DON'T BE ONE OF THE RUBES WHO BELIEVE TRUMP DRESSED DOWN THE MEDIA TODAY (updated -- or maybe you should?)

A lot of people who should know better are taking this New York Post story at face value:

Donald Trump scolded media big shots during an off-the-record Trump Tower sitdown on Monday, sources told The Post.

“It was like a f--ing firing squad,” one source said of the encounter.

“Trump started with [CNN chief] Jeff Zucker and said ‘I hate your network, everyone at CNN is a liar and you should be ashamed,’ ” the source said.

“The meeting was a total disaster. The TV execs and anchors went in there thinking they would be discussing the access they would get to the Trump administration, but instead they got a Trump-style dressing down,” the source added....

“Trump kept saying, ‘We’re in a room of liars, the deceitful dishonest media who got it all wrong.’ He addressed everyone in the room calling the media dishonest, deceitful liars. He called out Jeff Zucker by name and said everyone at CNN was a liar, and CNN was [a] network of liars,” the source said.

“Trump didn’t say [NBC reporter] Katy Tur by name, but talked about an NBC female correspondent who got it wrong, then he referred to a horrible network correspondent who cried when Hillary lost who hosted a debate -- which was Martha Raddatz who was also in the room.”

Amazing! The meeting went exactly the way it would in the masturbatory fantasies of Matt Drudge:



and Gateway Pundit's Jim Hoft:



I think Jezebel's Gabrielle Bluestone has a more accurate take on this story:

Source Who May or May Not Be Donald Trump Says He Humiliated the Nation's Top Reporters Today

... According to the Post, who quotes an anonymous source that isn’t not Donald Trump, Trump sat the 30-odd members of the press from ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, Fox News, CNN and MSNBC in a boardroom and humiliated them like a dog, as certain sources might say.

“Trump started with Jeff Zucker and said I hate your network, everyone at CNN is a liar and you should be ashamed,” the Post reports the source said. Does this sound like something Donald Trump would say Donald Trump had said? Probably a coincidence.

“The meeting was a total disaster. The TV execs and anchors went in there thinking they would be discussing the access they would get to the Trump administration, but instead they got a Trump-style dressing down,” the source, who may -- or may not! -- be Donald Trump, said.

The Post has two sources, actually -- both anonymous, of course. One or both of these people may be Trump. Both are almost certainly Trump employees. The Trump-brand language ("dishonest, deceitful liars," "disaster") is the tell. This is what Trump wants his fan base to believe he said today. But remember, that would be the same Donald Trump who choked when he was face to face with Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto and it was time to discuss payment for the wall.

As Business Insider's Paul Szoldra says:

Two @CNN sources say that basically, the @nypost retelling of Trump/media meeting is bullshit https://t.co/cKtZc6aICj

— Paul Szoldra (@PaulSzoldra) November 21, 2016

Yup. From the CNN story:

...a source in the room said there was “real progress” made with regards to media access to Trump and his administration.

A second participant affirmed this and said the journalists spoke with Trump about the importance of the “press pool,” a small group of journalists that traditionally travels with the president.

Conway said the meeting was “very cordial, candid and honest.”

While there was “no need to mend fences,” she said, “from my own perspective, it is great to hit the reset button, it was a long, hard-fought campaign.”

Trump is a phony tough guy. This never happened. Don't fall for it.

****

UPDATE: Oh, okay: According to Politico, he didn't lash out -- he whined:

President-elect Donald Trump on Monday told a group of about 25 television executives and anchors that he wants a “cordial” and “productive” relationship with the media, according to one source in the room, but he still aired some grievances during the off-the-record gathering in Trump Tower.

The source said the meeting started with a typical Trump complaint about the “dishonest media,” and that he specifically singled out CNN and NBC News for example as “the worst.”

He also complained about photos of himself that NBC used that he found unflattering, the source said.

Trump turned to NBC News President Deborah Turness at one point, the source said, and told her the network won’t run a nice picture of him, instead choosing “this picture of me,” as he made a face with a double chin. Turness replied that they had a “very nice” picture of him on their website at the moment.

He's a pathetic sniveler. And why should he use anger when the press rolls over in response to much less?

****

UPDATE: The Washington Post version of the story is closer to the New York Post's:

Instead of striking a harmonious tone to build a rapport after the election, Trump was combative, participants said. In a calm and deliberate voice, he told the group sitting around a conference table that they had failed to provide their viewers with fair and accurate coverage, and he told them that they failed to understand him or his appeal to millions of Americans....

Trump directed particular ire at CNN and several reporters at ­other cable networks whom he sees as unreasonably antagonistic toward him, though he did not mention them by name. He also referenced both NBC News reporter Katy Tur and ABC’s Raddatz without using their names....

The participants variously described Trump as “combative,” “proud,” and “dismissive” toward the news organizations present.

So, according to this report, it was a quiet, self-pitying dressing-down.

More:

One participant asked Trump for his definition of “fair,” noting that part of the news media’s job is to critically examine a candidate’s words and background. Trump replied that his definition was “truth.”

I'm sorry there wasn't a follow up: And what's your definition of "truth"? Is it the facts? Or is it whatever puts you in a good light? Do you recognize that we have a constitutional right to write critical stories about you? Or don't you think we have that right?