• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer, November 14, 2016

Clearly, those of us who thought Donald Trump was going to rein in his prolific tweeting now that he’s president can think again.

Close on the heels of his stunning upset victory over his Democratic opponent, Secretary Hillary Clinton, Trump unleashed a familiar social media tirade against The New York Times for its latest critical coverage.

After an article published in the NYT recounted some of Trump’s many controversial statements – specifically, that American allies like Japan and Saudi Arabia may need to develop nuclear weapons — Trump took a swipe at the newspaper in typical fashion.

He tweeted:  “Wow, the @nytimes is losing thousands of subscribers because of their very poor and highly inaccurate coverage of the ‘Trump phenomena.’”

In many ways, the tweet is routine, with its “we never sleep” timing (6:16 a.m.) and its ad hominem sniping at a news organization, seeking to discredit it as a source of information with an attack on its business performance.

However familiar the tweet seems at first glance, it’s a wake-up call for the whole mainstream news media. It shows the president-elect has no intention of changing his approach to newspapers and broadcast news programs he has long condemned as part of a corrupt establishment.

As noted in a previous post, this isn’t just evidence of Trump’s thin skin, it’s part of a deliberate strategy to systematically counter negative views and unfavorable reports in the press by directly addressing his own followers.

And although it might seem petty or trivial to some, it’s a key part of Trump’s ability to frame and reframe coverage of himself, thus maintaining control of his narrative. Like his constant looming in the background during the town-hall style debate, by always getting the last word, Trump dominates the picture and stamps the issue with his own analysis, however skewed.

Of course, tweeting these criticisms out to millions of followers will have predictable results, including a whole slew of angry content all over the NYT’s social-media accounts and comments sections. In fact, with Wikileaks and an army of hackers also doing Trump’s bidding, social media backlash is the least of their worries.

Trump’s appointment of Steve Bannon, the former chairman of Breitbart News, which built its following in open opposition to the traditional news media, is a sign of things to come.

Are the NYT and the rest of the news media ready for their new role? It brings them on stage as one of the principal dramatic foils, scapegoats, and above all,  hate figures – for Donald Trump’s presidency.

It’s going to be a long four years.