Each bit of news is absolutely tremendous, hugely positive, bigly great information — the best you can find. Since his administration took over the White House, President Trump has received a twice-daily folder — first around 9:30 a.m. and then again at about 4:30 p.m. — packed with positively slanted news about himself, VICE News reported Tuesday. The publication's White House sources said that both former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and former press secretary Sean Spicer lobbied for the honor of delivering Trump's self-gratifying "20-to-25-page packet."
"While I won't comment on materials we share with the president, this is not accurate on several levels," Spicer said to VICE when asked about the President's folders.
The documents — compiled by the White House communications team — reportedly consist of screenshots of positive cable news headlines, tweets, transcripts of gushing talking-head interviews and even just "pictures of Trump on TV looking powerful."
"It needs to be more f--king positive," was the only feedback the comms team ever received from Trump, according to the official source — earning the folders the nickname "the propaganda document" among those involved.
"Priebus and Spicer weren't in a good position, and they wanted to show they could provide positive coverage," the official said to VICE. "It was self- preservation."
Trump's battle with the "fake news media" — otherwise known as any and all publications that don't report strictly positive news about the commander-in-chief has been well documented by his countless tweets raging against it. Trump’s reelection campaign even launched its own media operation, now starring former CNN commentator and outspoken Trump advocate Kayleigh McEnany, to spread what the "fake news" refuses to share with the world and has dubbed it "news of the week."
Each morning at 6, the Republican National Committee's staffers watch the morning news shows on MSNBC, Fox and CNN and pour over internet stories and social media, searching for pro-Trump clips they can gather to send to the White House, VICE reported.
"Maybe it's good for the country that the president is in a good mood in the morning," a RNC official told VICE.
Monitoring the news and social media is not a novel task for any modern White House administration. President Obama's team had a dedicated person who assembled news from various outlets with varying opinions and takes to be distributed amongst key aids.
"If we had prepared such a digest (of only positive news) for Obama, he would have roared with laughter," former Obama senior advisor David Axelrod said to VICE. "His was a reality-based presidency."