Former President Donald Trump and the mainstream media have long had a contentious relationship, and it likely won't be improving any time soon.

Multiple media outlets are now freaking out with dishonest false reports that Trump called for "fake news" journalists to be shot during a rally in Pennsylvania on Monday, including The Washington Post.

What Trump actually said is that another would-be assassin would now have to shoot through the assembled press at his events to hit him, which he joked that he wouldn't mind, thanks to the increased security measures now in place.

What Trump said about someone having to "shoot through the fake news"

During a rally Monday in Lititz, Pennsylvania, former President Trump referenced the prior assassination attempts against him that have resulted in his now being partially surrounded by bulletproof glass barriers at his outdoor events, according to NBC News.

"I have a piece of glass over here, and I don’t have a piece of glass there, and I have this piece of glass here," Trump said as he pointed out the protective barriers.

"All we have really over here is the fake news," he added of a less protected area. "And to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don’t mind that so much."

The outlet noted that Trump had already sharply criticized the press earlier in his remarks, including calling out several media outlets by name, and insisted that "the media is so damn bad. It’s unbelievable," as well as that the networks were full of "seriously corrupt people."

Trump campaign spox explains his remarks

Seemingly oblivious to why former President Trump and his supporters have so much enmity toward the "fake news," multiple media outlets immediately took his remarks out of context and fraudulently proclaimed that the Republican nominee was calling for and encouraging violence against journalists.

A spokesman for Trump's campaign, Steven Cheung, quickly knocked down that false narrative with a statement explaining what the former president had meant, according to The Hill.

Trump was "brilliantly talking about the two assassination attempts on his own life, including one that came within 1/4 of an inch from killing him, something that the Media constantly talks and jokes about," Cheung said.

"The President’s statement about protective glass placement has nothing to do with the Media being harmed, or anything else," he continued. "It was about threats against him that were spurred on by dangerous rhetoric from Democrats."

"In fact, President Trump was stating that the Media was in danger, in that they were protecting him and, therefore, were in great danger themselves, and should have had a glass protective shield, also," Cheung added. "There can be no other interpretation of what was said. He was actually looking out for their welfare, far more than his own!"

Media can't help themselves

Members of the media often lament the fraught relationship between their profession and the former president, nearly always while blatantly ignoring their own inestimable role in creating the tension they fret about.

Then, having learned no lessons from the past eight years, they worsen the situation by once again taking obvious jokes seriously, wildly misinterpreting or overlooking the context of his remarks, or flat-out lying about him -- after which they act shocked and indignant when he speaks negatively about them.