I, too, read the transcript. What it needed was the interviewer saying, "You're lying." or "Where is the evidence you claim you have that wasn't produced in court?" And I'd go further, if he just kept lying and insulting cut his mike, turn to the camera and say, "He refuses to speak honestly. This interview is over."
I understand why you, and all the press “need” to cover him. But I have long ago stopped reading anything about him. It’s all BS, all the time. I wish him to disappear into oblivion~
I'd go to the next level. He's a domestic terrorist and a threat to our nation. Treat him like the Bush administration treated suspected terrorists. Interview him on a water board. If he starts spewing his lies, out comes the water bucket.
Look at how Mehdi Hasan, Jonathan Swan and Chris Wallace do it. Swan and Wallace have interviewed Trump - they bring the receipts with them and they stop him and correct him and the record each time he lies. You have to understand that he's a sub-chimpanzee, so establish dominance with him from the first word. I'd love to see Mehdi dismember him him in public and throw the parts in the trashcan.
But don't do it like Dana Bash did it yesterday, bringing up Hunter Biden as if that's a legitimate story. Bash is one of those who puts the Cretin in the Cretin News Network. A paid-up member of what I call the DC Press Corpse.
Any politician sitting down for an interview signs a release to allow the following: live, in the moment fact checking. They recieve an electric shock of increasing intensity each time they lie. During the aftermath of each shock aggressively fact check with video sourcing a la Johnathan Last.
Just hold a mirror up to this gaslighting windbag asshat and expose his persistent mendacity and utter disregard for anything remotely resembling truth. For goodness sake, he couldn't even be honest about his weight at arraignment; there is absolutely nothing he won't lie about or truth he won't discard for his own convenience. I suppose his followers are just entertained and idolize him, but it's done at the peril of all.
One thing I have noticed, Melvin, in going through the transcripts of interviews with him is how remarkably often he repeats himself. he just keeps telling the same stories over and over again ad nauseam.
I wish it wasn't such a "radical" idea. I appreciate the thought and efforts you put into this concept and hope that some of your colleagues pay attention!
He is a danger/threat to our democracy so we cannot ignore him. HOW he's covered by the media needs to change. Why not switch the order in which his lies are presented?
For example, Trump talked about subject "A" Media could state the facts about A, then tell what he said (his lies). Reporting on his lies in the context of the truth might be worth a try.
This was a well written column. I think journalists also need to not worry about being rude or looking like a dick when interviewing Trump. You have to stand up to him, punch him right in the nose, and let him think you're an asshole. The Jonathan Swann interview was a masterclass in not letting him off the hook.
I generally like Kristen Welker, but questions like do you worry about going to prison are so eyerolling and just make everyone look silly.
Until Trump has something new to say, no, he shouldn’t be covered. The way the big lie theory works is to repeat the same lies over and over until people are brainwashed. We pretty much know what he’s going to say.
I get YouTube clips of Ben Meiselis who balances news of Trump’s idiocy with the accomplishments that President Biden is doing.
I totally agree with you. In every interview, trump reiterates his list of grievances and his lies about the 2020 election. We already know his answers to every question; it doesn’t matter what is asked. No more coverage until he says something new. He is just gaslighting us.
You, and Margaret Sullivan, hit it on the head. Media is a business, usually for-profit. Journalism is a profession that does democracy a public service. Journalism casts light into dark corners, and Trump is a black hole, sucking in and destroying. I hope every journalist and media business read this and take every word to heart. How else can everyday Americans be fully educated on the lying, narcissistic attention hog?
Those suggestions are the only reasonable way to be a journalist today. I was really disappointed that that was Welker's start of taking the MTP chair full time. NBC has a brilliant interviewer in Mehdi Hassan -- see how he handled an interview with Vivek just a week or so prior -- as a paragon of how to do these interviews. And Jonathan Swan (then of Axios, now at NYT) and his interview of Trump late pandemic. If interviewers aren't going to actually interview people, then what is the point. And the result is... I ffwd'd through most of Welker's Trump interview on Sunday since it was not worth watching just to see the same old dreck again. Please do better, journos.
Well said. I believe all the concerns you and others like the excellent Margaret Sullivan highlight are valid. Personally, though I am beginning to see something of the changes needed in mainstream coverage. They are slow - not fast as is needed to be - but nonetheless there is a shift in emphasis. I'm starting to see articles highlighting Trump's gaffes and Trump's age rather than what was almost exclusively directed at Biden. But, I agree overall with you, there is still not enough emphasis on just how far Trump has broken the ground rules and how much he lies.
I just think that Trump's norm breaking and disdain for Democratic processes are SO outside the acceptable bounds of our past presidents that it's hard to accurately quantify -- and adjust. Which doesn't mean we shouldn't try!
I just had the thought that all the networks should hire standup comedians to interview Trump—only comedians who are adept at improvisational comic roasting. Jeffrey Ross for instance. Let Jeffrey Ross interview Trump. I think roast comics are the only people who can stand up to Trump. This, of course, is a silly idea but I enjoy the thought.
I, too, read the transcript. What it needed was the interviewer saying, "You're lying." or "Where is the evidence you claim you have that wasn't produced in court?" And I'd go further, if he just kept lying and insulting cut his mike, turn to the camera and say, "He refuses to speak honestly. This interview is over."
In other words, stop being "polite."
I understand why you, and all the press “need” to cover him. But I have long ago stopped reading anything about him. It’s all BS, all the time. I wish him to disappear into oblivion~
"Termination... with extreme prejudice... " as they said it in Apocalypse Now
My view is that the first question should be, did you lose the election? If he refuses to acknowledge that, end the interview and walk off. That's it.
Interesting. He would refuse. And that would be the end of the interview, I guess.
Yes, exactly. Call him on his lies to his face, and cut him off when he refuses to back down.
I'd go to the next level. He's a domestic terrorist and a threat to our nation. Treat him like the Bush administration treated suspected terrorists. Interview him on a water board. If he starts spewing his lies, out comes the water bucket.
Or have Howard Stern interview him.
Mehdi Hassan
Whole heartedly agree. 👌🧘
Look at how Mehdi Hasan, Jonathan Swan and Chris Wallace do it. Swan and Wallace have interviewed Trump - they bring the receipts with them and they stop him and correct him and the record each time he lies. You have to understand that he's a sub-chimpanzee, so establish dominance with him from the first word. I'd love to see Mehdi dismember him him in public and throw the parts in the trashcan.
But don't do it like Dana Bash did it yesterday, bringing up Hunter Biden as if that's a legitimate story. Bash is one of those who puts the Cretin in the Cretin News Network. A paid-up member of what I call the DC Press Corpse.
Here's a potential Saturday Night Live skit:
Any politician sitting down for an interview signs a release to allow the following: live, in the moment fact checking. They recieve an electric shock of increasing intensity each time they lie. During the aftermath of each shock aggressively fact check with video sourcing a la Johnathan Last.
Reminds me of that Cheers episode where everything Cliff said some sort of lie or exaggeration, he got zapped. Forced him to tell the truth.
Just hold a mirror up to this gaslighting windbag asshat and expose his persistent mendacity and utter disregard for anything remotely resembling truth. For goodness sake, he couldn't even be honest about his weight at arraignment; there is absolutely nothing he won't lie about or truth he won't discard for his own convenience. I suppose his followers are just entertained and idolize him, but it's done at the peril of all.
Trump is the equivalent of a flat-earther. Interviewing him is pointless. There is no educational redeeming value in granting him an interview.
Trump is a crank candidate who happens to be a former president and the current front runner for the republican nomination.
The media is not obligated to echo his crank theories about the 2020 election, how windmills kill birds, climate change is a hoax, etc.
One thing I have noticed, Melvin, in going through the transcripts of interviews with him is how remarkably often he repeats himself. he just keeps telling the same stories over and over again ad nauseam.
My Dad used to do the same thing, but he had dementia.
Thanks for reading the transcripts. I gave up watching the interviews a long time ago.
I wish it wasn't such a "radical" idea. I appreciate the thought and efforts you put into this concept and hope that some of your colleagues pay attention!
Thanks, Eileen!
He is a danger/threat to our democracy so we cannot ignore him. HOW he's covered by the media needs to change. Why not switch the order in which his lies are presented?
For example, Trump talked about subject "A" Media could state the facts about A, then tell what he said (his lies). Reporting on his lies in the context of the truth might be worth a try.
Wow, you answered my mailbag question two days early and with a whole column to boot!
:) I aim to please.
This was a well written column. I think journalists also need to not worry about being rude or looking like a dick when interviewing Trump. You have to stand up to him, punch him right in the nose, and let him think you're an asshole. The Jonathan Swann interview was a masterclass in not letting him off the hook.
I generally like Kristen Welker, but questions like do you worry about going to prison are so eyerolling and just make everyone look silly.
Until Trump has something new to say, no, he shouldn’t be covered. The way the big lie theory works is to repeat the same lies over and over until people are brainwashed. We pretty much know what he’s going to say.
I get YouTube clips of Ben Meiselis who balances news of Trump’s idiocy with the accomplishments that President Biden is doing.
I totally agree with you. In every interview, trump reiterates his list of grievances and his lies about the 2020 election. We already know his answers to every question; it doesn’t matter what is asked. No more coverage until he says something new. He is just gaslighting us.
You, and Margaret Sullivan, hit it on the head. Media is a business, usually for-profit. Journalism is a profession that does democracy a public service. Journalism casts light into dark corners, and Trump is a black hole, sucking in and destroying. I hope every journalist and media business read this and take every word to heart. How else can everyday Americans be fully educated on the lying, narcissistic attention hog?
Those suggestions are the only reasonable way to be a journalist today. I was really disappointed that that was Welker's start of taking the MTP chair full time. NBC has a brilliant interviewer in Mehdi Hassan -- see how he handled an interview with Vivek just a week or so prior -- as a paragon of how to do these interviews. And Jonathan Swan (then of Axios, now at NYT) and his interview of Trump late pandemic. If interviewers aren't going to actually interview people, then what is the point. And the result is... I ffwd'd through most of Welker's Trump interview on Sunday since it was not worth watching just to see the same old dreck again. Please do better, journos.
Well said. I believe all the concerns you and others like the excellent Margaret Sullivan highlight are valid. Personally, though I am beginning to see something of the changes needed in mainstream coverage. They are slow - not fast as is needed to be - but nonetheless there is a shift in emphasis. I'm starting to see articles highlighting Trump's gaffes and Trump's age rather than what was almost exclusively directed at Biden. But, I agree overall with you, there is still not enough emphasis on just how far Trump has broken the ground rules and how much he lies.
I just think that Trump's norm breaking and disdain for Democratic processes are SO outside the acceptable bounds of our past presidents that it's hard to accurately quantify -- and adjust. Which doesn't mean we shouldn't try!
I remember when it was a huge deal when the New York Times said he lied. How quaint.
I just had the thought that all the networks should hire standup comedians to interview Trump—only comedians who are adept at improvisational comic roasting. Jeffrey Ross for instance. Let Jeffrey Ross interview Trump. I think roast comics are the only people who can stand up to Trump. This, of course, is a silly idea but I enjoy the thought.
No...but lots of fact research combined.