(By EDDIE SCARRY at Washingtonexaminer.com) President Trump‘s former political adviser Roger Stone says people should get used to seeing Trump unscripted, as he was during his surprise press conference Thursday.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Stone said that after years of working with Trump, he believes Trump’s freewheeling approach to public relations is what makes Trump a success to his supporters.
“All of my other clients have been career politicians and therefore they were more scripted and more coached and more programmed,” said Stone. “That’s not the case with Donald Trump. He is his own man. He’s happy to listen to advice but at the end of the day he decides what’s best and he chooses his own message so you don’t have the scripted nature of it.”
“It’s much more genuine,” he said. “So, if you’re a political consultant for Donald Trump, your job is to give your best advice but at the end of the day he can choose whether he wants to agree or disagree.”
On Thursday, Trump laid into the “fake” national press at a surprise press conference and went on the offense after more than a week of press stories and questions about Russia that are threatening to engulf his administration after less than one month in office.
Facing heightened scrutiny after national security adviser Mike Flynn’s resignation, Trump said the media have been unfair to him, and repeatedly called critical news stories “fake” and lamented what he saw as “hatred” coming from journalists.
Stone said Trump’s relationship with the news media, which characterized much of his campaign, is unlikely to change.
“The majority of the voters are now getting their news from somebody other than the three networks and the two cable networks and the major national newspapers,” he said. “In terms of his criticism of CNN, I think he’s right on the money. They’ve ceased to be a news organization and now they’re an opinion operation.”
CNN banned Stone from appearing on its programming in early 2015. The network told the Washington Examiner that the ban remains in place.
Follow Roger Stone at www.StoneColdTruth.com
