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Interviewing Trump: Pin Him Down, Dammit [1]

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Date: 2025-05-01

It is enormously frustrating to witness a professional interview of Trump and see the interviewer ignore the blather, fabricated statistics, or complete lack of evidence from Trump as he “weaves” his way toward incoherence. ABC journalist Terry Moran interviewed Donald Trump April 29th in the Oval Office. At one point, Trump insistently quarreled with Moran about the veracity of a photo showing the tattooed knuckles of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran man hastily deported without due process to a gulag in El Salvador. Trump insisted that the photo clearly showed MS-13 tattooed on Garcia’s knuckles when previous photos of his hand showed tattoos but absent the MS-13 identifier. Moran quibbled with Trump and then tried repeatedly to move to another topic, but Trump insisted on pushing the false narrative that the tattoos designating MS-13 are real, not photoshopped. The back-and-forth continued for what seemed like the time it takes to gestate a baby.

As someone with extensive training and experience in cross-examination debate and the author of a successful public speaking textbook, I can say that Moran’s approach when questioning Trump is doomed to appear amateurish and ineffective. Once Moran made the point that the photograph shown by Trump is photoshopped and Trump denies that, the journalist just needed to say, “Mr. President, just bring Mr. Garcia back to the U.S., give him due process, and in the meantime, show his knuckles to determine who is correct about his tattoos.” Then move on insistently and loudly if necessary to another topic. When Trump does his usual insults, as he actually did by claiming that Moran is a nobody journalist, Moran should have responded, “You chose me to ask the questions and that is what I am doing, so please answer what I ask and skip the insults.” If Trump gets up and walks out in a huff, which he very possibly would, turn to the camera and say calmly, “Apparently President Trump cannot stand the heat, so this interview is over.” Reporters and interviewers are way too tepid in their response to Trump’s antics. Trump is totally predictable when being questioned. Whenever he feels pinned down on a question and he doesn’t want to answer, he diverts by flinging insults.

This inept interviewing technique exhibited by Moran when questioning Trump is not new. Consider the initial Kristen Welker interview of Trump for NBC News on “Meet the Press.” It was Welker’s first time in the moderator’s chair and it received huge media coverage. NBC News “spent the entire week hyping Welker as someone who ‘met the moment’ as a White House correspondent when ‘power was held to account’ during Trump’s tumultuous presidency.” CNN, however, judged the interview a failure. Speaking for CNN, Oliver Darcy concluded, “Unfortunately, Welker failed spectacularly to meet the moment during her interview with Trump.” His main criticism targeted the almost complete lack of effort to hold Trump accountable for his frequent, and expected, lies and misinformation. “Welker allowed Trump to make a number of statements wholly untethered to reality on a range of critical issues without tenacious, resolute, or meaningful pushback. Trump, a rapid-fire lie machine, did his usual song and dance. . . He lied about pretty much every topic that Welker broached.” That was Welker’s September 2023 interview. She interviewed Trump again in December 2024 with similar results. When she asked Trump whether he had progressed beyond the “concept of a plan” to replace Obamacare, Trump replied, “We have concepts of a plan that would be better.” Welker’s idea of a follow-up was, “Still just concepts?” Why didn’t she continue, “Identify even one concept?” When he refused, as he likely would have, she should then hit him with “You’ve had nine years to develop a plan, so Americans should draw the conclusion that any plan that you might consider is just returning to private health insurance that permits refusal of health care for ‘pre-existing conditions,’ correct?” That’s when Trump disassembles.

When Trump misuses a statistic, as he frequently did during the campaign, such as that 13,099 illegal immigrant “murderers” were “released into our country over the last three years,” Welker does correct him, “The 13,000 figure goes back 40 years.” Trump immediately says, “nope. . . It’s during the Biden term.” That’s a lie, but Welker doesn’t continue to correct him. She shifts to whether he plans to deport only immigrants with criminal histories. So, the impression is created that Trump corrected an error Welker made, but in fact Trump lied. She should have responded, “My source for the 13,099 figure comes from the libertarian Cato Institute and several fact-checking sites, and they all clearly state 40 years.” If Trump responded, “They’re all wrong” she should then retort, “That’s absurd. I offer sources and you offer nothing, but let’s move on.”

Then the capper was when Welker told Trump that the House committee members that investigated the January 6, 2021, insurrection on the Capitol denied Trump’s lie that members had committed crimes. Trump instantly diverted to a condescending remark about Welker: “You know, you have such potential. If you could be just nonbiased—you hurt yourself so badly.” This is a classic Trump bully boy tactic, especially when challenged at all by a woman. Welker could have shot back at Trump, “I’ve won an Emmy, now tell me what evidence you have justifying your claim that crimes were committed.” Trump hates to be so confronted, especially when the power play by diversion doesn’t work. It rattles him when it happens. He gets angry. His anger reveals his weakness.

I know I appear to be picking only on Moron and Welker. This is a widespread problem, however. Most interviewers and journalists while questioning Trump acquiesce to his bullying tactics, deceptions, and distractions when he is queried. It is a pervasive problem. Democrats and progressives at all levels need to strongly encourage, actually insist, that those who interview Trump or ask questions at regular daily White House press briefings push hard on accountability. Make accountability an agenda item on news programs and press conferences. When a lie is spouted by Trump or his advisors and staff, questioners must not ignore the lie. Call it a lie and document quickly why it is. Trump and his spokespeople will immediately deny the correction, even become agitated, but questioners must be encouraged to hold their ground. A standard question at every press conference should be, “What’s your evidence?” If none can be provided, ask why anyone should believe a claim that cannot be documented.*

*Latter portion of this essay is a reprint from my new book WILLFUL IGNORANCE AND STUPID POLITICAL DECISIONS: The 2024 Election and How to Combat the Rise of Oligarchy in America.

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