Mommy, mommy. He pinched me. And it hurts!
CNN President Jeff Zucker on Wednesday said President Trump is trying to bully the news network, but added that he won't let Trump "intimidate" his employees.
"Bullying" is a common refrain by the media these days.
"She took the opportunity first thing off the bat to go after the media," he said. "She was trying to go after CNN specifically and the media in general. We've been called the enemy of the people from that White House, we've been told that we're fake news."
"We are bullied and browbeaten every day, and I pretty much have had enough of it," he said. "We can't take the bullying anymore. It's undermining the fourth estate, it's undermining the first amendment."
The media isn't being bullied. It's the bully.
It commands vast amounts of power and influence. And it uses that influence to lie, smear, assault, defame and destroy its enemies.
CNN is able to run constant smears and attacks on Trump. But when President Trump tweets something, it's treated as bullying. The power relationship here is fundamentally disproportionate. And it's weighed toward the media.
But the media bullies, like all bullies, hate it when their targets fight back. Their targets aren't supposed to be able to fight back. That's not fair. And so the media, like all bullies, shows its cowardice when it gets punched back.