Politics

Chris Wallace Tells Stephen Colbert The Press Has Made A ‘Mistake’ With Trump By Trying To ‘Fight Fire With Fire’

No featured image available

“Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace accused the press of going “too far” in their fight against President Donald Trump on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” Thursday, saying it’s a mistake to try to “fight fire with fire.”

“I do think that the press has made a mistake, in some cases, in taking the president’s bait and overreacting to it and sometimes playing his game,” Wallace said.

“We are not in his game. We shouldn’t fight fire with fire. His job is to be a disruptor and you want to call him whatever you want to call him. Our job is to be reporters. And that means being umpires, calling balls and strikes, being fact checkers, pointing out when things are wrong, but we should try and match his invective with our invective,” he said.

Wallace cited a Washington Post headline that painted suspected mail bomber Cesar Sayoc Jr. as an “outspoken Trump supporter” and asked Colbert if he thought the framing was appropriate.

“Do you think that should have been the lead headline in The Washington Post, seriously?” Wallace asked.

“Um, there’s nothing wrong with it,” Colbert replied. “But is that the news?” Wallace shot back.

Colbert went on to defend WaPo and the headline before Wallace said it unfairly assigned blame to the president when it didn’t have to.

“It’s basically giving the president responsibility for what this nut did when the fact is the person who deserves responsibility for building the bombs … It shouldn’t have been. Okay? That’s what I’m saying,” Wallace said. “That’s the media. I’m saying though that I think sometimes we go too far.”

You can Follow Nick on Twitter