Kristen Welker's tenure as the new host of NBC's Meet the Press began on Sunday with an interview with former President Donald Trump. NBC News promoted Trump's appearance as his "first broadcast network interview since leaving office." Since leaving office, however, Trump has relentlessly promoted brazen lies about the 2020 election, the 91 felony criminal charges he faces in state and federal court, and a variety of other topics. The interview could have been an opportunity to confront Trump about these lies and hold him to account for his public dishonesty.
The problem, of course, isn't Trump or Trump's lies. The problem is MSM treating him like a normal candidate and giving him a platform and free airtime. But, MTP has been off the rails for years, now.
I posted this yesterday in response to The Bulwark's JVL on the same topic.
Let me say the quiet part out loud. Early in TV broadcast journalism, virtually all of the reporters were actual reporters from the radio industry. No one knows what you look like on the radio. Many of them had covered WW II from overseas where they actually had to, you know, get the story. True, it was an nearly all-male enterprise and that situation deserved to be challenged. However, in the ensuing years, TV on-air personalities, both male and female became further removed from story generation, a process given over to "producers" who didn't and don't show up on-air. In my brief experience working at a TV station in the mid-west, the staff referred to the on-air newscasters as "meat puppets" because they didn't actually know much about the stories they "reported". (Think Ted Baxter on the Mary Tyler Moore Show.) I know zero about Ms. Welker. I don't know if she was a highly educated journalism student, an intrepid on-the-ground-reporter on a grimy city police beat or a court or city council reporter in some fraud infested hell hole or just another pretty face that the suits thought would capture the audience. I can observe this, no one in TV news looks like Edward R. Murrow anymore. When the producers give the on-air personality their talking points, they have no control of whether these interviewers are good at follow-up questions based on knowledge of the topic. JVL is right that the media is letting us down and maybe, (and this may not be fair) it's a meat puppet problem
I think you left something out. Edward R Murrow didn’t work in the news biz after news was bought up by conglomerates in the entertainment industry.
I don’t believe Ms. Welker was ever an investigative reporter. She was working in local news media as a reporter by 2005 and in 2011 was the NBC White House correspondent. She’s done better than this.
As in, do I vote regularly? Yes. Or do you mean, am I a fascist? No. Or do you mean that the US is already a fascist state? Explain Biden, who is perhaps the most liberal president since LBJ.
Do you mean donald trump is a normal candidate? He is no more a normal candidate than I am a unicorn. trump is a pathological liar, who could not accept the truth, if it hit him in the head with a 2x4.
By treating this sociopathic liar’s candidacy as normal & allowing his lies to stand during AND after the interview, MTP has paved the way for all other MSM outlets to do more of the same, which obviously will help him in polling & possibly on Election Day 2024. We know this because we see absolutely no one in the MSM arena willing to criticize Welker, for whom I have lost all respect. Only independent media like Popular Information & a few on Sirius XM Progress have pick up this mantle. They deserve our support more than anyone on cable or network “news”. Popular Info readers must spread the word to combat the lies that will continue to be allowed elsewhere. Post this article on your social media, talk to friends, neighbors & relatives, call into talk shows. Promote media that tells the truth without a wink & a nod. Thanks to Judd & staff!
Great report, Judd. I see no one in the Press is suggesting that 45 might have lost track of the lies he tells. They always assume he is a competent liar who knowingly lies, not just an aging airhead who can’t remember the things he has said (unlike Biden, supposedly “aging”, who actually remembers his script).
A lot of people, including my brother, equate Biden's anecdotes about his life with Trump's lies. The problem is that Biden isn't misremembering a house fire to gain political advantage.
I'm inclined to think that in addition to all the flat out lying, he simply can't keep track of what he's lied about before, and on top of that, I honestly think he's lost his wits at the same time. Not a pretty picture. Imagine an average executive delivering that kind of doggerel at a corporate board meeting. The exec would be tossed out and ask not to return.
Here's what it comes down to for me--for the MSM, Trump is great for ratings. That's all that matters to them. So, if he's a candidate, or if he wins (re)election, their profits tick up. If our country is destroyed in the process, well, too bad.
I think because most MSM has 1% ownership and/or are 1% Corporations they are being self serving. He's part of their team. He is the link to minority rule the GOP and very wealthy are working towards.
I wish the network never gave the insane ex president any air time. I’m SICK of seeing his face, hearing his words and I’m disappointed that the media gives him any air time at all.
This has always been a problem. Ever since the right wing buy-out of almost all media conglomerates (hiring mostly incapable reporters), the support of Fascism became clearer and clearer.
The biggest danger out there is this...repeating the lies with broad reach.
I wrote to NBC to complain about airing a criminal and seditionist inciter. Everyone should. The atrocities never seem to end. Trump should be imprisoned rather than threatening everyone on tv.
No one really cares if Trump lied or NBC failed. Trump is a moronic, compulsive liar and most people, theoretically, will reject him. But he makes tons of money for the media so they will pretend he's legitimate for the time being. Outrage is dead.
Sadly, too many in the media are star-struck, celebrity lovers who fawn over the ultra rich as having some magical charisma. I am glad you called out the errors and lies in the interview. We would not be in this mess if the media was not so obsessive over Trumps' candidacy in 2016, giving his every hostile word credibility. In fact it started with Trump's attacks on Obama's birth certificate with the media waiting with bated breath for Trump's declaration of its legitimacy. Who gave him the exclusive right to rule on what he considers truth? Since then he has lied with impunity.
This is why the "traditional" news media has become unwatchable. In 2016 those "traditional" news media sites legitimatized Trump's candidacy in the first place, fawning over him just to get that reality star interview. Now, in 2023, those for profit news media sites are once again fawning over Trump to once again get the reality TV star interview. NBC & Welker did themselves no favors with this interview as anyone with an ounce of common sense sees it for what it is-an attempt to bolster their ratings at the expense of claims not challenged and thus left out there for the public to take as real facts. Job really badly done NBC! Don't expect me to be watching your networks programs for anything other than the comedy value.
Truscott skips over the question of whether it was appropriate for NBC to interview the first president to attempt a coup. Instead, he focuses on admissions made by Trump in the interview.
Trump makes admissions every time he speaks. Let him do that on Fox, Breitbart, OAN. The issue, as Judd notes, is that NBC gave Trump a legitimate platform to spew his lies for 1-3/4 hours. The admissions of guilt are an unintended consequence that does not offset the benefit to Jack Smith's case. Let Jack Smith prosecute Trump and stop giving Trump the oxygen he needs to spread his lies.
This post, by Lucian Truscott, is a good lens to look at Welker's interview. The msm's job is not to score points with gotcha questions, or to spend time beating an evasive horse, but rather to get to the truth. I think Welker gets to the truth often, but Trump cannot go there because, like a vampire and daylight, he will be destroyed by the cleansing rays of disinfecting facts.
I’d rather they give up on the big long interview and have him talk about his economic policy for a short segment. If he behaved maybe another.
He’s proposing 10% tariff on all imported goods which will supposedly have a minimal impact on companies here … the US will be so enriched from the tariffs that big corporations will get more tax breaks. A lot to explain right there.
Just the headline is worth the click-through: “Kristen Welker's interview with Trump got more out of that lying, thieving, psychotic monster than she's being given credit for“ 🤣
When The Apprentice was on air, I never watched it. Trump is just such an outright awful person, I couldn’t stomach it. But so many (even liberals) loved it for “the entertainment”. That’s all media cares about- views that equal dollars. I’m sure every last mainstream media person (regardless of their personal political leanings) wants to see 45 re-elected, simply for the ghastly spectacle which is their business model.
These are all big lies, but the one that bothers me most...the golden calf idol repeatedly says that taking a test for dementia...they found he's a genius...i lost all respect for Welker when she let that gem slip right past her...kill corporate tv...before it kills us.
Indeed. I watched as such a test was administered to my mother. Questions included:"What day of the week is this?"; "Who is president of the US?"; "What year is this?"and so on. It isn't even a test of cognition, merely of short term memory. If Trump passed such a test, it means he must be aware that he is a liar, as opposed to being forgetful of the facts. A knowledgeable and professional reporter would have confronted him on that.
My mother with dementia asked me to make sure all those doctors don't ask her the "President question" that they already know that she doesn't know the answer to! I missed one MD and when he asked her a few years ago , she said.."Sorry Doc, I can never remember if it's the black one or the orange one"
You are so on point. It is for short term memory and to detect signs of dementia. Definitely not administered to identify geniuses. In our community a section was added about whether a person feels safe at home. It’s open ended on purpose to identify possible hazards fear of falling, financial abuses and so on. I worked with folks who helped get it on the annual health review. Sadly I think it was dropped to speed things up.
I said this as I read the articles and watched myself. The press has no spine with trump. They let him lie with impunity. Our country is going to be taken over by trump and his enablers because they don't want to push back on anything he says. They want his ratings.
My first reaction was shock when watching Kristen Welker interview Mr. Trump: the appearance of a man with high blood pressure, all flushed and puffy, expressing great anger and upset. [I actually felt immediate compassion for what appeared his huge distress.]
Trump never lets anyone speak without interrupting them--he's a master at bombast and talking over people and then accusing them of interrupting him. He seems to have an easier time verbally railroading women (no matter how bright or strong they seem) than men. Although painful to be subjected to this performance by Trump, we heard him take ownership of his campaign that the election was stolen from him! So the legal argument that he was just listening to advice of counsel (Rudolph Giuliani or others) is no longer an arguable defense.
However, at the end of any fact checking--done way too late--I feel sickened that so many of his lies were given pre-eminent exposure.
It's not clear how any of his statements might be used in court if he doesn't testify, as these are impeaching rebuttals to his lies. The prosecution can't just introduce them as evidence.
That's a good question. Since he is the defendant, isn't any statement he makes an admission, and therefore not hearsay? Which should be directly admissible. I would be interested if you think that analysis is wrong because that is what I have been assuming. Would appreciate a correction if I am mistaken. Thanks!
I believe the out of court statements of a party against his or her interests are admissable as proof of the mate ter at issue. Such statements are an exception to the rule prohibiting hearsay.
The problem, of course, isn't Trump or Trump's lies. The problem is MSM treating him like a normal candidate and giving him a platform and free airtime. But, MTP has been off the rails for years, now.
I posted this yesterday in response to The Bulwark's JVL on the same topic.
Let me say the quiet part out loud. Early in TV broadcast journalism, virtually all of the reporters were actual reporters from the radio industry. No one knows what you look like on the radio. Many of them had covered WW II from overseas where they actually had to, you know, get the story. True, it was an nearly all-male enterprise and that situation deserved to be challenged. However, in the ensuing years, TV on-air personalities, both male and female became further removed from story generation, a process given over to "producers" who didn't and don't show up on-air. In my brief experience working at a TV station in the mid-west, the staff referred to the on-air newscasters as "meat puppets" because they didn't actually know much about the stories they "reported". (Think Ted Baxter on the Mary Tyler Moore Show.) I know zero about Ms. Welker. I don't know if she was a highly educated journalism student, an intrepid on-the-ground-reporter on a grimy city police beat or a court or city council reporter in some fraud infested hell hole or just another pretty face that the suits thought would capture the audience. I can observe this, no one in TV news looks like Edward R. Murrow anymore. When the producers give the on-air personality their talking points, they have no control of whether these interviewers are good at follow-up questions based on knowledge of the topic. JVL is right that the media is letting us down and maybe, (and this may not be fair) it's a meat puppet problem
Don't look like Chet Huntley anymore either.
They don’t look like Barbara Walters, either, may she RIP.
I think you left something out. Edward R Murrow didn’t work in the news biz after news was bought up by conglomerates in the entertainment industry.
I don’t believe Ms. Welker was ever an investigative reporter. She was working in local news media as a reporter by 2005 and in 2011 was the NBC White House correspondent. She’s done better than this.
He is a normal candidate. Are you a normal voter?
As in, do I vote regularly? Yes. Or do you mean, am I a fascist? No. Or do you mean that the US is already a fascist state? Explain Biden, who is perhaps the most liberal president since LBJ.
Do you mean donald trump is a normal candidate? He is no more a normal candidate than I am a unicorn. trump is a pathological liar, who could not accept the truth, if it hit him in the head with a 2x4.
He is as much a normal candidate as you are a normal moral human.
By treating this sociopathic liar’s candidacy as normal & allowing his lies to stand during AND after the interview, MTP has paved the way for all other MSM outlets to do more of the same, which obviously will help him in polling & possibly on Election Day 2024. We know this because we see absolutely no one in the MSM arena willing to criticize Welker, for whom I have lost all respect. Only independent media like Popular Information & a few on Sirius XM Progress have pick up this mantle. They deserve our support more than anyone on cable or network “news”. Popular Info readers must spread the word to combat the lies that will continue to be allowed elsewhere. Post this article on your social media, talk to friends, neighbors & relatives, call into talk shows. Promote media that tells the truth without a wink & a nod. Thanks to Judd & staff!
Great report, Judd. I see no one in the Press is suggesting that 45 might have lost track of the lies he tells. They always assume he is a competent liar who knowingly lies, not just an aging airhead who can’t remember the things he has said (unlike Biden, supposedly “aging”, who actually remembers his script).
If one tells the truth there is nothing "to keep track of".
So true! 👏
A lot of people, including my brother, equate Biden's anecdotes about his life with Trump's lies. The problem is that Biden isn't misremembering a house fire to gain political advantage.
I'm inclined to think that in addition to all the flat out lying, he simply can't keep track of what he's lied about before, and on top of that, I honestly think he's lost his wits at the same time. Not a pretty picture. Imagine an average executive delivering that kind of doggerel at a corporate board meeting. The exec would be tossed out and ask not to return.
Here's what it comes down to for me--for the MSM, Trump is great for ratings. That's all that matters to them. So, if he's a candidate, or if he wins (re)election, their profits tick up. If our country is destroyed in the process, well, too bad.
I think because most MSM has 1% ownership and/or are 1% Corporations they are being self serving. He's part of their team. He is the link to minority rule the GOP and very wealthy are working towards.
I wish the network never gave the insane ex president any air time. I’m SICK of seeing his face, hearing his words and I’m disappointed that the media gives him any air time at all.
This has always been a problem. Ever since the right wing buy-out of almost all media conglomerates (hiring mostly incapable reporters), the support of Fascism became clearer and clearer.
The biggest danger out there is this...repeating the lies with broad reach.
I wrote to NBC to complain about airing a criminal and seditionist inciter. Everyone should. The atrocities never seem to end. Trump should be imprisoned rather than threatening everyone on tv.
Let's also not ignore his lie that cities like Portland and Seattle were "totally destroyed" and "burned down". Literally none of that happened.
No one really cares if Trump lied or NBC failed. Trump is a moronic, compulsive liar and most people, theoretically, will reject him. But he makes tons of money for the media so they will pretend he's legitimate for the time being. Outrage is dead.
Sadly, too many in the media are star-struck, celebrity lovers who fawn over the ultra rich as having some magical charisma. I am glad you called out the errors and lies in the interview. We would not be in this mess if the media was not so obsessive over Trumps' candidacy in 2016, giving his every hostile word credibility. In fact it started with Trump's attacks on Obama's birth certificate with the media waiting with bated breath for Trump's declaration of its legitimacy. Who gave him the exclusive right to rule on what he considers truth? Since then he has lied with impunity.
They are owned by entertainment companies or “media” like cable companies.
NBC (owned by Comcast)
CBS (owned by Paramount Global)
ABC (owned by Disney)
Fox (owned by Fox Corporation)
The CW (co-owned by Nexstar Media Group - 75% & Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global - 12.5% each
This is why the "traditional" news media has become unwatchable. In 2016 those "traditional" news media sites legitimatized Trump's candidacy in the first place, fawning over him just to get that reality star interview. Now, in 2023, those for profit news media sites are once again fawning over Trump to once again get the reality TV star interview. NBC & Welker did themselves no favors with this interview as anyone with an ounce of common sense sees it for what it is-an attempt to bolster their ratings at the expense of claims not challenged and thus left out there for the public to take as real facts. Job really badly done NBC! Don't expect me to be watching your networks programs for anything other than the comedy value.
Excellent and thorough assessment, as always! For another viewpoint/dimension of this complex topic, Lucian Truscott came through last night with an alternative take. https://luciantruscott.substack.com/p/kristen-welkers-interview-with-trump
Truscott skips over the question of whether it was appropriate for NBC to interview the first president to attempt a coup. Instead, he focuses on admissions made by Trump in the interview.
Trump makes admissions every time he speaks. Let him do that on Fox, Breitbart, OAN. The issue, as Judd notes, is that NBC gave Trump a legitimate platform to spew his lies for 1-3/4 hours. The admissions of guilt are an unintended consequence that does not offset the benefit to Jack Smith's case. Let Jack Smith prosecute Trump and stop giving Trump the oxygen he needs to spread his lies.
This post, by Lucian Truscott, is a good lens to look at Welker's interview. The msm's job is not to score points with gotcha questions, or to spend time beating an evasive horse, but rather to get to the truth. I think Welker gets to the truth often, but Trump cannot go there because, like a vampire and daylight, he will be destroyed by the cleansing rays of disinfecting facts.
The word truth and the ex-president have no equivalence.
I’d rather they give up on the big long interview and have him talk about his economic policy for a short segment. If he behaved maybe another.
He’s proposing 10% tariff on all imported goods which will supposedly have a minimal impact on companies here … the US will be so enriched from the tariffs that big corporations will get more tax breaks. A lot to explain right there.
Thanks. Just read it. A different POV that I hadn’t considered.
Just the headline is worth the click-through: “Kristen Welker's interview with Trump got more out of that lying, thieving, psychotic monster than she's being given credit for“ 🤣
The top comment there is Golden.
https://open.substack.com/pub/luciantruscott/p/kristen-welkers-interview-with-trump?r=h52t&utm_campaign=comment-list-share-cta&utm_medium=web&comments=true&commentId=40308624
When The Apprentice was on air, I never watched it. Trump is just such an outright awful person, I couldn’t stomach it. But so many (even liberals) loved it for “the entertainment”. That’s all media cares about- views that equal dollars. I’m sure every last mainstream media person (regardless of their personal political leanings) wants to see 45 re-elected, simply for the ghastly spectacle which is their business model.
Link this to the Meet the Press facebook page. Commenting here is just preaching to the choir.
These are all big lies, but the one that bothers me most...the golden calf idol repeatedly says that taking a test for dementia...they found he's a genius...i lost all respect for Welker when she let that gem slip right past her...kill corporate tv...before it kills us.
Indeed. I watched as such a test was administered to my mother. Questions included:"What day of the week is this?"; "Who is president of the US?"; "What year is this?"and so on. It isn't even a test of cognition, merely of short term memory. If Trump passed such a test, it means he must be aware that he is a liar, as opposed to being forgetful of the facts. A knowledgeable and professional reporter would have confronted him on that.
My mother with dementia asked me to make sure all those doctors don't ask her the "President question" that they already know that she doesn't know the answer to! I missed one MD and when he asked her a few years ago , she said.."Sorry Doc, I can never remember if it's the black one or the orange one"
💕 Under the circumstances, a perfect answer.
:-) https://stephenschiff.substack.com/p/tangled-up-in-orange
You are so on point. It is for short term memory and to detect signs of dementia. Definitely not administered to identify geniuses. In our community a section was added about whether a person feels safe at home. It’s open ended on purpose to identify possible hazards fear of falling, financial abuses and so on. I worked with folks who helped get it on the annual health review. Sadly I think it was dropped to speed things up.
I said this as I read the articles and watched myself. The press has no spine with trump. They let him lie with impunity. Our country is going to be taken over by trump and his enablers because they don't want to push back on anything he says. They want his ratings.
My first reaction was shock when watching Kristen Welker interview Mr. Trump: the appearance of a man with high blood pressure, all flushed and puffy, expressing great anger and upset. [I actually felt immediate compassion for what appeared his huge distress.]
Trump never lets anyone speak without interrupting them--he's a master at bombast and talking over people and then accusing them of interrupting him. He seems to have an easier time verbally railroading women (no matter how bright or strong they seem) than men. Although painful to be subjected to this performance by Trump, we heard him take ownership of his campaign that the election was stolen from him! So the legal argument that he was just listening to advice of counsel (Rudolph Giuliani or others) is no longer an arguable defense.
However, at the end of any fact checking--done way too late--I feel sickened that so many of his lies were given pre-eminent exposure.
It's not clear how any of his statements might be used in court if he doesn't testify, as these are impeaching rebuttals to his lies. The prosecution can't just introduce them as evidence.
That's a good question. Since he is the defendant, isn't any statement he makes an admission, and therefore not hearsay? Which should be directly admissible. I would be interested if you think that analysis is wrong because that is what I have been assuming. Would appreciate a correction if I am mistaken. Thanks!
I believe the out of court statements of a party against his or her interests are admissable as proof of the mate ter at issue. Such statements are an exception to the rule prohibiting hearsay.