Bashing the news media has been a consistent Trump administration drumbeat since January, with frequent claims of "fake news" and labels such as "the opposition party" or "enemies of the American people." The president sustains the refrain this summer with a series of coverage complaints. Recent targets include CNN, CNBC, the Washington Post, CBS and The New York Times. "The fake media is trying to silence us, but we will not let them," Trump said at a July 1 event in Washington to honor veterans. "The fake media tried to stop us from going to the White House. But I'm president and they're not."

In a vivid tweet the next day, Trump shared a doctored wrestling video clip that shows him slamming a man — with "CNN" superimposed on his head — to the ground. Trump then throws punches at the wrestler's head. Critics call that move unpresidential. A Democratic congressman, Frank Pallone of New Jersey, tweets that "promoting violence against the press is a disgrace, a threat to the presidency and our democracy. We must all speak out." Some Republicans also are unsettled. Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska accuses his party's president of "weaponizing distrust," which he says can harm democratic freedoms.

Former White House press secretary Ari Fleisher, spokesman for George W. Bush from 2001-03, says Trump lashes out "because the press has made themselves so unpopular," he tweeted last week. "It's a fight POTUS [President of the U.S.] actually wins with much of the country." Fleischer suggests: "The press should be more fair to Trump. And the president should tone things down." For their part, politics reporters hope that verbal attacks and tweets don’t provoke the real thing somewhere some day. "Journalists in the Trump era worry . . . that it's only a matter of time before the assault on the press stops being a metaphor, chief Washington correspondent Edward-Isaac Dovere posted last week at Politico, a widely read news site.

President says: "The dishonest media will NEVER keep us from accomplishing our objectives on behalf of our GREAT AMERICAN PEOPLE!" – July 2 tweet

Journalist says: "His war against the press is one of the few things that is working for him." – Kyle Pope, Columbia Journalism Review editor and publisher

Senator says: "It's not helpful to call the press the enemy of the American people. The First Amendment is the beating heart of the American experiment, and you don't get to separate the freedoms that are in there." – Ben Sasse, R-Nebraska