About 54 percent said they also believe the media “has assumed the role of the opposition party, constantly opposing the president and his policies at every turn”, seemingly consistent with Trump’s proclamation that the “fake news” media are “enemies of the American people”. Until Wednesday, Mr Spicer had steadfastly declined to discuss Mr Trump’s assertion that former president Barack Obama ordered wiretap surveillance of Trump Tower – an act that Mr Trump condemned as a scandal comparable in scale to McCarthyism or Watergate.