Trump parrots Bannon's criticism of the press: 'Media is the opposition party'

Donald Trump on Friday parroted chief counselor Steve Bannon, blasting the news media as the “opposition party.”

“I think the media is the opposition party in many ways,” Trump told Christian Broadcasting Network in an interview

“I’m not talking about everybody, but a big portion of the media, the dishonesty, total deceit and deception. It makes them certainly partially the opposition party, absolutely," the president added.

Trump said the press treat him “so unfairly it’s hard to believe that [he] won,” adding it’s “fortunate” that he now has a “big voice.”

Trump’s comment comes a day after Bannon, the former chairman of Breitbart News, used that exact same phrase to describe the press, telling the New York Times, “The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for awhile” following Trump’s election.

The president’s disdain for the media permeated throughout the 2016 election, with Trump frequently calling reporters “the most dishonest people," despite his somewhat symbiotic relationship with the press. In his first week in office, the president has repeatedly complained that the press is treating him unfairly, pointing to news outlets’ comparisons of crowd sizes between his and former President Barack Obama’s inauguration as evidence. Despite Trump’s obviously lower turnout, the president has nonetheless insisted his was the “most watched” of any inauguration, ever.

Watch the segment below, via CBN News: