The Trump Interview with Axios: Lies Corrected on the Fly
You can watch the Trump interview by Jonathan Swan of Axios below. Trump looks and sounds dumber than ever, and in part I think it’s because Swan makes an attempt to correct and/or put in context every false and misleading thing Trump says, as it happens. It leads to a constant stream of small interruptions that will annoy you if you like Trump, but which I find refreshing as someone who dislikes watching him vomit out 50 lies per minute and never get corrected on anything.
I have cut for you one of my favorite clips, with Trump talking about mail-in voting. Trump calls it a new phenomena [sic]; Swan says it’s been around since the Civil War. Trump says it’s expanding; Swan says that’s because of the pandemic. Trump says, over and over, that states are mailing out ballots; Swan says (almost as repeatedly) that they are sending out applications, which you could download off the Internet.
I don’t have time to transcribe it for you — I usually do — but it’s worth the 80 seconds it takes to watch it.
This is how you do it:
Once you have watched the clip you can back up the interview to the beginning if you like, by moving the time slider all the way to the left.
Buffoon. I cannot wait until he’s gone.
Pretty great job by Swan.
Patterico (115b1f) — 8/4/2020 @ 8:47 amNice Job by Swan. I haven’t watched all of it, but I think he did a good job balancing asking questions with being respectful and not too confrontational.
Trump is clearly annoyed several times and get’s a little whiny.
Time123 (235fc4) — 8/4/2020 @ 8:53 amI wish all interviews with presidents were this interactive. The press shows too much deference to government officials.
Time123 (235fc4) — 8/4/2020 @ 8:58 amHis supporters got the applications too. Some will open them and, of those, some will see that they’re not ballots, they’re applications. And guess what? They’ll still believe Trump instead of their own eyes. The real genius of the conman is that the marks continue to believe him no matter what.
nk (1d9030) — 8/4/2020 @ 9:01 amI just finished watching the interview in its entirety. Swan is very good, and sticks to his guns. I don’t believe the interview did Trump any favors. He is all over the place, especially with the portion about Covid. He is confused about the numbers, and about what Swan is trying to point out with regard to the case fatality rate. I blame the President’s briefers, especially given the printouts he keeps scrambling to reassure Swan with. It’s particularly bad.
But what left me gobsmacked was his bitterness toward John Lewis, and his inability to be gracious to at least recognize Lewis for having put his life on the line during the civil rights movement. Once again, it’s astonishing to see just how petty and small he can be. The irony is that, while dismissing Lewis, he boasts about how he, Trump, has done more for the black community than any other president. You can watch the President of the United States claim that he can’t say whether Lewis was impressive or not here.
Dana (292df6) — 8/4/2020 @ 9:09 amAlso, this is another gem where Trump ctoninues to wish the vile and depraved Ghislaine Maxwell well. Nothing excuses this in my book. When Swan tells Trump that Maxwell has been arrested on child sex trafficking charges, Trump says, “First of all, I don’t know that.” Baloney! He then starts to bring up whether Epstein was murdered or committed suicide.
Dana (292df6) — 8/4/2020 @ 9:14 amTrump calls it a new phenomena [sic]; Swan says it’s been around since the Civil War.
Yeah, he meant new on the scale that it’s being implemented this year. That was clear, and correct. But, bring in the mail in voting Karens!
It’s expanding because of the pandemic, because we can get school supplies and t-paper at Target but can’t vote at a voting booth. Right.
Amazing how we fought motor-voter but now suddenly roll over on mail in ballots across the board because
conservatismTrump.Great interview, never to be replicated for Biden. Reminds me of this one:
beer ‘n pretzels (9937ff) — 8/4/2020 @ 9:15 amhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991104/aponline181051_000.htm
Here is the full interview, if anyone has the stomach for it.
https://www.axios.com/full-axios-hbo-interview-donald-trump-cd5a67e1-6ba1-46c8-bb3d-8717ab9f3cc5.html
He’s shuffling papers, “Look at this chart,” while arguing that, going by number of deaths as a percentage of positive test results, the US is leading the world. We’re winning!
158,000 people are dead, idiot. 1,000 people are dying every day! The US leads the world in number of deaths by far. It’s the most bumbling attempt at statistical manipulation I’ve ever seen. When I watched Axios HBO last night, I was flabbergasted.
No wonder Trump paid another student to take his SAT. He doesn’t understand simple math.
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 8/4/2020 @ 9:17 amIt’s amazing that his supporters have decided Biden’s mental state is an important issue to raise in defense of . . . this.
(Not That) Bill O'Reilly (6bb12a) — 8/4/2020 @ 9:18 amI notice Swan is more whiny and flailing than usual…
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/4/2020 @ 9:43 amAs I’ve said before, Trump is incapable of grace or empathy for anyone.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/4/2020 @ 9:45 amUnless they are accused of crimes against young girls.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/4/2020 @ 9:47 amI heard (not viewed) the exchange about the coronavirus. It seemed that Trump was channeling H.Ross Perot with his charts.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/4/2020 @ 9:49 amFTFY.
Stores have adapted to protect people during the pandemic with online shopping, curbside shopping, and home delivery and demand is high. By the way, there are different kinds of mail-in or absentee ballots depending on the State law, and they work in different ways. Only Karens refuse to understand the differences.
We shouldn’t roll over but we already did in some States, and Trump didn’t care until it was his election.
DRJ (aede82) — 8/4/2020 @ 9:52 amLike Gawain’s Ghost said, I can only take Trump in small doses. Thank you, Patterico and Dana, for the excerpts.
nk (1d9030) — 8/4/2020 @ 9:52 amI clicked off at 5:46 because I couldn’t tolerate the agitation of the interviewer with the interruptions. I think interruptions are important and wouldn’t like an interviewer who let Trump filibuster, but the continual agitation along with the interruption feels hopelessly aggressive. You could tell from the first couple minutes that this guy, Jonathan Swan, thought he had a killer idea: Trump believes in the power of positive thinking and that’s not the right approach for governing during the pandemic. But when that idea didn’t take off as Swan— in his own positive thinking — may have visualized, he panicked and it showed. Maybe it will be fun to watch the rest and see if Trump is able to reduce Swan to a fluttering pile of feathers. So I may get back to this.
https://althouse.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-axios-on-hbo-interview-with.html
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/4/2020 @ 9:55 amAlthouse objects to nitpicking interruptions? Heh. She has a blog devoted to it.
DRJ (aede82) — 8/4/2020 @ 9:59 amChris Wallace tried to fact-check as the interview went on, and you could see Trump bristling at it. Swan has that smooth British (or Australian?) tone that allowed him a better back-and-forth. It was well done.
Paul Montagu (f7c552) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:00 amThere was a segment on Morning Joe with Swan, and they covered CV19. Trump’s “it is what it is” answer was particularly bad, not unlike his “I don’t take responsibility at all” comment, as if Trump was not a major influencer of national events.
Perot understood his charts.
DRJ (aede82) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:00 amWhither Instapundit goeth, Althouse followeth.
nk (1d9030) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:12 amWell your tax dollars paid for that wallaby waltz. From politico 2.0
Narciso (7404b5) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:12 am17… yes, but she’s an infrequent whiner.
Swan should take a knee (or a shot to the plums) for the Aborigines…
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:13 amNow if tim blair was doing the interview
https://lidblog.com/msnbc-producer-quits/
Narciso (7404b5) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:14 amLOL Ann Althouse
Dustin (4237e0) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:16 am20… yeah, more sanity is always welcome.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:16 amThe motor voter slander was another right-wing racist lie I fell for at the time. My daughter registered to vote at the Secretary of State’s office when she got her learner’s permit. Motor voter. She presented her birth certificate, original Social Security card, and two proofs of address. In Cook County, Illinois.
Guess what happened next? Did she get a voter’s registration card? No, she did not. She got a form in the mail from the Board of Elections that she needed to sign and send back so they could verify her signature. Then she got her voter’s registration card. In Cook County, Illinois.
nk (1d9030) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:21 amThats why cloward and piven wanted it, for convenience sake.
Narciso (7404b5) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:24 amHoly heck that Beirut explosion:
https://twitter.com/EwotonRueben/status/1290697912901668868?s=20
harkin (5af287) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:25 am_
My daughter registered to vote at the Secretary of State’s office when she got her learner’s permit.
Nothing’s more racist than holding up a 16 year old’s right to vote.
beer ‘n pretzels (201130) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:27 amI thought Swain did a good job making it clear what Trump wasn’t going to answer the question asked, and where Trump was just not going to answer. I didn’t think Swain’s push back rose to the level of debate. Look at the question about the Navy Vet that DHS beat in Portland. Trump had a point to make, Swain let him make it, even though it wasn’t really an answer to the original question.
Althouse’s take feels like spin.
Time123 (52fb0e) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:27 amThats why cloward and piven wanted it, for convenience sake.
LOL… funny stuff!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:30 amOne could ask swan how there are doing in victoria province australia.
Narciso (7404b5) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:33 amHow to interview a serial liar and narcissist who is unfit to be president
………
Axios’s Jonathan Swan conducted a stunning interview with Trump that is gaining praise for getting around this problem. But the full import of how Swan did this, I think, is still eluding attention, and properly accounting for it exposes core truths about this extraordinary moment that we still struggle to find the right language to express.
Again and again, Swan practically pleaded with Trump to demonstrate a shred of basic humanity about the mounting toll under his presidency, and to display a glimmer of recognition of responsibility for it. Again and again, Trump failed this most basic test.
……
The unspoken question hovering over much of this was Swan pleading with Trump to share in our collective horror about the consequences that have unfolded since, and to take some measure of responsibility for those consequences. This taking of responsibility would itself speak to the gravity of what the country is enduring, and show basic respect for the sick, the dead and the bereaved.
Trump couldn’t do it. He made only the most perfunctory reference to the dead, even as he hailed his own great response again and again while blaming everyone else for the toll……
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:35 am……….
the agitation of the interviewer with the interruptions.
I thought Swan remained fairly composed in light of what he was hearing. It’s always telling to see Trump-sympathizers choose to ignore what the President of the United States is saying with his very own mouth – not as reported by FakeNews!!!! – and instead turn their attention to criticizing the interviewer. Only in Trump World is the interviewer held more accountable than the leader of the free world.
Dana (292df6) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:38 amHe must be over the target, or its just tuesday.
Narciso (7404b5) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:41 amJohn McWhorter said it best, the Cloward-Piven strategy “created generations of black people for whom working for a living is an abstraction”
_
I’m sure Cloward and Chuck Manson are raising their glasses of warm beer in response to everything going on in Minneapolis, Chicago, Seattle, Portland etc.
harkin (5af287) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:41 am_
Here is Trump this morning on mail-in voting:
Dana (292df6) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:43 amSwan has that smarmy asswipe thing down. He should go far.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:43 amI read that Lewis boycotted both G.W. Bush inaugurations, yet Bush gave him a moving eulogy focusing on his best qualities and pointing out that their disagreements were evidence of democracy in action.
Radegunda (e1ea47) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:46 amThe people who despise GWB and lionize the incumbent are operating from a strange code of values.
Dana, The interview happened. If trump did well, they’d talk about trump. Since trump did poorly they want to talk about how bad the interviewer was. This is complicated by the fact that Swain seemed to do a good job.
Next question: What does it say about the Trump campaign strategy that he’s sitting down for fair interviews with wallace & swain instead of calling into Hannity or Tucker’s show? It’s a change that i suspect was brought on by a realization that things aren’t going well.
Time123 (52fb0e) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:46 amNothing’s more racist than holding up a 16 year old’s right to vote.
You can register to vote if you will be old enough to vote in the next general election. But by all means, my dear chap, do carry on! Who am I to introduce truth to your life?
nk (1d9030) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:47 amHere is a transcription of the video portion that Patterico linked to in the post:
Dana (292df6) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:50 amDana, at 37. Heh! Just “Heh!” He got a vision of all those retired folks whose only reason to vote for him is the state of their 401(k)s and IRAs staying in their retirement communities on Election Day because of Covid-19. One more “Heh!”
nk (1d9030) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:50 amThere’s a good bit of that happening on this comment thread. Sniping at the interviewer is a lot easier than defending the interviewee’s pronouncements in this case.
Radegunda (e1ea47) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:51 am34… Trump supporters have seen this a million times. It’s all about destroying POTUS.
And nothing less.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:52 amSo what. Let’s talk about what the leader of the free world said, because that should be far more important than the demeanor of an interviewer, don’t you think?
Dana (292df6) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:53 amDid he interview undertaker cuomo and his one man vector.
Narciso (7404b5) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:58 amContext
https://www.doctorwhy.blog/blog/memento-mori
Narciso (7404b5) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:59 amThis just in… Chicago shooting victims, 10 years old and under
2019: 8
a/o end of July 2020: 24
And no one seems to care.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:00 amIf trump did well, they’d talk about trump.
LOL
If Trump did well, there wouldn’t be a post about it.
Interviewers tough on Trump, then playing patty cake with Biden. You’d think Biden would exit his bunker and have interviews all day every day given the beach ball questions he gets.
But, it’s “conservative” now to cheerlead a media that cheerleads Biden, and this is how conservatives were during the Bush years. LOL — Look at yourselves.
beer ‘n pretzels (368b0a) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:02 amAs to the source of this virus, the post is more sanguine
https://mobile.twitter.com/DrewHolden360/status/1290705330205274114
Narciso (7404b5) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:03 amIf Trump did well, there wouldn’t be a post about it.
When you’re right, You. Are. Right.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:04 amTrump claims right to issue executive order on vote-by-mail
President Donald Trump on Monday claimed to have the authority to issue an executive order addressing the expected influx of mail-in voting in the November election and said he hadn’t ruled out doing so, in spite of the Constitution’s expressly giving states the right to run their elections.
“I have the right to do it,” Trump insisted, adding: “We haven’t got there yet, but we’ll see what happens.”
Trump made the assertion during a coronavirus briefing at the White House when pressed by a reporter from OAN, the far-right network that has been a vocal ally of the president, and as part of a broader tirade against mail-in voting amid a push to expand the practice during the coronavirus pandemic.
…….
But his suggestion that he has the right to wade into how elections are conducted in states runs counter to Republican orthodoxy. GOP lawmakers have in the past cited local election control for their opposition to congressional attempts to expand voting rights, as well as institute more stringent security measures.
And any order from the president to curb mail-in voting would surely face a flurry of challenges in court from voting rights groups.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:04 am…….
There are some texans here, the dems want to do to texas what the pla has done to hing kong, they have made it plain their stances on faith on public safety on reliable energy, so if you want to be susarmed in the dark, muzzled by the mob by all means pick the incontinent old man in the closet.
Narciso (7404b5) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:08 amIt has never been employed as the only method of voting for the whole country with all the chain of custody issues that entails
Narciso (7404b5) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:12 amThey have that opportunity, narciso. Let’s pray they have their wits about them.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:12 amTo prove your assertion that Patterico wouldn’t write about a good Trump interview we would need an example of Trump doing an interview and providing concise & accurate information.
Do you have an example or two of Trump doing a good job responding in a similar interview?
Time123 (235fc4) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:13 am55… you don’t say…
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:13 amAnother video of the explosion Harkin mentioned. This one captures the major blast if you wait. Terrible.
Dustin (4237e0) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:15 amhttps://twitter.com/Doranimated/status/1290678095268241410
Dustin (4237e0) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:16 amAs Trump downplays Covid-19 testing, White House begins requiring it
…….
According to an email sent to executive branch employees, which POLITICO obtained, the new policy will require “random mandatory Covid-19 testing” for officials working inside the White House complex. Limited exceptions are available to aides who have spent the last 30 days working remotely or are on previously approved leave.
It was not immediately clear whether there would be consequences for aides who decline to be tested for the virus or fail to show up when summoned to the White House Medical Unit.
Rip Murdock (ae9700) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:16 am……..
To be followed by a full body cavity search.
Washington is like an andromeda colony, i might need a full space suit if i visited it now, a tribute to mayor bowser.
Narciso (7404b5) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:20 amMore shame than most
https://mobile.twitter.com/SohrabAhmari/status/1290672415496908800
Narciso (7404b5) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:24 amThe problem with Trump is not his (general) platform, but the man himself. He has no business in that job. It’s like me taking over your airliner — the job requires qualities he does not have, and people can die (people have died) as a result.
When this is all over, and the GOP is picking up the pieces, I think that much of Trump’s stated agenda will survive — particularly the refocus on America and Americans — but be taken up by people who know what the F they are doing. As it is, Trump has been unable to produce, has covered every issue he advocates with slime, and worries the crap out of anyone who considers him being commander-in-chief in a major crisis.
Lies, dishonesty and such are part of every politician’s makeup. It’s the nature of the sewer that they must swim in. But nearly all of them are better at it and/or limit this to the bare necessities. Trump lies poorly about the time of day.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:25 amIf Trump did well, there wouldn’t be a post about it.
If Trump did well, pigs would fly.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:27 amAgencies that were corrupted by obama like cdc, which see themselves as apparatchiks first focusing on second tier issues who ignore actual science from holland and sqseden, who are fooled by shysters like surgisphere,
Narciso (7404b5) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:31 amMy worry is that his methods, his establishment of new norms that expand the power of the executive, will survive and be used by someone competent.
Time123 (52fb0e) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:31 amBut that could never happen on a large scale
https://www.weaselzippers.us/453446-judge-orders-new-york-state-to-count-previously-invalidated-mail-in-ballots/
Narciso (7404b5) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:37 am61… Rip Taylor signs up for that last procedure…
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:37 amTo the extent Trump has a stated agenda, it’s an incoherent mess strictly held together by the man himself; once you add the polish of a more traditional politician, the inanity is all too apparent, which is illustrated every time Cotton or Hawley goes onto a Sunday talk show to defend the administration’s latest about-face.
(Not That) Bill O'Reilly (6bb12a) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:45 amIt’s quite a contrast watching Trump extemporaneously parrying and combating hostile interviewers like this and then watching Slow Joe struggling to read note cards and fuzzily trying to answer scripted questions from press stand-ins. You can’t hide what is going on no matter how frightfully clever you think it is to hide your candidate in a basement and think no one is the wiser.
Trump has full command of his faculties and has dealt with covid & a cratering economy as well as any other industrialized country has. These interviews just underscore how dangerous it is to hand the presidency over to a dementia victim and his minority hire VP. We will be dealing with the aftermath of covid for some time. We need a leader, not a place holder.
— Gk1
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:46 amTo prove your assertion that Patterico wouldn’t write about a good Trump interview
Patterico can write about whatever he wants. It’s his blog. You’re making my comment about him for an obvious reason.
Patterico did not assert that Trump supporters would only talk about Trump if he did well. You did.
And, there’s actually an @7 where someone talks about how Trump did.
beer ‘n pretzels (ac43f5) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:47 amU.S. Satisfaction at 13%, Lowest in Nine Years
Americans’ satisfaction with the way things are going in the U.S. continues to tumble since it started trending downward at the beginning of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Currently, 13% of U.S. adults are satisfied with the state of the nation, down seven percentage points in the past month and 32 points since reaching a 15-year high in February. Satisfaction has not been this low since November 2011.
………
……….Satisfaction now sits just six points above the all-time low in October 2008 immediately following sharp drops in the U.S. stock market during the global financial crisis.
…….
The plunge in the U.S. mood, both in the past month and since February, is mostly occurring among Republicans. Republicans’ satisfaction today (20%) is about half what it was a month ago (39%) and down 60 points since February, after the Senate acquitted President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial. The current figure is easily the lowest for Republicans during the Trump administration, with their prior low being 38% in October 2017.
Notably, even with Republicans highly dissatisfied with the state of the nation, they continue to overwhelmingly approve of the job Trump is doing as president (91%). Consequently, their dissatisfaction may have more to do with what is going on in the country — the coronavirus and its effect on economic activity, the focus on matters of race — than the administration’s handling of it. To some degree, it could also reflect Republicans’ awareness of pre-election polls showing Trump trailing Democrat Joe Biden by a significant margin.
Rip Murdock (ae9700) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:49 am…….
Obligatory Rolling Stones reference.
Trump has full command of his faculties
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:51 amComedy gold!
I think the flatline was a mistake, it has much more deleterious affects, the fact that rioting was deemed essential activity points to the doublestandard, fauci and birx were the overseers to both parts
Narciso (7404b5) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:51 amYour 2 comments taken together don’t make a lot of sense. Do you have some examples of trump doing an interview like this well or not?
Time123 (235fc4) — 8/4/2020 @ 12:16 pmyou presume certain things, and you think everyone will agree,
https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/08/chicago-lawmaker-proposes-suspending-grade-school-history-classes-until-a-suitable-alternative-is-developed/
the most ridiculous notions receive credence,
narciso (7404b5) — 8/4/2020 @ 12:18 pmThe Biden campaign is pretty clear that they will debate.
Time123 (52fb0e) — 8/4/2020 @ 12:23 pmbtw
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/08/gov-hogan-overrides-county-executive-enables-private-schools-to-reopen.php
narciso (7404b5) — 8/4/2020 @ 12:26 pmWhile I think maybe some states are sending ballots to all registered voters, that’s not the case in New York State. Here it is on;y applications, and you should chec off temporary fisability, it as t be sent back in the mail to get an actual absentee ballot.
Peole are getting them who moved or passed away. On the other hand more than one quarter sometimes of the ballots aren’t counted – sometimes because of a failur to sign but also because they missed the deadline.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/03/nyregion/nyc-mail-ballots-voting.html
The simplest solution: Postpone the official election date, {the official election date is the day the Electors are picked) call November 3 early voting, and what;s more maybe announce the preliminary results before November 3 after which no one will be allowed to vote except by special ballot..
So what if campaigns could see some states were close and try to increase turnout after November 3?
Sammy Finkelman (fe6a9b) — 8/4/2020 @ 12:28 pmI saw the whole interview. First, three to eight.
Paul Montagu (f7c552) — 8/4/2020 @ 12:30 pmTwo, I wonder what Trump’s opinion of John Lewis would’ve been had the fella just showed up at the inauguration. Apparently, it doesn’t matter if Lewis marched for civil rights in Selma and elsewhere and helped deliver freedoms to the descendants of American slaves, Mr. Lewis was not a great American because missed a certain person’s Big Day. The size of that narcissism has its own gravitational field.
Three, anytime someone challenges me on facts and figures, I’ll just say, “There are those who say I’m speaking God’s honest truth. Read the manuals. Read the books.” One standard, applied to all.
Four, the moral equivalencing between the USSR in Afghanistan and the US in Afghanistan is equal parts breathtaking and jaw-dropping, not to mention that Trump wouldn’t even acknowledge that Putin gave arms to the Taliban, which was stated as fact by General Nicholson over two years ago.
Five, also breathtaking and jaw-dropping is Trump’s innumeracy on mortality by using # of cases as the denominator. But even by his measure, the US isn’t lowest.
Six, Trump’s conspiracy theory ways on Epstein’s death was fairly ridiculous, not to mention his lack of any condemnation of the pedophile and the pedophile’s assistant. It was just “let them prove somebody was guilty”.
Seven, I’m inclined to give Trump a pass on LBJ and Civil Rights Act, “how has it worked out” because he confused the Civil Rights Act with LBJ’s Great Society social programs.
Oh, the “three to eight” on the first line above is my estimate of the number of lies Trump told per minute. I hope Trump has more interviews just like that one.
Sidenote: I hope Col. Klink is okay. I just realized we haven’t hear from him. I miss his input.
Dana (292df6) — 8/4/2020 @ 12:31 pmTrump doesn’t always dispute Swan’s corrections, (they in fact almost agree that mail in voting will increase tremendously this year) but he doesn’t let that get off his main point.
Sammy Finkelman (fe6a9b) — 8/4/2020 @ 12:34 pmDana @5.
Swan noticed instantly that the charts Trump had were deaths as a percentage of cases. And Swan says he’s talking about deaths as a percentage of population.
“You can’t do that” says Trump.
Sammy Finkelman (fe6a9b) — 8/4/2020 @ 12:39 pmDo you have some examples of trump doing an interview like this well or not?
Let’s first acknowledge that you’re assertion was wrong, then we’ll proceed from there. I’ll wait…,
beer ‘n pretzels (f38836) — 8/4/2020 @ 12:39 pmAnd Trump had said we have more cases because we did more testing.
another factor is of course the U.S. was later than Europe, so treatment maybe got better.
Sammy Finkelman (fe6a9b) — 8/4/2020 @ 12:40 pmYou wrote, as a comment on this post,
I take this to mean that you don’t think the author of this blog post (or possibly any co-bloggers) would write about an interview where Trump did well. That’s a reasonable conclusion from your comment. But you denied that conclusion in a following comment. If it’s wrong, please let me know what you meant, because it’s not clear.
My assertion is that because Trump did poorly his supporters want to talk about the interviewer instead of about Trump. Had he done well they would have wanted to talk about him and the things he said. Just to make my assertion very clear.
Time123 (52fb0e) — 8/4/2020 @ 12:49 pmInteresting:
https://www.cleveland.com/court-justice/2020/08/fbi-raids-offices-at-downtown-one-cleveland-center-building-tied-to-ukrainian-oligarch.html?outputType=amp
Narciso (7404b5) — 8/4/2020 @ 12:59 pmTrump has done a number of good interviews, with Hannity, Fox and Friends, etc.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/4/2020 @ 1:01 pmThis was actually a good interview. It only looks bad because Trump had a number of points to make that weren’t true.
Sammy Finkelman (fe6a9b) — 8/4/2020 @ 1:10 pmBut you denied that conclusion in a following comment.
No, I said your conclusion wasn’t relevant since 1) it’s his blog and he can write what he likes, and 2) he didn’t make the assertion I was responding to.
You’re trying very hard to get me banned. This speaks volumes.
Candidates don’t typically do well in hostile interviews, and a Republican will face many times more hostile interviews than a Democrat. It used to be a conservative position to push back against that, rather than cheer it on.
As it is, we have to rely on a Charlamagne tha God to do the job a sane media would do.
So, to come upon an interview where a Republican candidate has to debate the interviewer should provoke a yawn. Yet, it’s huge news to you and others here, and we’re all in denial if we don’t discuss it in detail word for word.
beer ‘n pretzels (585f8c) — 8/4/2020 @ 1:11 pmThey were worried about Tulsa before the rally. Now some statistics may have been delayed, but what Trump said there simply isn’t true. It was starting to climb the week before the rally.
https://ktul.com/news/local/tulsa-county-sees-highest-single-day-increase-in-coronavirus-cases-since-pandemic-began
https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2020/06/17/coronavirus-cases-skyrocketing-in-tulsa-days-before-trump-rally/#6506c1660ce6
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/06/19/oklahoma-coronavirus-covid-19-cases-rise-ahead-trump-tulsa-rally/3220736001/
He’s got a staff who protects him with statistics.
This is actually true for every president, although more usually it’s about the economy.
Sammy Finkelman (fe6a9b) — 8/4/2020 @ 1:20 pmB&P, I’m not trying to get you banned. I do not want you banned. I enjoy talking to you. As evidence of this I offer the fact that I talk to you frequently. This is true even though we disagree on some things.
I assume this is your point
I thought you were saying that there were examples of Trump doing well in an interview. I assume you’re not claiming that any more.
Time123 (235fc4) — 8/4/2020 @ 1:22 pmI think someone needs to define what a “good” interview is. If “good” is characterized as informative and truthful, then Trump has never had a good interview, even when Hannity is lobbing beachball-size softball questions. If “good” is viewed as having entertainment value, then every Trump interview is good, because Trump is nothing if not entertaining.
Paul Montagu (f7c552) — 8/4/2020 @ 1:27 pmPersonally, I find Trump tremendously entertaining while at the same time observing that he’s unfit, stupid on policy, immoral, dishonest and completely lacking in character. One can be entertained and horrified in one sitting, like when I watched Pride and Prejudice and Zombies yesterday.
P.S. One of my worst CV19 decisions ever was watching Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2.
Paul, this interview was ‘good’. The Swain got answers to his questions and through follow up we were able to understand why trump answered the way he did. I don’t think it made Trump look good and I don’t think it helped him with people who weren’t already strong supporters.
One of things leaders need to do is make the complex simple and compelling. I think Trumps best answer was on mail in voting. His initial statement that it’s never been done before was factually incorrect but eventually swain got a clean answer.
A large increase in mail in voting will exceed out counting capability and deny us a speedy resolution to the election as well as provide increased opportunities for fraud and error.
Trump spread that out over many other statements and threw in a lot of things that are wrong or misleading but that seemed to be his point.
I think this is an example of Swain doing a good job. He called out specific errors; such as how long we’ve been doing mail in voting and the difference between a vote and an application for a ballot. He probed on the underlying premise by asking why not knowing on election night isn’t acceptable. But he didn’t debate or put forward a counter point of view.
Time123 (52fb0e) — 8/4/2020 @ 1:36 pmI thought you were saying that there were examples of Trump doing well in an interview. I assume you’re not claiming that any more.
Please. I’ll assume then you acknowledge your assertion was wrong.
He does well in interviews, though I say that having seen/heard not very many. That applies to any political candidate. These interviews are theater, filled with gotcha moments, and aren’t worth a normal person’s time. They are in fact more about the interviewer than the candidate. Interviews and political theater in general are not my thing. It looks like it’s yours. Great.
Any interview I point to, such as the several he’s done with Levin, where he’s discussed constitutional issues, you’ll dismiss as being not good in your opinion or not tough enough. But, there you go.
beer ‘n pretzels (65ab42) — 8/4/2020 @ 1:45 pmthere are worse things than this bug,
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/american-conservatism-is-fiddling-while-rome-burns/
narciso (7404b5) — 8/4/2020 @ 1:46 pmYou watch.
You listen.
You exasperate.
You’re entertained.
Reaganoptics: What. A. Showman.
Glorious.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 8/4/2020 @ 1:50 pmA “good” interview is one that yields useful insight into the knowledge and character of its subject. Swan unquestionably did so here, thus the interview was good.
(Not That) Bill O'Reilly (6bb12a) — 8/4/2020 @ 1:50 pmThen your definition of a good interview, Time, is that the interviewer was able to elicit a certain amount of information by constantly holding the interviewee’s feet to the fire, so to speak. I could go with that, and I agree that Swan didn’t make it a policy debate but rather questioned Trump’s premises. Also, I would say that the interview was “informative”, but not in a way that Trump would’ve liked.
Paul Montagu (f7c552) — 8/4/2020 @ 1:51 pmAs nk said, perhaps she likes the traffic from the Insty links. As for Swan, I did not view him as nitpicking but it amused me to see Althouse stop watching because of his interruptions. We all see things through our own lens and, instead of critiquing or praising what Trump said, she saw an annoying interviewer. In fairness, some bloggers make me feel that way, too.
DRJ (aede82) — 8/4/2020 @ 1:53 pmWhat interviews? I can’t find any and I would like hear Trump’s thoughts on the Constitution.
DRJ (aede82) — 8/4/2020 @ 1:56 pmFiled under “how they roll”…
The yohans who keep pointing to polls don’t seem to understand that assigning Hidin’ Biden to the basement, refusing interviews may indicate his ten point lead is not instilling confidence.
Also, there’s this, from a few years ago… One Podesta email, WikiLeaked earlier last week, spells out – in detail – exactly how to “manufacture” the desired polling data of the Clinton team. It serves as proof that the mainstream media is manufacturing Clinton-friendly polling data to depress voter turnout for Donald Trump.
The email begins with a request for recommendations from Clinton campaign staff on how what to execute “oversamples for polling” in order to “maximize what we get out of our media polling.”
“I also want to get your Atlas folks to recommend oversamples for our polling before we start in February. By market, regions, etc.” Podesta writes. “I want to get this all compiled into one set of recommendations so we can maximize what we get out of our media polling.”
As stated, the email included a 37-page guide – a manual – with recommendations for rigging the polling. In Arizona, for example, it specifically tasked those organizations executing the polls with oversampling Hispanics and Native Americans, saying it was “highly recommended.”
“Research, microtargeting & polling projects: Over-sample Hispanics; Use Spanish language interviewing (Monolingual Spanish-speaking voters are among the lowest turnout Democrat targets); Over-sample the Native American population,” the memo read.
In discussing Florida, the report mandates “consistently monitoring” samples to makes sure they don’t include too many seniors and that they included an oversampling of “African American and Hispanic voters.” It also instructed pollsters to oversample Clinton-friendly Independent voters in the Tampa Area
The report also instructed those organizations creating national polls to oversample “key districts/regions” and “ethnic groups as needed.”
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/wikileaks-reveals-clinton-poll-oversampling-scheme/
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/4/2020 @ 2:00 pmHere is one from April 2019 but what Constitutional issues? Is it where he is asked about freedom of the press and wonders why his Fox media supporters don’t get Pulitzer Prizes?
DRJ (aede82) — 8/4/2020 @ 2:03 pmGoogle “Mark Levin Trump interview”. The specific one regarding constitutional issues dates from 2016. There were more since.
Trump isn’t a constitutional scholar, ok? But, how do you think Biden would do? A Biden interview with Levin is equivalent to the sort of hostile interviews Trump must do regularly. But, of course Biden will never do that sort of interview and hardly anyone here will call it out.
beer ‘n pretzels (4eafe8) — 8/4/2020 @ 2:06 pm101… Althouse is no fan of Trump. But she is very good at highlighting instances of media bias in the Democrats house organs: NYT, WaPo, New Yorker, the Atlantic, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, as well as the idiocy of the press covering the White House.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/4/2020 @ 2:07 pmI didn’t hear much from Trump about the Constitution but you are right that Mark Levin did everything he could to help Trump put his best case forward.
DRJ (aede82) — 8/4/2020 @ 2:08 pmB&P, While I disagree with you I respect you. In at least one instance you’ve changed my mind, although I acknowledge I was annoying in the conversation and it took me a too long to admit it.
You are usually very clear with your writing and I typically don’t struggle to understand what your point is. You often support what you have to say with very specific pertinent facts that can be easily researched.
This is not one of those times.
Time123 (235fc4) — 8/4/2020 @ 2:11 pmCheck out the Biden voters harassing normal folks in Portland:
https://twitter.com/livesmattershow/status/1290020988470431745?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1290020988470431745%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpjmedia.com%2Fnews-and-politics%2Fvictoria-taft%2F2020%2F08%2F03%2Fwatch-antifa-and-blm-jackals-spectacularly-fail-to-scare-pro-cop-americans-at-portland-courthouse-n747283
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/4/2020 @ 2:12 pmJust saw this. I’ll check it out later tonight.
Time123 (52fb0e) — 8/4/2020 @ 2:14 pmI bet that is true. She likes to critique things. I doubt she voted for Trump and maybe she cares about all of the issues she blogs. But bloggers know what the big blogs like to link so if you blog those things, you get links. Insty cares about media bias and his links bring big traffic.
DRJ (aede82) — 8/4/2020 @ 2:15 pmwell they won’t shoot back
https://disrn.com/news/chicago-mayor-mounts-police-raid-on-black-churchs-sunday-service
narciso (7404b5) — 8/4/2020 @ 2:15 pmtoo much code,
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2020/08/04/heres-how-trump-needs-to-explain-the-united-states-coronavirus-response-n749649
narciso (7404b5) — 8/4/2020 @ 2:18 pmNeither Trump nor Biden look intelligent in interviews. DCSCA says all that matters to Americans is if they can be entertaining, and clearly Trump is entertaining. If that is true, and I hope it isn’t, then the problem with the candidates is the audience.
DRJ (aede82) — 8/4/2020 @ 2:19 pmGoing by the FoxNews coverage, true. It was only part of the interview The Five talked about (so far).
Paul Montagu (f7c552) — 8/4/2020 @ 2:21 pm@115, Trump has a legitimate point about our ability to manage that many mail in votes. Swain was able to help him get past his lies and misrepresentations and make that point. I wish swain had had asked him a follow up question about what the post office was doing to avoid these problems…but can’t have everything.
Time123 (52fb0e) — 8/4/2020 @ 2:31 pm111… she admits voting for Hillary Clinton and Obama, gets a link in Insty maybe once a month. Her content is varied, off-beat and excellent, but I like her site more for the comments… she has many intelligent people commenting there, even a few who fled (or were banned) from this site.
PP, Instapundit, Althouse and a few car-focused sites are my mainstays. Ace, on occasion, for a laugh.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/4/2020 @ 2:38 pm116… how many ways CAN you spell “Swan”?
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/4/2020 @ 2:39 pmthe infection, they seem laser focused on, is the american way of life, businesses (specially brick and mortar) are shuttered, churches are proscribed, the police must be demonized, our history must be demolished rioters are not only given the right of way, but tokens of their domination, must be planted where they have destroyed, now they’ve moved to outright extortion, like their like minds are seen in places from colombia to iraq, to that clear and present danger, there is mostly a tiny arff like a small dog, also the ppp seems to have gone to worthy clients like deniro’s restaurants, axios, mediamatters, the flagship of politifact, you know the folks that really needed it, this genuflection toward the masks and the alchemy of social distancing irks me, that’s how I see the big picture,
narciso (7404b5) — 8/4/2020 @ 2:51 pmwhere group think has led us,
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/trump-war-afghanistan-foreign-policy
narciso (7404b5) — 8/4/2020 @ 3:01 pmscience, more like alchemy that is being practiced,
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/08/did-lockdowns-work-evidence-says-no.php
narciso (7404b5) — 8/4/2020 @ 3:04 pmThis was my favorite bit:
Comedy gold.
Well, except for the part where 150,000 people die while this yutz plays golf and tweets about statues.
Dave (1bb933) — 8/4/2020 @ 3:09 pmMy worry is that his methods, his establishment of new norms that expand the power of the executive, will survive and be used by someone competent.
I think that this is just Trump cluelessly copying Obama and others. He has no idea what the natural limits of executive power are, so he blunders about mouthing things he knows nothing about.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/4/2020 @ 3:09 pmI don’t think it helped him with people who weren’t already strong supporters.
This is his problem this election. Last time, he got the votes of those willing to give him a chance. This time he only has a narrow(ing) base.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 8/4/2020 @ 3:14 pmTrump’s performance is being favorably compared to Nigel Tufnel’s in This is Spinal Tap.
High praise indeed!
Dave (1bb933) — 8/4/2020 @ 3:25 pmInteresting read… https://www.doctorwhy.blog/blog/memento-mori
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/4/2020 @ 3:31 pm@126 https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/can-coronavirus-cause-heart-damage?amp=true
Time123 (7662f5) — 8/4/2020 @ 4:19 pmAlso https://www.heart.org/en/news/2020/07/10/more-people-are-dying-during-the-pandemic-and-not-just-from-covid-19
Time123 (7662f5) — 8/4/2020 @ 4:21 pmLOL. If Trump were a different human being he could do a good job responding in a similar interview. The fact that he is not, and will always sound like a buffoon as a result, is now my fault, per Haiku and beer n pretzels.
Patterico (115b1f) — 8/4/2020 @ 4:27 pm122, 125… good news!
they may have a treatment in the works for your foaming-at-the-mouth TrumpHate, Dave.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/4/2020 @ 4:28 pmYou said there wouldn’t be a post about it. Sounded to me like you were talking about me.
Patterico (115b1f) — 8/4/2020 @ 4:29 pmInstead of speculating whether there would be a post if the impossible happened (Trump sounding honest, well-informed and reasonable in a legit interview), maybe – like Patrick’s post – we should stick to what did, in fact happen.
Dave (1bb933) — 8/4/2020 @ 4:44 pmErm… too lazy to check, but I’m pretty sure Patterico gave credit to Trump when due…
Such as the Gorsuch and Kavanaugh nomination.
I vaguely remember Pat gave credit for Trump moving the embassy to Jerusalem… I think.
So, its not out of the question that our host would post something positive. (obviously rare, but not “never”).
whembly (c30c83) — 8/4/2020 @ 4:51 pmShe delights in being enigmatic, Haiku, and getting Insty links since 2004.
DRJ (aede82) — 8/4/2020 @ 4:58 pmIf grandma had wheels, would we use her for a shopping cart?
nk (1d9030) — 8/4/2020 @ 4:58 pmPatterico’s post after a 2016 debate:
DRJ (aede82) — 8/4/2020 @ 5:07 pmSo the race boils down to The Doofus vs. The Demented. Lucky us.
Another argument against widespread mail-in ballots is that it undermines the secret ballot and makes it easier to intimidate voters. We know from the polls that there are many voters who are embarrassed to say they will vote for Trump, but will do so anyway. When they have to fill out a ballot in front of their family and friends, that makes intimidation that much easier.
Bored Lawyer (56c962) — 8/4/2020 @ 5:11 pmWhen they have to fill out a ballot in front of their family and friends, that makes intimidation that much easier.
? I vote by mail.
nk (1d9030) — 8/4/2020 @ 5:19 pmI voted alone.
With me and nobody else.
I even walked to the mailbox by myself.
I try not to lavish praise on the posters here too much because it just seems gratuitous, but I am very sure that if Trump gave an intelligent interview to a non-fawning journalist there would be a post or two here not only admitting Trump’s performance but discussing it with enthusiasm. That would be so fascinating to see Trump sharply handle tough questions.
As evidence, this blog was critical of the Lincoln Project recently.
That’s the reason I read blogs like this and no longer put much time into blogs that just carry water. Reality is confusing and honesty is what helps us make sense of it. I don’t need a zealous advocate to make me feel secure that whatever the news, my side is right. Even the Trump fans here seem to recognize the value of this. A few, the really hostile ones, are like the gang that understands the Broken Windows theory of community is right (so they break all the windows).
Dustin (4237e0) — 8/4/2020 @ 5:27 pm# 138 — that may be what you did, but others have a different experience. I can easily see in some situations where someone says, “let’s all fill them out together, and I want to see what you are filling out.”
Up until now, mail-in ballots have been the exception. Now they want to make it the rule. I realize this is because of COVID-19, but there is still a downside.
Bored Lawyer (56c962) — 8/4/2020 @ 5:28 pm@140-
Up until now, mail-in ballots have been the exception.
Hardly. I’ve voted by mail for the last 40 years. My first polling station was in a senior “residential care facility” that smelled of death. No thanks.
No lines, no fuss.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/4/2020 @ 5:39 pmIf that is true, and I hope it isn’t, then the problem with the candidates is the audience.
Reaganoptics.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 8/4/2020 @ 5:48 pmPatterico, my comment was wrongly worded. My mistake.
My @50 should’ve been “If Trump did well, you (the commenter I was replying to) wouldn’t talk about it.”
My apologies.
beer ‘n pretzels (3f887b) — 8/4/2020 @ 5:57 pm@140 I recall on one instance helping my grandmother fill out her mail-in ballot. I would read her the options and/or she would tell me how she wanted to vote.
I agree with you about the privacy being diminished with mail-in voting, not just when the ballot is filled out but also when it is reviewed. Especially for small towns, I can imagine some voters fearing their ballot being seen by whomever opens and processes the ballot.
norcal (a5428a) — 8/4/2020 @ 6:21 pm43. nk (1d9030) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:50 am
I think he actually got contacted by members of the Republican Party in Florida – some people got through to him.
All what he;s doing is drivig down Republican turnout.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/02/us/politics/republicans-mail-voting-trump.html
In Florida, the Republican Party has been promoting absentee voting for years, going back to before the 2000 election.
So Trump now says Florida is different.
Sammy Finkelman (fe6a9b) — 8/4/2020 @ 6:29 pm@143, would have saved time if you just clarified the mistake when I asked.
Time123 (9f42ee) — 8/4/2020 @ 6:39 pmListening to the Levin interview now.
When I voted in February, I had to hand my completed ballot, in a file folder with the ends sticking out, to a guy who removed it and fed it into an optical scanner. If he was interested in who I voted for, he could have easily glanced at it.
Some in-person polling places – with different technology – have greater privacy, ofc.
The last time I voted by mail (1992, IIRC) there were inner and outer envelopes, clearly designed to ensure that whoever opens the (identifiable) outer one can’t see the ballot sealed in the inner.
Due to the local control of elections, that might also vary from place to place, but it seems like an obvious “best practice”.
Dave (1bb933) — 8/4/2020 @ 6:39 pmOne raving lunatic on the ballot isn’t enough for the GOP
Republicans Aid Kanye West’s Bid to Get on the 2020 Ballot
How much lower will they go?
How much lower can they go?
Dave (1bb933) — 8/4/2020 @ 6:48 pmI feel badly about the Kanye West situation. From his wife’s statement, he suffers from bipolar disorder and shows evidence of not staying on his meds. I can’t imagine how difficult this must be for his family.
Dana (292df6) — 8/4/2020 @ 6:52 pmThank you, Sammy, at 145. In the throes of my sarcasm I forgot that a lot of people registered to vote in Florida don’t live there year-round.
(Derek Chauvin, the George Floyd cop, is one of them, BTW.)
nk (1d9030) — 8/4/2020 @ 6:54 pmTrump attends first coronavirus task force meeting since April
I guess the tropical storm must have canceled his tee-time.
So unfair.
Dave (1bb933) — 8/4/2020 @ 7:03 pm80. While I think maybe some states are sending ballots to all registered voters, that’s not the case in New York State.
I was right. Both Trump and Swan were wrong because the same thing was not true in all states. (remember there are 51 presidential election systems)
https://www.foxnews.com/media/axios-reporter-jonathan-swan-apology-trump-interview
And some states and in some elections this year in other states people voted only by mail, so a ballot would logically have to be mailed o all registered voters.
Both of them treated the matter as if the rules everywhere were the same. Maybe Trump was a little bit more specific. He may not have been wrong about Westchester County if the man’s son, before he died six and a half to seven years ago, got put on a list to be sent an absentee ballot every year.
In which case this is not a new experience for Trump’s acquaintance. What he meant as remarkable was that his son still had not been stricken from the rolls.
Sammy Finkelman (fe6a9b) — 8/4/2020 @ 7:22 pmI watched the entire interview. I have come to the conclusion that it is a giant Rorschach test. Those who hate Trump will see more cause for hatred. Those who love him will likely blame the interviewer for being pugnacious.
I am not a Trump fan, but neither am I a hater. I thought Trump did okay. Sure, he bobbed and weaved, but show me an adversarial interview of a politician where this doesn’t happen. Trump showed a rather nimble mind.
Swan could have done a better job of starting off with and sticking to Covid deaths, and maybe mentioning Taiwan, which is still holding firm at seven deaths since the outbreak.
I doubt Biden has the mental acuity to put on a performance like this.
The sad part is we’ll never know, because there is no way in hell that Biden would submit to an interview like this. This point cannot be emphasized enough, and it hopefully resonates with those considering a vote for Biden.
And, by the way, what was up with all the camera jiggling? Was that to convey an air of instability? I don’t recall this technique being used on Obama, but perhaps I wasn’t paying enough attention.
norcal (a5428a) — 8/4/2020 @ 8:55 pmI thought Trump did well talking about violence in Portland and BLM. He was awful talking about the virus. Shuffling papers and looking lost. Whiney and grating. The Lewis stuff shows his monstrous and fragile ego. BTW there’s no hate here. I think Kanye West has a huge fragile ego too. Do I hate him? No, it’s not even on my radar to hate him. You can think someone is unfit to lead the free world without hating him. Swan interrupted too much. I preferred Wallace.
JRH (52aed3) — 8/4/2020 @ 9:24 pmI don’t believe anything that comes from those Kardashian witches. I hope poor Kanye gets out of their
nk (1d9030) — 8/4/2020 @ 9:29 pmclutchesclaws having lost only his money and not his soul and manhood like O.J. and Bruce.So I turn on my TV and what’s on top on Hulu? Axios! I watched “Hey Arnold!”. Season 1, the Secret Santa episode.
nk (1d9030) — 8/4/2020 @ 10:31 pmI recently cancelled Hulu in favor of HBO Now. I had to check out the new Perry Mason, and I refuse to splurge on more than one streaming service at a time.
norcal (a5428a) — 8/4/2020 @ 11:31 pmThe whole thing is a terrifying reminder of who holds the nuclear codes. But for pro-Trump folks who can’t or won’t watch the whole interview, I’d at least like them to read the John Lewis exchange and say with a straight face that this president that they support isn’t a dangerously disordered narcissist:
lurker (d8c5bc) — 8/5/2020 @ 12:02 amWow Lurker.
Trump could agree with me on 100% of my dumb political opinions and his extreme self-centered perspective on all things would put me off instantly and always. Dangerously disordered narcissist sounds right.
Dustin (4237e0) — 8/5/2020 @ 12:19 amI wonder if Sarah Cooper will be able to use the Axios interview.
She’s at her best when Trump is adrift on the fringes of his mental ether, free associating from one lie to the next.
Handling an interviewer who refuses to go along for the ride presents challenges to her format.
Dave (1bb933) — 8/5/2020 @ 1:17 amInteresting presidential poll of…California.
No surprise that Biden is ahead, but he has expanded his lead in the last month and currently leads Trump by 39 points among likely voters (67-28). He’s running nine points ahead of Hillary, whose 2016 performance set a record.
Biden leads by 17 points in (formerly Republican) Orange County. Of the eight geographical regions tabulated in the poll, that’s Trump’s best.
Biden leads by roughly 2:1 or better among every gender, ethnicity, age group and educational level.
Dave (1bb933) — 8/5/2020 @ 1:57 amI’d like to watch that interview, but I doubt he’ll do one.
If he thinks it might help him win over undecided voters or motivate supporters who might otherwise not vote he’ll do an interview like this. Otherwise he won’t. He’s currently leading so why would he take the risk?
Time123 (66d88c) — 8/5/2020 @ 4:23 amThere will never be a one-on-one interview of Biden by an interviewer as aggressive as Swan was with Trump. Never.
norcal (a5428a) — 8/5/2020 @ 4:34 amPart of that might be because it’s unlikely that Biden will lie as blatantly as Trump. If you look at where Trump got push back it was mostly 3 areas
1. Follow up questions about premise
Time123 (66d88c) — 8/5/2020 @ 4:38 am2. Factual inaccuracies.
3. Trying to cut through Trump’s filibuster.
Here’s a good article by Piers Morgan at The Daily Mail.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8591593/PIERS-MORGAN-Trumps-deluded-train-wreck-HBO-interview-proved-hes-lost-control-reality.html
I agree with most of his points, especially his visceral reaction to the interview at the end.
Some commenters find Trump entertaining. I most certainly do not. He’s more annoying than anything else. I find him disgusting, sad and pathetic.
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 8/5/2020 @ 7:52 amWhat is informative is Trump’s explanation of why he won’t criticize South Korea about its coronavirus record.
Not because the criticism would be wrong – I mean he may know it is wrong but he finds a different excuse which lets him imply it is true.
Jonathan Swan doesn’t pick up on this, because you have to be really familiar with Donald’s Trump’s method of thinking about foreign relations – and maybe personal or political relations – to pick up on this. Truth has no place in Donald Trump’s view most of the time.
https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-interview-transcript-with-axios-on-hbo
Sammy Finkelman (fe6a9b) — 8/5/2020 @ 3:14 pmAnd there’s this earlier:
Neither picks up that saying we test more undermines Trump’s claim that the death rate per case is lower. Now treatment may in fact be better in some places and at certain times, than n others.
Sammy Finkelman (fe6a9b) — 8/5/2020 @ 3:18 pm@164 All politicians obfuscate, lie, and filibuster, but Biden would never get called on his b.s. as aggressively as Trump was in that interview. Biden wouldn’t submit to an adversarial interviewer, and no MSM journalist would go after Biden like that. Liberal media bias is real.
norcal (a5428a) — 8/5/2020 @ 5:42 pm168.
Yes, liberal media bias is real. So is the falsity of your implied equivalence between Biden’s obfuscations, lies and filibuster, which you correctly liken to those of politicians generally, and Trump’s uninterrupted torrent of compulsive lies over every single thing, however momentous or trivial, inevitably followed by his doubling down on even the most transparent falsehood rather than acknowledge even one error. That’s not just an orders of magnitude difference of degree. It’s a difference in kind. Comparing the two approaches category error.
Anyway, it requires more real-time interviewer pushback just to tread water with Trump’s most newsworthy lies, and isn’t remotely adequate to hold him accountable for the vast majority of his fire hose of mendacity.
lurker (d8c5bc) — 8/5/2020 @ 7:52 pm