Kellyanne Conway said in an interview with The Washington Post on Thursday that Donald Trump and his team “have to say thank you to many in the mainstream media because” they helped “us win.”

“This is historic and you know it,” the president’s counselor said in a Q&A about the media’s role in the election. “No one has ever faced the deluge of negativity and criticism that Donald Trump has.” (RELATED: Kellyanne Conway: My ‘Meet The Press’ Interview Was One Of Trump’s Favorites)

“It’s just a fact,” she added. “But by the way, we have to say thank you to many in the mainstream media because it helped us win. It was an elite rejection election in that, fundamentally, it was us versus them, and it turns out there are a heck of a lot more them than us, us being people in politics or media or the donor class.”

“Donald Trump would say one thing or someone would say one thing about him, and it would literally be breaking news for 10 days,” she continued. “And everybody would dissect it. And I know he’s much better for ratings and clicks, because Hillary Clinton was neither particularly liked nor seen as animated or engaging, but some journalists took leave of their senses and surrendered what they learned in journalism school.”

“If you look at Twitter feeds of some folks, what they write about Donald Trump would never pass editorial muster,” Conway said. “And if you’re Joe Blow from The Washington Post and you say tweets are my own and you’re tweeting at 10:15 a.m. as you’re walking in to a presidential press conference or a Trump rally, then your tweets are not your own. And it’s zing, zing, zing, zing, zing against Donald Trump.”

“That’s irresponsible, and by the way it’s not journalism,” she added. “We believe in a free and fair media, but with freedom comes responsibility. It would be great for the media to be less presumptively negative and skeptical and more open and honest about their past unfair and untoward coverage of him and their obligation to deliver news, not opinion masquerading as news or their personal beliefs masquerading as news.”