President Donald Trump says he's not as 'uncivil' as the media's making him out to be. It's the press that's presenting a distorted image of him that's different 'than the real person.'

'People don't understand. I went to an Ivy League college, I was a nice student, I did very well. I'm a very intelligent person,' he said Wednesday over the roar of Marine One. 'The fact is I think, I really believe, I think the press creates a different image of Donald Trump than the real person.'

The Republican president attend the Wharton School of business at the University of Pennsylvania. He went to Fordham University in New York before that.

He made the claim as he responded to complaints that he'd been too tough on a Gold Star widow, who says he was disrespectful in a condolence call, and too mean to a trio of Republican senators, including one who has cancer.

President Donald Trump says he's not as 'uncivil' as the media's making him out to be. It's the press that's presenting a distorted image of him that's different 'than the real person'

He made the claim as he responded to complaints that he'd been too tough on a Gold Star widow, who says he was disrespectful in a condolence call

The president's never-ending assaults on his adversaries have long been described Trump's critics as uncouth. Members of his own political party have repeatedly advised him to stop tweeting.

His fight with Myeshia Johnson, the widow of slain soldier Le David Johnson, started a new conversation about whether Trump's off-the-cuff commentary is too crass.

His fight with Myeshia Johnson, the widow of slain soldier Le David Johnson, started a new conversation about whether Trump's off-the-cuff commentary is too crass

He has dismissed the pregnant woman's recollection that his call to her last week was as wholly incorrect.

'I was extremely nice to her,' he told reporters on Wednesday afternoon. 'I was extremely courteous.'

Trump says he did not forget to say her husband's name, as Johnson has charged.

'There's no hesitation. One of the great memories of all time. There was no hesitation,' he said.

He also claimed that it was perfectly appropriate to 'counterpunch' Johnson when she misrepresented the call in his opinion because he has a right to defend himself.

'When somebody says something about you that's false, I think it's always okay to counterpunch or to fight back,' Trump assessed.

Trump demanded to know Wednesday why the media was obsessing over this one widow's story when other Gold Star families have complimented him.

'Everybody has said unbelievable, good thing about me, but you never report that,' Trump asserted.

As he announced his retirement yesterday from the Senate floor, GOP Sen. Jeff Flake followed in the footsteps of Republican Bob Corker and assailed Trump's behavior as 'reckless, outrageous and undignified.'

Corker had taken jabs at Trump earlier in the day in an explosive interview on CNN, in which he begged the president's staff to get control of him and challenged Trump to rise to the occasion as president.

'I don't know why he lowers himself to such a low, low standard, and debases our country in a way that he does, but he does,' Corker said.

'People don't understand. I went to an Ivy League college, I was a nice student, I did very well. I'm a very intelligent person,' he said Wednesday over the roar of Marine One

Trump has also been accused of being too mean to a trio of Republican senators, including one who has cancer, Arizona's John McCain (right). The others are retiring Sens, Bob Corker of Tennessee (left) and Jeff Flake of Arizona (center)

Trump unloaded on Flake in tweets this morning, having already taken Corker to task in real time on Tuesday.

He says a luncheon he attended with GOP senators yesterday was a 'lovefest,' so much so that he received a 'standing ovation.'

'We have great unity. If you look at what happened yesterday at the meeting, we had, I guess, virtually every senator, including John McCain. We had a great conversation yesterday -- John McCain and myself -- about the military,' Trump said.

McCain has been a frequent target of Trump's ire over his stalled Capitol Hill agenda. Trump has turned the ailing Republican senator, who announced this summer that he has cancer, into the poster child for the national health care law that he says is a failure.

But even McCain, who Trump says is the reason Obamacare is still around, was cordial to him yesterday, the president says.

'It was almost a lovefest. Maybe it was a lovefest...standing ovations. There is great unity,' Trump stated.