Stelter: Trump’s ‘junk-food’ news diet is contributing to his downfall

President Donald Trump is still in denial about losing the election, and his media diet isn’t pushing him to face the truth.

“The junk food weighed him down and contributed to his defeat in November,” CNN’s Chief Media Correspondent Brian Stelter said on “Reliable Sources” Sunday, referring to Trump relying on One American News, Newsmax and Fox News for his information. “Trump is telling his fans that he is the victim. Some of these shows keep telling him he won.”

And Fox News is no longer the only big player in the conservative media space. Newsmax and One America News — which falsely claim Trump won the 2020 election — quickly became two of the biggest beneficiaries of Trump and his supporters’ post-election ire toward Fox News, and the channels’ ratings have surged after the election.

The outlets continue to fan the flames of Trump’s misinformation. For example, the president is perpetuating the falsehood that only 1,000 people watched President-elect Joe Biden’s Thanksgiving speech, something Trump mentioned Saturday at a rally in Valdosta, Georgia. That false story was first aired on Newsmax.

As for the incoming president’s news diet, Biden relies on the “classics,” Evan Osnos author of “Joe Biden: The Life, The Run, and What Matters Now,” told Stelter, pointing to The New York Times, The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Economist and The New Yorker.

“He pays a lot of attention to the columnists,” he added.

While Trump reads critics’ pieces about his lack of leadership and erratically responds on Twitter, Biden “doesn’t parse every word that is written about him,” Osnos said.

Thomas Friedman, foreign affairs columnist at The New York Times, also noted Biden’s healthier news diet on “Reliable Sources” Sunday.

“He doesn’t chase every rabbit,” Friedman said. “There’s a maturity to him that I hope we’ll benefit from.”