The Media Begins to Turn Against Trump
Letters from an American
On September 18, 2026, rising economic pressures—driven by record diesel prices, oil supply disruptions, and military crises—are fueling a growing backlash against President Trump. The
Key takeaways
- Economic pain from oil crises is eroding media loyalty to Trump
- AI-generated intelligence nearly triggered a war with China
Main topics
- Media backlash against Trump
- Economic crisis from oil and diesel prices
Notable quotes
Trump: 'Media outlets shouldn't be able to constantly write or report fiction and lies when they're covering the President of the United States.'
Conclusion
As economic and military crises deepen, Trump's grip on both media and party
Transcript preview
Speaker 2 (0:06) September 18, 2026. According to the American Automobile Association, diesel hit its highest recorded average price today at just above $6.44 per gallon. Diesel moves most of the consumer goods in the United States. Iran's news agency reported today that a political advisor to Iran's supreme leader said Iran would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are removed from power. Speaker 2 (0:41) As the conflict drags on with no coherent U.S. strategy, J.P. Morgan wrote yesterday, we simply don't know how to model the endgame. Today, Bloomberg reported that Saudi Arabia has told European refiners that they will not be receiving crude oil next month because of the shutdown of the East-West pipeline. Speaker 2 (1:03) John Storr of the editorial board noted that the economic pain of this moment seems to be turning the media against Trump. He called attention to a hard-hitting piece in the Washington Post yesterday by Evan Halper, Rachel Chasen, and Joyce Sohyun Lee, warning of huge jumps in the prices of gasoline and diesel, despite the Trump administration's assurances. Trump responded to this shift in coverage this afternoon by announcing he is banning CNN, MSNOW, and Politico from the White House. Media outlets shouldn't be able to constantly write or report fiction and lies when they're covering the President of the United States, the Trump administration, or the United States of America, Trump wrote. Other fake news media outlets to follow. Trump's anger at the press was probably fed today by three scoops. Katie Bo Lillis and Zachary Cohen of CNN reported that this spring, the U.S. military set out to intercept a Chinese ship in the Middle East after an intelligence report said it was carrying components for a nuclear weapons program. After preparing to board the ship and sending up planes, officials realized that the report had been generated by AI. It was, a source told the reporters, entirely false. But it almost started a war. Audrey Decker and Mark Satter of Politico reported that a shipment of F-35 fighter jet parts headed from Australia to the U.S. for repairs this summer was diverted to Hong Kong and disappeared, raising the possibility that China could have Speaker 1 (2:52) accessed key components of a highly classified U.S. weapons Speaker 2 (2:56) system. Noah Robertson, Tara Kopp, Warren B. Strobel, and Alex Horton of The Washington Post reported today that at least four more U.S. service members have died in the Middle East during the Iran war than the Department of Defense has announced. Three military contractors have also died since the combat began. Speaker 2 (3:21) Trump's fury at MSNOW might have come from Joe Scarborough, who noted on Morning Joe this morning that the latest Fox News poll showed that people trust Democrats more than Republicans to handle inflation and prices by 15 points, 55 percent to 40 percent.