Brian Stelter writes “Reliable Sources” for CNN. He is a reliable source himself.
In the second part of the article, watch Trump’s response to a question he doesn’t want to answer. Trump is predictable: he says “I hadn’t heard about that” or he changes the subject. In this case, he changes the subject or pretends he didn’t hear the question.
Trump vs. Fox polls
Every so often, an hour of television showcases President Trump‘s reliance on “alternative facts” and his supporters’ reluctance to tell him the truth.
Fox‘s “The Five” was that hour of TV yesterday. Trump called into the show and claimed that real polls about his meager approval rating are “fake.” He said that liberal co-host Jessica Tarlov, who was absent from the segment, “uses fake numbers. She’ll give, ‘Well, he’s only polling 42%.’ That’s not right. I’m polling very high, actually.”
That was at 5:29 p.m. At 6 p.m., Fox released a new national poll showing Trump’s approval rating stands at 41%.
“That’s down two points from a month ago and eight points from a year ago,” Jacqui Heinrich said on “Special Report.”
Of course, many Fox fans trust Trump over Fox’s reporters and pollsters. And Trump has a long history of attacking the Fox polling unit and denying statistical reality. When he complained yesterday about real polls — “I hate people that use fake polls because polls are just like bad journalists. You know, bad journalists, they write fake stories, well, fake polls do damage also” — no one on “The Five” interjected.
Too bad Tarlov wasn’t there. “Was so bummed to miss the show today!” she wrote on X. “But I definitely would’ve said he’s even inflating his numbers to 42%!”
When Bret Baier asked House Speaker Mike Johnson about the poll’s findings, Baier said, “The president doesn’t love Fox News polls, but these polls track with others.” He showed this graphic 👇🏻 and said the “tough numbers” are “real,” and Johnson concurred, “They’re real.”
Another peculiar moment from ‘The Five’ chat…
What the president believes — and where he gets his information, even about his popularity — has heightened relevance in wartime. Wednesday’s NBC News story about Trump watching a rah-rah daily video montage about the Iran war is continuing to get picked up for that reason. NBC said the highlight reel has raised concerns among allies “that he may not be receiving the complete picture of the war.”
I thought “Pod Save America” co-host Tommy Vietor was joking when he summed up another moment from “The Five” this way: “Dana Perino asks Trump how the Iranian people are doing in the midst of this horrible war. He responds that he remembers having lunch with Dana years ago, and piothat she looks hotter now.”
But Vietor was simply summarizing what actually happened. Perino asked, “Do they have drinking water? Do they have food? It’s upsetting.”
Trump said, “I do” have insight about that, “but first, do you remember when we had lunch years ago in the base of Trump Tower… You haven’t changed. You have not changed. Now, I’m not allowed to say this, it’s the end of my political career, but you may be even better looking [now], okay. I don’t know what you’re doing…”
Trump did not circle back to Perino’s humanitarian concerns. But he did invoke gruesome scenes of Iranian protesters being “women being shot right between the eyes” and people “bleeding from the brain badly.” Then he somehow came back around to Fox and started complimenting “Fox & Friends”and Maria Bartiromo.
“You have so many great people,” he exclaimed. “A couple of bad ones, but you can’t have everything.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Re “What the president believes — and where he gets his information, even about his popularity — has heightened relevance in wartime.”
You are assuming he “gets information”. I suspect his information is close to 100% made up. He hears something he doesn’t like and he fires back, “That is fake news, my numbers are high, higher than any president ever.”
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“Brian Stelter is a reliable source,” is equivalent to, “The Titanic is an unsinkable ship.”
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IS TRUMP SHOWING SYMPTOMS OF A DISORDER THAT PSYCHIATRISTS LABEL “DEATH ANXIETY”? — People are wondering why Trump has been making remarks about if he will get into heaven. “I don’t think that there’s anything going to get me into heaven…I really don’t,” he said during a TV interview on Fox News with Peter Doocy.
People begin to think about their chances of getting into heaven when they know that their death is near. In psychiatry, it’s known as “DEATH ANXIETY”.
People with Death Anxiety can’t sleep at night (Trump is texting throughout most nights) so they are drowsy during the day (Trump falls asleep even in high level cabinet meetings), they become mentally confused when giving talks, and they frequently rage at others, the way that Trump again and again rages at reporters and others.
Is Death Anxiety the reason why Trump is putting his name on U.S. currency and on the Kennedy Center, and is building monuments to himself — so that he will be remembered after he dies?
Experienced clinicians recognize that Trump’s mercurial behavior and physical factors, such as his halting gait, indicate that he has frontotemporal dementia.
Plus, Trump’s swollen legs and ankles are a classic indication of congestive heart failure, a diagnosis supported by the constant bruises in the backs of his hands which are typical of frequent IVs to drain excessive fluids from his body to delay inevitable heart failure as long as possible.
Does the Republican Party have a “Biden Situation” on its hands, hiding Trump’s physical and cognitive problems until they can’t be hidden any longer?
What will the Republican Party do if Trump has a complete mental breakdown or dies before the midterm elections?
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