It seems that MAGA folks are obsessing over the fact
that Joe Biden hasn’t stood at a podium and taken questions from the media some
50 days after taking office. I don’t think it’s because they are so eager to
hear from their new president. Nothing like that. They are annoyed that Biden (as
they see it) is escaping scrutiny from the same press that gave Donald
Trump such a hard time throughout his presidency. Of course, that doesn’t include Fox News, which was always a safe space for Trump.
Or, maybe more likely, they think Biden is being prevented
by his press shop from making a fool of himself by talking unscripted in front of
cameras, since Biden (as they are convinced) is borderline senile, a fact that
will instantly be obvious to even hard-core Democrats once he has to field real
questions from a real reporter. He’s hiding, they would say, in a way that a
"real" president like Trump would never to.
They like to point out that Trump wasted no time in
getting before the cameras to spar with the media by holding his first solo press
conference on Feb. 16th after only 27 days in office. He didn’t
hesitate, they would say, to face the press and deliver any unscripted remarks
that happen to pop up in his head, not holding back, putting on full display his scattershot thinking on any number of topics. They see this as a feature, not a bug.
And Trump willingly took reporters’ questions, they
would point out. He happily defended and justified the actions of his
administration, they would say, and explained the intricacies of his policies
to a hostile media. As if.
Recollections may vary, as Queen Elisabeth might say. I remember that first press conference as a hot mess. To remind myself exactly what it was like, I took a look at the transcript (a whopping 13,000 words long). Some things stand out. First, Trump starts by announcing the nomination
of Alex Acosta as Labor Secretary (94 words) and the confirmation of his pick
for head of Office of Management and Budget, Mike Mulvaney (43 words), which
Trump whines was “weeks late”, “weeks, weeks late”. Biden’s choice for that
spot had to withdraw due to the hurt feelings of Republicans and Joe Manchin,
so that now even weeks later than for Trump, it remains unfilled. Haven't heard Biden whine about it yet.
Then Trump goes on to talk (91 words)
about how, Paul Singer, a GOP donor, had just visited the White House, and how Singer, who had been a Never Trumper, has now gotten onboard the Trump Train, a hopeful is a
sign as Trump saw it of the kind of unification (abject loyalty?) that he inspires in people. When I first read it, I thought Trump was referring to Singer as Mulvaney’s predecessor, so unclear was Trump's unscripted way of speaking.
Next, he says “I think I’ll say a few words and take
some questions.” Some 3150 words (!) later, he takes the first question, which is about
Mike Flynn, the National Security Advisor he had just fired for lying to Mike
Pence and the FBI, one of the first scandals of his administration. Flynn was
in the job a mere 24 days. Here’s how Trump responded to the reporter’s
question:
“Mike Flynn is a wonderful person, and I asked for resignation, he
respectfully gave it. He is a man who there was a certain amount of information
given to Vice President Pence, who’s with us today, and I was not happy with
the way that information was given. He didn’t have to do that because what he
did wasn’t wrong. What he did in terms of the information he saw. What was wrong
was the way that other people, including yourselves, in this room, were given
that information. Because that was classified information that was given
illegally. That’s the real problem.
“You know, you can talk all you want about Russia, which was all, you
know, ‘fake news’ fabricated deal to try to make up for the loss of the
Democrats and the press plays right into it. In fact, I saw a couple of the
people supposedly involved with all of this. They know nothing about it, never
in Russia, never made a phone call, never received a phone call. It’s all fake
news. It’s all fake news.
“The nice thing is I see it starting to turn where people are now
looking at the illegal — I think it’s very important — the illegal giving out
classified information, and let me just tell you, it was given out so much.
“For example, I called, as you know, Mexico. It was a very confidential
classified call, but I called Mexico, and in calling Mexico, I figured, oh,
well that’s nice, I spoke to the president of Mexico, had a good call, all the
sudden it’s out there for the world to see. It was supposed to be secret.
“Supposed to be either confidential or classified in that case, same
thing with Australia. All of the sudden, people are finding out exactly what
took place. The same thing happened with respect to General Flynn. Everybody
saw this.
“And I’m saying, the first thing I thought of when I heard about it, is
how does the press get this information that’s classified? How do they do it?
You know why? Because it’s an illegal process, and the press should be ashamed
of themselves, but more importantly, the people that gave out information to
the press should be ashamed of themselves. Really a shame.”
Whew! That was a long-winded way (380 words) of saying it’s the
media’s fault that I fired Mike Flynn for lying. I especially like, the bit “He is a man who there
was a certain amount of information given to Vice President Pence”. Seems he has trouble expressing himself. Anyway, this is the performance
that MAGA folks hold up as a shining example of how presidents should talk to
Americans.
It’s worth noting that Trump was so stung by the negative response
to this presser, he didn’t hold another one for almost a year. That long dry spell must have been pure torture for those folks now losing their minds over Joe Biden's heart-breaking absence from the briefing room.
