WASHINGTON — President Trump blasted the “fake” media for criticizing his response to Hurricane Maria and said Puerto Ricans actually loved it when he lobbed “these beautiful, soft paper towels” into the crowd.

In a friendly interview with Mike Huckabee for the Trinity Broadcasting Network, Trump said he’s done a “great job” helping Puerto Rico and was just having fun when he started tossing paper towel rolls at hurricane victims.

“There was a crowd of a lot of people and they were screaming and loving everything and I was having fun,” Trump said his visit to San Juan Tuesday. “They were having fun. They were saying: ‘throw them to me, throw them to me, Mr. President. And so…the next day they said, ‘oh, it was so disrespectful to the people.’ It’s just a made up thing.”

Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and father of Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, agreed.

“You were a rock star,” Huckabee said.

Trump then took credit ​for the label “fake” and marveled how he still won the presidency with such bad publicity.

“Look the media is fake. Meantime I’m here, it’s sort of amazing. I’m here and I sort of ask myself: ‘how did I ever get here with the horrible, unfair publicity,;” Trump said.

“I think one of the greatest of all terms I’ve come up with is ‘fake’,” the president continued. “ I guess other people have used it over the years, perhaps, but I’ve never noticed it. And it’s shame. They (the media) really hurt the country.”

Trump also complained that ​First Lady ​Melania caught “abuse” for wearing stilettos while traveling to survey Hurricane Harvey damage. She changed into sneakers while in Texas.

“Out of respect for the White House, she wants to look good leaving the front entrance [of] the White House. So she dresses up and puts on formal shoes, high heels,” Trump said of the First Lady’s fashion choices. “…. She has sneake​​rs, in the meantime, so she can change into other clothing when we’re walking through where a hurricane is just leaving. And she took tremendous abuse.”

Trump said he’s since seen signs of support for his wife, a former fashion model, reading “’We love your stilettos.’ … They love her. She’s a very good person,” Trump said. “She loves to help people.”