President Donald Trump has a new prediction: The New York Times is going out of business.
Trump went on a tear against the Gray Lady on Monday after the paper reported that the venue where he held a rally in Alabama on Friday "was not full," according to Mediaite. The president, never one to let a slight against his crowd sizes slide, fired back with an ominous forecast — the Times, he said, "will be forced to close."
The clash is the latest round in Trump's long war with the paper he loves to hate. For years, Trump has accused the Times of biased coverage, fake reporting, and rooting for his failure. The paper, for its part, has published investigation after investigation into his businesses, his administration, and his movement.
The trigger this time was classic Trump territory: crowd size. The president has treated rally attendance as the ultimate measure of political strength since 2015, and any suggestion that his venues aren't packed is treated as a personal insult and a media lie. The Times' report that Friday's Alabama venue wasn't full hit that nerve directly.
The White House hasn't elaborated on what mechanism would "force" the country's most famous newspaper to close — whether Trump meant financial pressure, legal action, or simply the paper collapsing under its own weight. His supporters will read it as a promise; his critics will read it as a threat against a free press.
Either way, the message is vintage Trump: attack the messenger, never concede the point, and keep the base's anger aimed squarely at the media. With the midterms a month away, the war with the press is back at full volume.