When going one-on-one with Donald Trump, in the words of Leo Durocher, “Nice guys finish last”. Kristen Welker, the new host of Meet the Press, who I watched work at close range, while I served as White House Correspondent for ABC News, as she did the same at NBC is very nice, and a strongly qualified reporter who failed miserably in her debut Sunday.
I’ve never seen Kristen Welker utter a harsh word, but when interviewing Donald Trump, being nice does not cut it.
The former President — who lies at the speed of an auctioneer, bullies, and over-speaks at every opportunity, has proven the diplomatic, everyone-play-fair style of interview is a thing of the past. The days of hurting no one’s feelings in political journalism are over. Politicians like Donald Trump have made it impossible to be civil.
NBC seemed to know that when it announced that its interview with Trump would not be live, instead pre-taped with an opportunity to fact-check and provide context. An opportunity it tragically missed. When Meet the Press aired on Sunday, two days after the interview was recorded at Bedminster golf club in New Jersey, there was little sign of the network using the tools or time at its disposal.
Only a couple of times did Kristen Welker interject in real time to correct the nonstop untruths firehosing from the leading GOP candidate for President, a man under indictment four times in two states and the District of Columbia. A candidate who deserves to be held to special account and suspicion because of his accused crimes and his record of lying constantly. A man who has shown he will insult the interviewer, his opponents, and the disabled.
If you go into an interview with such a person, you must be prepared to be direct, firm, and even rude. You must be willing to say “No, excuse me sir, that is not true, you are not answering the question and I will not let that misstatement go unchecked”.
There were several falsehoods peddled by the former President, including:
- There is no evidence Joe Biden ordered the Justice Department to indict Trump as he claimed. Instead, President Biden has not even commented on Trump’s legal jeopardy.
- Democrats do not advocate “abortion after birth”, an absurd, nonsensical claim.
- There are not 15 million immigrants flooding the southern border. 2 million is the actual number.
- The news media are ignoring the Ukraine War. Practically every night on network news and in major papers there are war developments reported.
- Trump built 500 miles of border wall. Most of that was improving existing fences.
- Covid was the reason for increased deficits under his presidency. Actually, there were increases in the debt every year he was president.
- Bacon is 5 times more expensive under Biden he said. Bacon is actually 12% more expensive since Biden took office.
- The U.S. turned over 85 billion dollars of military equipment to the Taliban. False, it was 7.1 billion.
By the way, there was much more, and in fact, NBC News outlined the lies in an accompanying story, not on Meet the Press or their evening news, but on its website. A move that reminds one of the newspaper that prints a bold, but inaccurate headline on the front page, only to correct it deep inside by letters to the editor.
What should have been done? Well, if Kristen Welker was too uncomfortable to stop him in mid-sentence, then her producers should have. With the luxury of having Trump on tape, Meet the Press, could have edited the lies out, explained to its audience what he said next was untrue, and moved to the following question.
Or even bolder, NBC should have frozen the interview with every lie, and fact-checked as its viewers watched, not hours later online. The interview would then be fast-forwarded to the next question, without allowing him to free form in the land of falsehood.
Would it be clumsy? Perhaps a little, but far less damaging than the misinformation and harm spewing from him onto the airwaves unchecked. Would it cause Trump to refuse future NBC interviews? Perhaps, but that’s a choice he has made and forced on the media he labels “enemy of the People”. Would his followers be angry at NBC? Probably, but let’s face it, most are already locked in their bubble at Fox and its cheaper imitators.
Some have argued, he should not be given a platform at all. I reluctantly disagree. It’s impossible to ignore a former President who is trying to return to office after efforts to overturn his last loss. He should be interviewed but by blunt, dogged interviewers experts and unafraid of holding politicians to account. Not by the remnants of a Washington D.C. press corps limited by manners. It can be done.
George Stephanopoulos at ABC did it. Mehdi Hassan of MSNBC is that kind of tenacious interviewer. Unfortunately, NBC put its new Sunday show anchor in a tough spot, Kristen Welker did not rise to the occasion and instead learned, I hope, that being nice to a bully rarely works.
Jim Avila is a weekly news television columnist for Barrett Media. An Award-winning journalist with four decades of reporting and anchoring experience, Jim worked as Senior National Correspondent, 20/20 Correspondent, and White House Correspondent for ABC News. Prior to his time with ABC, he spent a decade with NBC News, and worked locally in Los Angeles and Chicago for KNBC, and WBBM. He recently spent time in San Diego, serving as Senior Team 10 Investigator for KGTV. Jim can be found on Twitter @JimAvilaABC.
