You’ve read a lot about the Republican war on what Donald Trump calls fake news. But here's the thing: For many Republicans, it's a phony war too.



While Trump spews bile and a narrative-hungry Twitter machine looks for evidence of a trend, Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill are emphatically not on board with the president’s attacks and are, indeed, openly supportive of the free American press.

“I love the media!” exclaimed GOP Rep. Mark Meadows, the chairman of the conservative Freedom Caucus, when BuzzFeed News finally managed to extract him from the gaggle of reporters that follows him almost everywhere he goes.

“I mean, y’all are real people, and I’m a real person and you’ve got a job to do and my thing is, provide you access, provide clarity, be direct, be honest, and trust in the integrity of the reporters that are covering you,” Meadows, who speaks often of his close relationship with Trump, went on. “And I’ve not been disappointed by 98% of the reporters that I get to work with.”

In a series of interviews on the topic over the last two weeks, Republicans were careful to note that their support for the press goes beyond mere collegiality to a recognition of the news media’s constitutional role.

“The Founding Fathers had it about right: A free press is a good thing, not a bad thing. And politics is rough and tumble, dealing with the media’s a bit rough and tumble, but I don’t think it’s sinister in any way. Actually I think it’s helpful,” Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma told BuzzFeed News.

“They ask questions, that’s their job; they report stories, that’s their job. Part of our job is to try and educate our constituents and the public and the media on at least what it looks like on this side,” he added.

“This is public work,” echoed Nevada Republican Rep. Mark Amodei. “So the fact that you can come up and ask me about it like, well, it is public work. Therefore, you need to answer those questions.”

For all their diligent tweeting and little-watched Facebook Live broadcasts, the reality for American politicians who aren't television celebrities is that they live their public lives largely through, and with, the media. From governor’s mansions to city halls to state houses to here in the Capitol, day-to-day reporting affords reporters and lawmakers nearly unfettered access to one another. They wander the same hallways, take the same elevators, and frequent the same bars, and the limits to conversation are primarily willingness to talk.

Indeed, hundreds of House members have more day-to-day contact with the working press than most other Americans, and despite their sometimes legitimate complaints about bias or mistakes, Republican lawmakers say they respect the press in a way that doesn't always come through in the social media storm.

“I like you guys,” said Tom Rooney, a Republican congressman from Florida. “I’ve always, you know, sort of been of the mindset that you guys have jobs, you guys have families, you guys have got to put food on the table too.”

The relationship can also be, if reporters are doing their jobs, antagonistic to the point of hostility. The most extreme example of this was two months ago, when Montana Republican Rep. Greg Gianforte — then a candidate — physically assaulted a reporter and unleashed a verbal tirade for everyone to hear when a reporter asked him about the CBO score on the new health care bill. Gianforte apologized — but not until midway through his victory speech after he had secured a seat in Congress.

Some on the right cheered Gianforte’s violence — at his election night party in Montana his supporters made clear they believed he had nothing to apologize for; in his campaign war chest, donors made clear in that final 24 hours that they backed his action; and some on the alt-right vacillated between questioning the accuracy of the story and applauding the outcome.

Gianforte’s attack launched a thousand thinkpieces on the Republican Party’s alleged slide into authoritarianism, especially in conjunction with another incident two weeks earlier in which a reporter was arrested in the West Virginia Capitol after questioning Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price. Republicans on the Hill weren’t exactly Gianforte’s harshest critics — most did condemn the use of violence generally, though few were explicit about the issues raised by attacking a reporter — and there was no dancing around the fact that their priority was to keep the seat in Republican hands regardless.

But on both the campaign trail and in the Capitol, Gianforte’s action was an extreme exception, not the rule. “Last night I made a mistake and I took an action that I can’t take back, and I’m not proud of what happened. I should not have responded in the way that I did and for that I am sorry. I should not have treated that reporter that way and for that I am sorry,” he said at his victory night party, after his spokesman had initially blamed the reporter's "aggressive behavior" for the incident.

it can be hard to distinguish between the historical and healthy adversarial relationship between politicians and the media and some deep new shift. Republican grievances about unfriendly coverage and coastal bias are not new, and helped spawn an increasingly active and influential right-leaning media. Democrats, led by figures like Bernie Sanders, have recently revived a deep suspicion of the media. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio — at war with his City Hall Press — recently referred to “the mega-concentration of media ownership in the hands of a few” as “dangerous to the democratic process."

And yet: The reason anyone is talking about this, the reason it doesn't seem crazy to quote members of Congress affirming the First Amendment, is the media personality in the White House who is doing all he can to undermine trust in journalism: “The Fake News.” “Garbage journalism.” “The dishonest media.” “The opposition party.”