MELBOURNE, Fla. _ President Donald Trump returned to campaign mode Saturday with a clear opponent in mind: the media, declaring before thousands of cheering supporters that "fake news" was undermining his nascent administration's accomplishments.
The White House was running "so smoothly," Trump said in an airport hangar here. He said the rally was about sharing "our incredible progress in making America great again."
"I also want to speak to you without the filter of the fake news," he said. "They've become a big part of the problem. They are part of the corrupt system."
In its first four weeks, Trump's administration has faced setbacks with little precedent, chief among them the resignation of his national security adviser after just three weeks amid a deepening controversy over Russian interference in U.S. government.
Trump's approval ratings are historically low for a new president; one of his Cabinet nominees withdrew despite a new lower threshold for confirmation; and the courts stalled a major early initiative, Trump's temporary ban on travel to the U.S. from seven majority-Muslim nations.
Trump painted a far different picture.
"A great spirit of optimism is sweeping _ and you see it _ is sweeping across the country," he said, citing recent stock market highs as his chief evidence.
