Haberman on Trump: ‘He wants The New York Times to approve of him’

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said on Thursday that former President Trump’s attacks on her and The New York Times are driven by his desire for their approval.

“He wants The New York Times to approve of him, and I just happen to be the person who covers him more than other people at this paper,” Haberman told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday night, adding, “I really can’t overstate how much his fixation on the paper drives this.”

Trump has frequently lashed out at the Times and Haberman specifically, who has extensively covered the former president.

Haberman’s new book, “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America,” explores Trump’s past and how it influenced his time in the White House, she said.

“The goal had always been to try to show the animating forces … about the world he came from and what shaped him and how he exported that to Washington, D.C., and to the White House and then to the Republican Party, and it lives on in our politics,” Haberman said on Thursday. “That had been the goal and, while I felt like I understood it previously, I think I have a richer understanding of certain aspects.”

Haberman’s “Confidence Man” reveals a number of new insights into the Trump White House, including that the former president considered bombing Mexican drug labs, quipped that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) “kisses my ass” to get endorsements and called Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell a “piece of shit.”

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