Meghan McCain predicted Monday that President Donald Trump would likely stick to “friendly” interviews after facing a real challenger in “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace.
Citing Wallace’s hour-long interview with the president, which aired Sunday morning, McCain said on ABC’s “The View” that it was the first time in a long time that she had seen an interviewer who had “landed punches.” (‘Nobody More Patriotic’: Trump Masks Up In Photo Encouraging More Americans To Do The Same)
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“I think it was just interesting to finally watch an interview where the interviewer landed punches,” McCain began, saying that the interview with Wallace was impactful for a host of reasons — not the least of which being that he worked for Fox, the network that has consistently had the most access to President Trump.
“A lot of media specialists compare doing a great political interview to dancing. I always thought it was more like boxing and I think the purpose is to get your opponent or your person you’re interviewing on the ropes and nervous which is 100% what Chris Wallace did, and this was the first time I have seen President Trump squirm, and he’s not feeling as confident as we have seen him in the past,” McCain explained.
McCain also noted the fact-checking that had been inserted into the interview when it was edited for air, adding, “It will be interesting to see if this becomes a trend with all political interviews throughout edited pieces. If I were a candidate and this is just me, I would say live interviews only from here on out after watching that.”
Whoopi Goldberg agreed that Wallace had done a good job with the interview, saying, “Well, you remember in the olden days when you couldn’t sit down with a journalist without being a little bit uncomfortable because they were going to ask you real questions that pertained to Americans and what you were going to do for them. How you were going to lead them, and I suspect, you know, perhaps Chris is as tired of all of the dancing as everyone is.”
Joy Behar wrapped up the segment by asking whether anyone thought that, after facing a number of challenging questions from Wallace, whether he’d ever consent to such a tough interview again. “I bet he doesn’t,” she said.
A chorus of “no” came from Goldberg, Sunny Hostin and McCain.
“It will be interesting to see how he justifies not doing it,” Goldberg added.
“Yeah, agreed,” McCain replied. “I think it’s going to be Sean Hannity from here on out, ladies, for him.”
Wallace gave a brief recap of the interview during a Monday appearance on “America’s Newsroom,” saying that the president had been gracious and pleasant throughout the interview — despite the contentious nature of several exchanges — and pointed out the fact that former Vice President Joe Biden had yet to make himself available for a similarly challenging interview.