As threatened, Trump has released his team’s video of the Lesley Stahl 60 Minutes interview. I have not watched it, so I defer to the headline at Daily Beast: Trump Exposes Himself as Whiner-in-Chief in Leaked ‘60 Minutes’ Interview.
Matt Wilstein writes, “what anyone who watches all 38 minutes will see is that the president spent the bulk of his time openly whining about how ‘tough’ the questions were while refusing to actually answer any of them in a coherent manner.”
For example, Stahl’s first tough question was “Why do you want to be president again?” I take it from reading about it that she also pressed him on his second term priorities, and he couldn’t answer that one, either.
On Thursday morning, CBS “This Morning” aired a short preview of Trump’s “60 Minutes” interview that he reportedly walked out on because he was unhappy with “60 Minutes” anchor Lesley Stahl’s tough questioning.
The short clip aired by CBS “This Morning” shows Stahl asking Trump what his “biggest domestic priority” is, but the President proceeded to boast about his supposed economic achievements while dodging the question. Stahl pushed back on Trump’s assertion that his administration “created the greatest economy in the history of our country” by telling him “you know that’s not true.”
And, of course, it’s not true. And it wasn’t true before the pandemic, either.
Trump also got caught with his pants down on health care:
Democrats seized Thursday on Trump’s acknowledgment in his “60 Minutes” interview that he would like the Supreme Court to end the Affordable Care Act, saying that it is further evidence that he is trying to take health care away from Americans.
During the interview — a recording of which the White House released ahead of its scheduled airing Sunday — Trump told CBS News journalist Lesley Stahl that he hopes the court abolishes the policy, commonly known as Obamacare.
“I hope that they end it; it’ll be so good if they end it,” Trump said.
Pressed by Stahl how he would respond to millions of Americans losing their health insurance, Trump insisted that he has a plan, even though he has not released one.
Trump also complained (several times, I take it) that Stahl asked Joe Biden easier questions. Stahl responded (several times, I take it) that someone else was interviewing Joe Biden for 60 Minutes; she hadn’t asked Joe Biden anything. But if it’s anything like the dueling town halls, it was Trump who got the easier questions. Biden got asked about his vote on the Clinton era crime bill and about what he will do with the Supreme Court. Trump bungled softball questions on wearing face masks and repudiating QAnon.
In the past few days a number of media commenters have said Trump is too far lost in his own fake information bubble to navigate real-world interviews. And it enrages him when people try to make him inferface with reality. See, for example, My Wild 2 Weeks Inside the Trump Campaign Bubble by Ryan Lizza:
Trump set about creating a closed information ecosystem where he defines for his supporters what is true and what isn’t. …
…The rallies are crucial to Trump, not just because they feed his famously insatiable ego, but because they are the main vehicle by which he “informs” his supporters what he thinks they should know that professional reporters aren’t telling them. At a Trump rally, the pandemic is almost over, a vaccine is imminent, Biden is an obvious criminal (and also mentally “gonzo”), Trump saved millions of people from Covid, he is ahead in the polls in most swing states, “the Christmas season will be canceled” by Democrats, and there is widespread fraud with mail-in balloting .
That’s the reality Trump lives in, and any attempt to make him respond to, you know, commonly experienced reality is met with defensive antagonism.
Tonight is the last debate, as as of early this afternoon Trump hasn’t chickened out yet. I’ll probably “watch” it the way I “watched” the first debate. On the New York Times live stream, with the sound off, following the running comments. Although I may try to Washington Post live stream this time.
