KURTZ: Many politicians have a very high self-regard, don't you think?

ELLEITHEE: I think they do. Everyone has an ego. But he does take it to a different level. And the one thing I would say about the way the press covered it is that I would ask how you all think some would cover it if Barack Obama had said that, right?

JASHINSKY: That was a joke. I don't think it would have been covered --

ELLEITHEE: You know there are a lot of times he made jokes and there were folks sort of in conservative media world that -- that took it way too far as well.

KURTZ: Briefly, Trump has been incredibly accessible to reporters but always taking these sorts of questions while the helicopter blades are turning. It can be hard to develop storyline and then one comment gets blown up.

FERRECHIO: They had no problem establishing storylines out of those. In fact, this is actually working out pretty well for the press. Look at the access they have to him.

KURTZ: Right.

FERRECHIO: But they never had with President Obama.

KURTZ: The helicopter chat put the president at a disadvantage compared to the formal --

FERRECHIO: No, I think it puts him on a complete advantage. He controls everything. He decides when to walk away. He has got the sound in the background.

KURTZ: He controls it, right.

FERRECHIO: He is in charge of everything. You don't have to interpret through a spokesperson or this White House press briefings that were disasters for the Trump administration.

KURTZ: You validated my point. That is exactly a good time to get a break. When we come back, the media go gaga over Greenland and the president's desire to buy the country has become an international incident. And later, Maria Bartiromo on Trump accusing the press and the Fed chairman of trying to ruin the economy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KURTZ: The pundits did plenty of chuckling when The Wall Street Journal reported that President Trump was talking to aides about having the U.S. attempt to go buy Greenland. There was quite a fall after the Danish prime minister whose country owns the arctic land rejected the idea.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: She's not talking to me. She's talking to the United States of America. You don't talk to the United States that way. I think when they say it was absurd and it was said at a very nasty, very sarcastic way, I said we will make it some other time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: The president referring to his abrupt decision to cancel a plan visit to Denmark after Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen diplomatically rejected the notion of selling another country, which she did call absurd.

Emily, this seemed like a blip. I even decided not mentioning it on last week's show, figuring it would just quickly fade. Does it feel this press narrative we spoke of earlier, the president being erratic when suddenly this escalates to the point where he cancels his visit and becomes global news?

JASHINSKY: It certainly feels that narrative. What is so interesting about this is the original story that launched it in The Wall Street Journal actually covered how this was a fairly serious effort. The president had been talking for advisers for a while about it and sort of like checking in to see if this is realistic.

He actually was putting a lot of serious thought into the decision. It wasn't just something he kind of randomly tweeted. And so it's interesting to see how it was treated in the press when the original story that launched it actually looked like it was a pretty serious effort from the president.

And the reaction from the Danish prime minister was extreme. So it seems like -- it doesn't seem like it is a crazy thing to say, well, maybe now is not the time to negotiate on this.

KURTZ: I don't agree that her reaction was extreme. I think she didn't want to have a fight with the U.S. --

JASHINSKY: Absurd -- it's a pretty --

KURTZ: OK. The president later said he had a great conversation with her, trying to kind of patch things up. But it has kind of changed the whole narrative to, you know, because the Greenland thing is not happening and was never going to happen, but to Donald Trump and the press needlessly picking fights with American allies, which Denmark has very much been.

ELLEITHEE: Yeah. I think there is some truth to that. Again, this is -- look, you're right, Emily, that The Wall Street Journal piece showed that this was something that they had internal deliberations. What they clearly hadn't really done though was the diplomatic outrage.

JASHINSKY: Right.

ELLEITHEE: And so this is a case where the style of this president and the staff around him leaking this to The Wall Street Journal as opposed to doing the diplomatic groundwork that you normally do --

(CROSSTALK)

ELLEITHEE: Right. So the fact that because of that style, the Danish government suddenly reads this and the American press has a strong reaction to something that it came out of nowhere and pushed back, and now we have a diplomatic incident with an ally.

KURTZ: This was originally kind of a light story. There was some mocker. I mean, Greenland is mostly covered in ice. Yes, it has some national security significance, 58,000 people live there, less than the neighborhood I grew up in Brooklyn, but now it has been elevated to a significant foreign policy (INAUDIBLE).

FERRECHIO: Well, first of all, we tried buying Greenland a couple times in our history.

KURTZ: Harry Truman.

FERRECHIO: In 1867, Harry Truman tried it and they gave him an equally nasty response when we tried to buy it under his administration. So it is not new. So to mock it just because it is President Trump, that is just very typical for the media. If Trump is doing it, it is crazy. It is nuts. I am sure if another president considered it, we would take it more seriously.

Mo is right. The way they go about it, they always stumble into these problems because they don't do diplomatic outreach, and now we are picking a fight with Denmark. It just - it runs (ph) to mockery.  KURTZ: Real estate developers like to buy things. It is a little different when what's at stake is a country.

(LAUGHTER)

KURTZ: All right, great discussion, Mo Elleithee, Susan Ferrechio, and Emily Jashinsky. Ahead, there is really a serious debate whether Sean Spicer should be allowed on a dancing show? When we come back, Donald Trump on an anti-media tear versus Google, versus NBC, and versus Fox News.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KURTZ: Donald Trump ripped a number of media organizations this week and that includes this network. There was this tweet against America's internet search giant, "Wow, report just out! Google manipulated 2.6 million to 16 million votes for Hillary Clinton in 2016 election. This was put out by a Clinton supporter, not a Trump supporter. Google should be sued. My victory was even bigger than thought."

I'm certainly not discounting questions about Google's bias but that's not exactly what the study said. Trump was referring to a 2-year-old white paper by former Psychology Today editor Robert Esptein, who told The New York Times, "I have never said Google manipulated the 2016 elections. The range of numbers he listed in the tweet is also incorrect."

His study examined just 95 people, wasn't reviewed by other experts, and was designed to gauge the potential impact if Google was messing with search results to help one candidate.

Trump also unloaded on NBC White House correspondent Peter Alexander for the way he attempted to ask a question that began with Joe Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETER ALEXANDER, NBC NEWS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sir, Joe Biden's gaffes -- you like to attack -- you like to attack Joe Biden for his gaffes, but --

TRUMP: This guy is the most biased reporter, NBC. You know, I've made a lot of money for NBC with "The Apprentice" and I used to like them. But they are the most biased. Peter is such a --

ALEXANDER: Let me ask you about Joe Biden's gaffes.

TRUMP: You should be able to ask a question, same question in a better way.

ALEXANDER: I'll ask a question.

TRUMP: You are so obviously biased and that's why the public has no confidence in the media. NBC News has less credibility in my opinion with guys like you than CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: The president is entitled to challenge a reporter's question as some of his predecessors have done. But in this case, Trump slammed Alexander before he got out his question, which ended up being about Trump's gaffes in saying that the Dayton shooting took place in Toledo.

Trump has also been taking wax in recent weeks at Fox's news division. His latest complaint involves a Fox poll that found him trailing four democratic candidates in hypothetical match-ups.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Fox is a lot different than it used to be. I can tell you that. Fox has changed. And my worst polls have always been from Fox. There's something going on at Fox, I will tell you right now, and I'm not happy with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: Bret Baier responded that Fox hasn't changed. Let me just say Fox has a news division that is separate from its opinion side, and the polls are conducted by the news division. By the way, the Fox -- latest Fox poll that is, is very much in line with other recent surveys.

Now, the president who has criticized Fox's coverage of Democrats isn't going to be happy with the journalists here as opposed to some of the opinion hosts. That's fine. I've told the White House that if Donald Trump, who I interviewed six times during the campaign, is ready to return to "Media Buzz" for a candid conversation about the news business, he has an open invitation.

Coming up, Maria Bartiromo is here to tackle this question: Does the press have the power to create a recession as the president is charging?

And later, stunning footage of a bodyguard who works for a CNN contributor roughing up another journalist.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KURTZ: President Trump made headlines by slamming Federal Reserve Chairman, Jay Powell, on unusually harsh terms, but he's also hitting the press which has been reporting for of signs of a possible recession down the road. The fake news mainstream media is doing everything possible to create a U.S. recession, even though the numbers and facts are working totally in the opposite direction. They would be willing to hurt many people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The fake news, of which many of you are members, is trying to convince the public to have a recession.  Let's have a recession. The United States is doing phenomenally well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: And he repeated that charge today from the G7 in France, blaming the fake and disgusting press. Joining us now from New York, Maria Bartiromo, who hosts Sunday Morning Futures on FNC right before this program, as well Mornings with Maria on Fox Business. And let me start here, Maria. Do the media have the power even if they were so inclined for dastardly political reasons to crash the economy?

MARIA BARTIROMO, "MORNINGS WITH MARIA" ANCHOR: Well, look, Howie. Let's talk about the consumer being two-thirds of economic growth. Consumer spending is incredibly important. And if you constantly hear gloom and doom on the media, then you may very well say, you know what, a recession is coming. I'd better pull it in. I better be a little more conservative with my spending, be a little more prudent right now, because I hear what's going on in the news that there's a recession coming.

So I am going to pull it in. If everybody starts pulling it in at the same time, yes, you actually can have the media talking us into a recession. So there is some truth to that, because consumer spending represents two- thirds of economic growth. I think the broader picture is that the media continues to have an incredible amount of influence in terms of explaining to the world what is going on.

When you go back to the fact that we just came off of this two years of collusion delusion, where the media was all about President Trump colluded with the Russians, et cetera, et cetera, you know, Sunday Morning Futures, my program right before this program, was every week poking holes into that narrative for two years.

And I got slammed in the media as a result of the fact that every week I would have people like Congressman John Ratcliffe, Congressman Devin Nunes, the congressmen who actually saw the redacted document, the people who were actually there interviewing the FBI officials. And they knew the story better than anybody. So I featured them every Sunday on my program. And everybody else in the media, I mean, on television, was talking about the president colluding.

It's no secret or no surprise to me that China, earlier this year, reneged on everything. You had a deal with China in place -- let me just say this.  This is an important point, Howie. We had a deal in China in March earlier this year in April, and the Chinese reneged, why? Because they are watching on CNN that the president colluded with Russia, it may very well be the Chinese thought we are going to be done with this guy in a year.

So yes, I think the media has incredible responsibility to seek the truth, Howie, and not write the narrative.

KURTZ: But let me come back to this question of recession. And I certainly understand how talking down the economy, you know, in fact, affect consumer confidence, consumer spending, all important, as you just pointed out. But when the president talks or tweets about China or Jay Powell, we will get to that in one moment, and the market goes 623 points, or when there's, you know, bond indicators that say a recession could be down the road.

That's not the same thing as saying we are on the verge of a recession.  Isn't there a media responsibility to report those developments?

BARTIROMO: The media's responsibility is to report the truth and seek the truth. But Howie, how many programs do you hear the media saying the unemployment rate is at 51-year low? How many media outlets are you hearing saying we had four plus percent growth for one quarter last year, three point one percent growth in the first quarter, and two point one percent growth in the second quarter of this year?

Let's be clear. A recession is two quarters of negative performance, meaning negative, not positive. We are only seeing positive readings. So the fact that we are talking about a recession being on the horizon and not even talking about the facts, reminds me of editorial meeting that took place at the New York Times two weeks ago, where the editor there said, well, for two years we were putting all of our resources into Russia collusion.

The story changed on us. The story didn't change, Howie. The story is the same story. But they put all their resources in collusion. And now they decided we're going to put all of our resources on racism. That's a disappointment for me being a journalist when I see something like that.  And it should be a disappointment to ever journalist, because a journalist is supposed to cover the story. Seek the truth, not write the story.

KURTZ: Right. Well, the Times didn't say all the resources into racism, but certainly that would be prominent part of the narrative. Now, let me get you to the tweet, because it has gotten so much attention. Let's put it up on the screen. The president says my only question is who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powell or Chairman Xi, comparing him to the autocratic leader of China.

And then later, told reporters, if he we wanted to resign, I wouldn't stop him. Isn't that word, enemy, isn't that kind of an unprecedented attack on a Fed chairman who he appointed?

BARTIROMO: It feels like it's been an unprecedented attack on Jay Powell.  But I think it's important to recognize where we are in terms of the Twitter and Google universe and where we are today. I mean, many presidents have prodded their Federal Reserve chairman to lower rates and to be more favorable on the economy. We just didn't hear about it. But today, we hear about everything because of Twitter, and because of Google, and Facebook, et cetera.

Look, this president does things his own way. I can, you know, debate you all day on policy. Let's talk economic policy. Let's talk foreign policy.  I am not going to debate about personality. He does things his own way.  Obviously, it works for him. Sometimes, it doesn't work for him. Other times, I would prefer not to see the president of the free world poking the chairman of the Federal Reserve.

I would prefer not. I would like to make sure we all know that we have an independent Federal Reserve. But this president does things the way that he wants to do. And in some situations, it works for him. In others, it doesn't. But, you know, like I said, personality versus policy.

KURTZ: An important distinction and important perspective from Maria Bartiromo. Thanks for sticking around, Maria.

BARTIROMO: Thank you.

KURTZ: And coming up, the president said he would lead on background checks. Now, the president says he's backing off. Plus, both Donald Trump and Anthony Scaramucci ratcheting up their rhetoric as their battle turns nasty.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KURTZ: President Trump took center stage after the mass shootings El Paso and Dayton, saying this about the need for stricter gun measures.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We need intelligent background checks, OK? This isn't a question of NRA, Republican or Democrat. Great, great support, but we are looking at very, very meaningful background checks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: But the media accused him of caving this week when after speaking with NRA leader, Wayne LaPierre, the president took a somewhat different tack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: There are things we can do, but we already have very serious background checks. We have strong background checks. We can close up the gaps. We could do things that are very good, and things that frankly gun owners want to have done. But we also have to remember the gun doesn't pull the trigger. A person does, and we have great mental illness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: Joining us now to analyze the coverage, Gayle Trotter, a lawyer and commentator who hosts the Right in D.C. podcast here in Washington, and in New York, Jeanne Zaino, who teaches media and government at Iona College.  And Gayle, does the press have a point that President Trump seems at least to be softening his language on background checks?

GAYLE TROTTER, FOX CONTRIBUTOR: Well, PolitiFact reported that President Trump has never taken a policy position on any particular background gun check. And so I think what we are seeing is palpable frustration by the media that after these tragedies happened that there's no legislative action. And so that's how we are seeing this spun in the headlines and the reporting of outlets like the New York Times. They are painting it as a retreat, but in fact, it's not a retreat.

KURTZ: Well, Jeanne, it's true that we haven't gotten down to specific legislation. But when news organizations say is that after talking to the chief executive of the NRA, and he was very open about that, that the president is now sort of echoing some of the NRA language.

JEANNE ZAINO, FOX CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah. You know, the thing about the media, the reporting on this, and they've used the word whiplash. They've used the flip-flopping. The reality here is that we have now our best opportunity to get, you know, important gun control legislation, because it's going to have to happen under a Republican president if you have a Republican Senate.

And so the media have to think about how would this legislation ever get passed, and it would get passed by the president talking to members of Congress, giving them cover to vote for some form of legislation. And so I think the media is being a bit disingenuous here when it's talking about the president's conversations with Wayne LaPierre, which by the way, seemed to have been leaked by the NRA versus the White House.

KURTZ: Right. Well, in your view, Gayle, are the media -- and it's true, the president has talked lawmakers on both parties. And I give him credit for that. But are the media pushing background checks already passed by the Democratic House and to lesser extent the assault weapon's ban as the only solution after these mass shootings?

TROTTER: I am so glad you asked that, Howie, because we don't see a single mainstream media outlet pushing a law that would ban the identification or the publication of photos of these mass shooters, and certainly part of the motivation between many of the mass shooters is a sense of fame or seeking recognition. And why does the mainstream media treat the first amendment differently than the second amendment?

Because they don't believe the second amendment in the way that they believe in the first amendment.

KURTZ: Well, I am very glad that many organizations, on their own, have barely mentioned the names of these mass shooters or show their pictures.  I think that's a good step. But Jeanne, no one necessarily expected Donald Trump to go there after El Paso and Dayton. And he also had kind of gone that direction after the Parkland High School shootings. So I think when he came out and said we need strong meaningful background checks, he raised expectations that the media reflected.

ZAINO: He did raise expectations. And I think we also need to stop for a moment and say we have a Republican president who is crawling for background checks. That is a big deal.

TROTTER: We have background checks.

(CROSSTALK)

ZAINO: No, he's calling for expanded background checks is what he's calling for. That is a big deal for a Republican president to call for that.

KURTZ: I have to jump in here, because I want to get to this other topic, and that is Anthony Scaramucci continuing -- the former White House aide continuing his attacks on President Trump, leading to these tweets, which I will put up on the screen here. Donald Trump says Anthony Scaramucci is a highly unstable nut-job. I barely knew him until his 11 days of gross incompetence, made a fool of himself, bad on TV, abused staff.

He was a mental wreck. We didn't want him around. Now, fake news puts him on like he was my buddy, and Scaramucci, one of many interviews punching back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He may not have had early stage dementia, but he has full blown early stage fascism. I mean, it's like a hostage crisis inside of the building. They absolutely hate the guy's guts. But they're scared out of their minds. Look at what he did to me and my wife this week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: Gayle, Scaramucci has not only been pounding Trump everyday on television, but talking about denying him Republican nomination. But should the president be responding with such personal criticism of Mooch?

TROTTER: Yes, because the only reason the mainstream media is highlighting him and giving a voice is because of his disloyalty. And when you have an administrative term quote, who the only claim to fame that he has is the spectacular flameout he had in the job that he had in the White House.  It's perfectly appropriate for the president to call him out for that.

KURTZ: Jeanne, I had Scaramucci on this program last week, a lot of people didn't like that. But I thought offered (Inaudible) and then we defended the president, let's press him on his current views. But is he undermining credibility when he says things as he has this week, Trump is irrational.  Trump is unstable, full-blown mental breakdown?

ZAINO: You know, Anthony Scaramucci, it's interesting because one of the things we have to give President Trump credit for is he hasn't changed. He has been the same as he was when Anthony Scaramucci worked for him and prior when he was in New York City. And I know a lot of what Scaramucci has said has to do with the president's comments on race. The president was making those comments long before he ran for president.

So I think that's the issue people have with what Scaramucci has said, is that this president hasn't changed. He has been who he is. And so Anthony Scaramucci calling him out starts to seem sort of -- you know, a way in which he can get something from the media, which is a lot of attention that he has gotten.

(CROSSTALK)

KURTZ: Right.

ZAINO: He can have his own view on the president, but it does seem self- serving.

(CROSSTALK)

TROTTER: And we agree on that.

KURTZ: We have agreement, a rare agreement. I did press him on that in our interview. And he said he admitted that he felt he had waited too long and then had to question, like, why are you saying this now when you defended the guy for so long. All right, great discussion, Jeanne Zaino, Gayle Trotter, thanks so much. After the break, one of the great issues facing America, why are commentators so crazed that Sean Spicer is going on with Dancing with the Stars?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KURTZ: In a publicity bonanza for ABC, there's actually a serious journalistic debate unfolding over if Sean Spicer should have been invited on Dancing with the Stars, one fueled by the misgivings of host, Tom Bergeron.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My preference would have been to avoid any political lighting rods. I think dancing at its best is an oasis, away from all the divisiveness, and all of the stuff that we are all wrestling with right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My hope and goal is that at tend of the season, Tom looks back and says, you know what we need more of this, not less of it.  We need more bringing people together of different backgrounds and say, hey, come together. Show how much you actually can enjoy each other's company. Have a conversation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: Joining us now from New York, Kat Timpf, a National Review writer and Fox News contributor. And New York Times TV critic, James Poniewozik, who obviously can't stand Trump, writing that ABC is helping rehabilitate Spicer to where he's no longer a buffoon, where people shrug off his mendacity, why, since other conservatives have appeared on the show -- naming or joining or recruiting I should say former White House press secretary touched such a media nerve?

KAT TIMPF, FOX NATION HOST: Well, I think that their thinking is this wasn't just a conservative. This was a conservative who worked for Trump, right? And things have changed. If you're at all associated with Trump, you're supposed to be treated as a pariah. Now, how does it make sense in terms of actual logic? That, I don't understand, because I am not a non- emotional person. I am actually quite a kind, sensitive, emotional gal.

However, before I get seriously impacted by something the way that the media seemed to be seriously impacted by this, it has to affect me at least a little bit, right? And Sean Spicer dancing around on TV actually isn't going to affect you at all, guys, believe it or not.

KURTZ: Yeah. Let's put up -- criticize his dancing, if you want. Let's put up some of the video of him on Fox and Friends. But look, Spicer's admitted to me and many others that he made mistakes as White House spokesman. It's been more than two years since he's been in the White House. He's still an advocate for Donald Trump. And this kind of came up when he did this skit on the Emmy's with Colbert. Why does so many in the media take the position that he should never be allowed to show his face again, should be black-balled for life?

TIMPF: I think that it's just so many people in the media are living in this echo chamber, where it's just Trump equals bad. Anyone associated with Trump equals bad. And that's all there is to it. And you're so right to bring up the point that he has apologized. He has said I made mistakes.  I would have done some thing differently. What more do you want? I mean, this person has said I regret some of the things I did.

He can't dance around on TV? I don't -- I really don't understand, especially when you consider the fact that, hey, there is a world outside of your echo chamber where people -- they don't just not mind Sean Spicer.  Some people actually like him. They want to see him on the show. There is an America beyond your little bubble.

KURTZ: And this will be good for ratings regardless. So it seems to me that you have these pundits that are criticizing Spicer going on Dancing, some criticism for Fox for just hiring Sarah Huckabee Sanders, obviously his successor as a contributor. But almost criticism whatsoever when CNN then hires Andrew McCabe as a contributor, he was fired as the FBI's number two. And IG report found that he was not honest with the bureau, half a minute.

TIMPF: Right. It's -- lying is fine as long as you're not associated with Trump. That's the biggest sin, is that association. It's completely illogical. It makes no sense. And I really think the only way that you can actually say these things and have these reactions is if you're just not paying attention to the world outside of your echo chamber.

KURTZ: Right. Kat, thank you so much, I'll actually watch the show probably (Inaudible).

TIMPF: I want to see it.

KURTZ: Spicer does. All right, still to come, one CNN contributor sues to get his White House press pass back, while another finds her bodyguard charged with assaulting another journalist. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: A political editor at the New York Times has apologized for what he called offensive tweets from years ago. Tom Wright-Piersanti had wished Jews a crappy Jew year, saying he was trying to be less anti-Semitic and also spoke about the Jew police, the times which regularly denounces anti- semitism is looking into it. CNN contributor Brian Karem, a Playboy writer has filed lawsuit after White House yanked his credentials for 30 days.

This, after Karem taunted ex-official Sebastian Gorka in the Rose Garden, which led to a shouting match, the administration said Karem threatened to escalate a verbal altercation into a physical one. And the Secret Service had to step in. Karem says the White House can't to point to any written rules he violated. CNN contributor April Ryan has been mired in controversy since her bodyguard roughed up a local journalist who was trying to cover a speech he was giving in Jew Jersey.

Charlie Kratovil, Editor of NB Today in New Brunswick, said he had gotten permission from the organizers to videotape the talk by Ryan, but was accosted by the bodyguard who seized his camera.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't touch my camera (Inaudible). Don't you dare, put that down, sir. That's my camera. Get off of me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: Wow. The security guard, Joel Morris, has now been charged with assault. Kratovil was trying to do his job since anybody who was a journalist should be condemning this. April Ryan who works for American Urban Radio Networks and frequently complains about how President Trump and his staff treat the press, did not respond to my requests for comments.

She tells CNN today that the bodyguard overreacted out of her concern for her safety. Well, that's it for this edition of "Media Buzz." I'm Howard Kurtz. I hope you'll have a chance to listen to my podcast, "Media Buzz Meter." You can subscribe at Apple ITunes, at Google Play, or at FoxNewspodcast.com. And check out our Facebook page. Give us a like. We post my daily columns there, original videos. We talk to you.

We talk to you on Twitter as well @HowardKurtz. Love to continue the conversation there about the media -- so much to deal with this week, hard to squeeze it all in. We are back here next Sunday, 11 Eastern with the latest Buzz.

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