“Afterwards…we’ll take some questions; unless you have no questions: and that’s always a possibility.”
—President Donald Trump at Feb. 16 news conference
“Tomorrow they will say, ‘Donald Trump rants and raves during news conference, ” President Donald Trump predicted about 47 minutes into his Thursday news conference.
“They,” the national mainstream media, didn’t wait that long.
Trump’s sometimes cordial but frequently acerbic visit with Washington journalists was not an unqualified hit with the mainstream media, whom he pummeled for most of this thoroughly entertaining hour and seventeen minutes. I can’t remember enjoying a presidential visit with press more; Trump is perhaps too good for the late afternoon show and should be seen in prime time. With the abundance of fetid television material — from banal reality shows to wheezing sitcoms way past their due dates — that populates our multi-channeled screens these days, all I could say after watching Trump have his way with the assembled national press gallery was “that’s entertainment!” He may have to trim the content next time from its full 77 minute run to something under an hour, but for a first time effort you have to award Trump top marks!
Some may think it odd that the president would feel the need to explain to the media what he has been doing for the past month — like they haven’t been watching at all! But apparently they haven’t been watching attentively because the mainstream media’s narrative has generally been one of describing chaos, in-fighting and incompetency in a White House that is seen as teetering on the brink of catastrophe — or perhaps even another Watergate, a time warp phenomenon most fervently wished for by rabid Democrats.
Would they have described Franklin Roosevelt’s first month in office in like manner? Trump has clearly been busy in his first 30 days, signing executive order after executive order and implementing an agenda that most of the Washington media thought was just more campaign slight of hand that wasn’t to be taken too seriously.
But Trump is a culture shock for the complacent media who have been warming the seats of the press room now for eight years, lobbing non-confrontational questions at Obama and getting non-answers in response. You can listen to hours of Obama’s news conference answers and not feel an ounce more informed as to what his government was doing. Clearly the national media have confused chaos with activity. The slothful indolence of the Obama administration was reflected in the agonizingly slow pace that Obama answered a question, pausing frequently to look for affirmation from his worshipful acolytes in the media crowd, inserting an ample amount of ums and ahs as desperately tried appear like he was thinking about the answer and not just regurgitating more nonsense.
You could see the disbelief on the faces of the reporters on Thursday as Trump throttled them for their “very fake news” and for refusing to pander to their obsessions. It is interesting to note that Trump’s monologue lasted a mere 24 minutes of the conference and he made no outrageous claims — notwithstanding exaggerating the historic consequences of his election victory. The fun really began when the questions began — and perhaps that is a lesson for the future. Trump has no difficult facing down the press; he shows no hesitation at answering tough questions: so let’s cut to the chase.
So what makes this a “stream of consciousness” news conference as one liberal media outlet described it in breathless outrage? The media is so accustomed to talking points — the very thing that any journalists would claim to despise the most about the modern process of reporting — that it has forgotten to how to respond to extemporaneous discussion. Indeed, the media has become extremely adept at absorbing talking points and reissuing them supposedly objective and sanitized news reports.
No man to occupy the U.S. presidency has exhibited less fear of the national media than Donald Trump — except perhaps for John Kennedy who knew how to charm and disable his press corps critics. But even Kennedy carried with him the assumption that the White House reporters were some special breed of journalist and you had to be careful to ensure that they knew their respect was never in doubt.
Well, Trump has thrown that unofficial rule to the winds. He demonstrates an open contempt for the media because he knows the game that they are playing and he routinely calls-out reporters for playing that game. “You have a lower approval rate than Congress,” he said point-blank to his media critics. No one disputed that one.
Perhaps we should not be surprise if Trump considers that “Fox and Friends is the best morning show.” But if Trump can reach for the wisdom of Charles Krauthammer — whom he referred to as “Dr. Krauthammer” with a degree of respect that was almost poignant — after all the political evisceration that the commentator served up for Trump all during the primaries and presidential campaign, you have to admire the essential humanity in all of this.
Can’t wait for the next show.
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