MEDIA/TRUMP FAMILY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP TAXES: “President Donald Trump has badmouthed his hometown newspaper’s reporting as ‘sick,’ ‘weak,’ and ‘nasty.’ He even tells its reporters they work for the ‘failing New York Times.’ But in moments of reflection, he’s allowed that it’s a ‘great, great American jewel.’ The Grey Lady has long occupied space in Trump’s head — and, in happier times, his heart…So, when the Times published its latest Trump exposé Tuesday [10-2-18] evening detailing how the president’s mythology of becoming a self-made businessman appears to be the product of elaborate Trump family tax evasion schemes — and even outright fraud — it hit the White House like a thunderclap. One administration official said the president viewed the report as not only part of the newspaper’s animus toward him, but the start of a broader media scheme to smoke out confidential information about his finances. On Fox News, Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, said the paper might be provoking Trump into a lawsuit that could require access to his long-withheld tax returns.”
–Christopher Cadelago, “New exposé raises stakes in Trump’s love-hate affair with New York Times,” Politico, October 3, 2018 6:45 pm