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Trump’s Rashomon Press Conference
Donald Trump’s press conference Thursday was the worst political failure in presidential history. And the presser was the most deft performance by a President ever witnessed.
Wait … which of the above sentences is true? Depends who you ask. First, let’s look at the response of Trump’s detractors.
CNN:
Trump held court during a news conference that lasted an hour and fifteen minutes, carving out a stunning moment in modern American political history. He displayed a sense of anger and grievance rarely vented by a President in public — let alone one who has been in office for just four weeks.
President Trump on Thursday aired his grievances against the news media, the intelligence community and his detractors generally in a sprawling, stream-of-consciousness news conference that alternated between claims that he had “inherited a mess” and the assertion that his fledgling administration “is running like a fine-tuned machine.”
…Yet moments later, the president seemed to acknowledge the widespread reports of turbulence and upheaval emanating out of his West Wing, only to claim that his White House — which so far has been marred by staff infighting, a controversial travel ban, false statements and myriad leaks — was operating seamlessly.
[T]he session was marked by an extraordinarily raw and angry defense the likes of which has never been seen in a modern White House. At times abrupt, often rambling, characteristically boastful yet seemingly pained at the portrayals of him, Mr. Trump seemed intent on reproducing the energy and excitement of his campaign after a month of grinding governance. He returned repeatedly to his contest with Hillary Clinton and at one point plaintively pleaded for understanding.
From these reports, it appears that a petulant, dissembling Trump ranted and raved for more than an hour and caused incalculable damage to his presidency and his agenda. But not so fast. Despite these reports by the “objective” press, let’s see how reporters not as reflexively contemptuous of Trump reported the event.
President Trump Thursday abruptly revived the aggressive, freewheeling style he exhibited during the presidential campaign — boasting, attacking and complaining his way through an hour-long East Room news conference.
As he did during the campaign, Trump singled out reporters for particular scorn, touting them as embodying of everything that he saw wrong with Washington: elitism, dishonesty and insularity.
Townhall’s Guy Benson:
With the media loudly demanding that he take questions from traditional mainstream outlets following yesterday’s kerfuffle, President Trump gave the press what they wanted: A lengthy news conference at which reporters from virtually every outlet under the sun were able to pose questions, often with multiple follow-ups.
Trump began by reading with a lengthy statement from which he characteristically departed and ad libbed at some length. It felt like a choreographed effort to talk over the heads of the news media “gatekeepers,” and communicate directly with the American people. While he frequently oversimplifies and over-applies his frustrations (dismissing all news and polls he doesn’t like as “fake,” for instance), the president is understandably frustrated with a press corps that really has seemed determined to cover his administration in a relentlessly negative light, sometimes in hysterical and unfair terms, from day one.
The president spoke and took questions for more than an hour and 15 minutes, even joking with some reporters toward the end and saying he was having fun. In a bid to preempt negative coverage of his remarks, Trump insisted he was not “ranting and raving.” But he lamented that the “tone” of coverage of his administration is one of “such hatred.”
“The public doesn’t believe you people anymore,” he said.
I missed the press conference live and, according to a brief perusal of journalist Twitter, I assumed it was a train wreck. Then I saw Ricochet member @patrickb63’s post, which was filled with positive comments by Ricochet members. Only then did I watch the event via YouTube.
(Starts just at the 1:00:38 hour point, ends at about 2:18:00)
Trump concluded his press conference with a response to a question about crime. “This isn’t Donald Trump that divided a nation,” the President said. “We went eight years with President Obama and we went many years before President Obama. We lived in a divided nation. And I am going to try — I will do everything within my power to fix that.” Just so and Godspeed.
Rashomon, a 1950 film directed by Akira Kurosawa, focused on a murder retold by four characters. The versions were radically different, each flattering the teller and confirming their own biases. As with so much news about Trump, his press conference served as its own Rashomon.
So what did you see in today’s presser: A bravura performance by Trump holding the deceptive press corps’ feet to the fire, or a lying President devastated by truth-telling journalists?
Published in General
Yes, thank you.
That was the point, it was very funny. Somehow Trump can be very serious and funny at the same time. He’s not exactly articulate, not glib in the style of Obama, but some of his locutions are just flat out funny…
[pocket comment]
Yes. Absolutely. Unfortunately Mr. Trump is incapable of ignoring them. He lives for the spotlight anyway he can get it.
I did think the early part of the presser showed his best side, calm and convincing. He may have been using a prepared text, I couldn’t tell on radio. Later on he devolved into his attack mode which does not sell well with the public. He is and will remain a mixed bag.
This quote alone was enough for me:
Different times–different personalities. Everything gets old. Here’s hoping Trump only does these press beatdowns once every couple of months, spending the rest of his ample energy on prodding Congress to get tax reform and healthcare reform. He can be as egotistic/narcissistic as is his wont…just get stuff done and pretty soon no one will care.
Where’s my tax cut? There are 118 judicial vacancies. I want the tax cut and the nominees on my desk by 8:00am Monday.
Yes, there was much nuance before my comment on this thread, and the nuance continues, with the vast majority being tickled pink by the press conference. Tally up the comments here and see who has the monolith, sir.
I don’t want homogeneity at all. I’m anxious that so many people are happy irresponsibly about the mocking of their enemies.
Sorry, would you like to deal with the fact that he’s a whiny, sensitive, rambling, ignorant, liar or are you too busy weaving strawmen?
I watched it live.
Your candidate, whoever he or she was, lost. Get over it.
I’m very over it. I don’t care about them. I am not comparing Trump to a candidate. I’m comparing him to a standard, something more of you should have, beyond “Make those lying liars cry.”
Counterpoint: Take off your jersey and face paint and start cheering a man for being a great man of principle and integrity rather than for making the New York Times cry.
In this country losing an election does not mean you should get over it.
I want my tax cut. I want a conservative judiciary. Trump is the only one who can do that now. You probably would have told the ancient Israelites to overthrow King David because he was an adulterer and murderer.
It doesn’t? What does losing an election mean? Please tell me.
Ah yes, the “compare Trump to a biblical figure” thing, my favorite. I’m not sure this is something I want to get into; I’ll just ask you to promise you never did or would have criticized Bill Clinton for his immorality in office at all, and then I want you to promise you never judge any other Presidents negatively on their words, character, firings…
Trump is indeed the only one who can do those things for the next four years, as he’s the President. Your point? Because he has power we’re to fall at his feet and pretend the emperor has clothes? If he reads I think he has the maturity of an eleven-year-old he’s not gonna pass entitlement reform?
You should be suspicious of everyone in power, like you probably were last year, and feel very free to agree, disagree, or criticize whatever you like. This is America. We do not have kings.
It means the other side is in office for a short term.
I was actually quite sympathetic to Bill Clinton. He was a pragmatist with a zipper problem. At the time I thought the GOP got what it deserved for their hypocrisy. His policies didn’t affect me personally in a negative way. Obama’s did.
I am suspicious of people who hate America. As far as I know, there’s only been one POTUS that fits that description in my lifetime.
Did you get over losing to Obama? I did eventually.
Trump actually said this? That is too perfect. Maybe I will actually watch this thing afterall.
@tzvikilov, it is true, Trump is not a moral religious leader. I would submit, not many Presidents have had that quality, even if they publicly attempted to project their high mindedness. However, to me there is something very good inside Trump, even with his exterior brashness and seeming insecure need to always remind us how great he is. And I think the proof of that goodness, if nothing else, are his children. So many people here have been tired of years of getting pummeled by the left, made to feel dumb and uncouth, and other things. Here comes Donald Trump, the ultimate in uncouth (certainly not dumb) to beat these arrogant guardians of the American Way, as they see themselves, into mumbling, gazed, fools. A lot of us are digging it. Try to understand. I do see how The President can offend people. He must be able to accomplish great things to overcome that offense.
How convenient.
I thought it was brilliant.
I am not inclined to think anything Trump does is admirable, although the left has me rooting for him daily now it seems. It might be the underdog effect.
But that press conference was political genius. He laid out the successes that the media won’t cover. If Obama was making deals that brought jobs back to the United States you can bet that would be front page news. Not a year old story about Russian hacking.
The fact that the press goes on and on about Russia, trying without success to tie Trump to some kind of international plot to make him leader of the free world is absurd on it’s face! But the fact that is the obsession of the left, makes all too clear that they don’t care one bit about the plight of the middle class or the state of our nation at all.
I don’t think Trump does himself favors by his vague shorthand way of making claims. I know that when he says Russia is a ruse, he means that trying to undermine his election with the Russian hack is a ruse, not that the DNC was hacked. But it is rather unclear when he says it.
It was brilliant. Over here on the right, we suffer at the hands of total biased reporting, and seeing Trump take them down, was so satisfying. I’m sure his base is pleased, because I am.
What about his children?
I am trying. But you try to understand me. It’s not that he’s offensive. It’s not that he’s upsetting the BBC or MSNBC. That is fine, even good. It’s that he must be held to account for everything he says and does, and not mindlessly cheered by conservatives for partisan reasons. His words literally effect markets and world stability; he is the President of the United States. All evidence points to a man who is simply not stable, who should be watched like a hawk for what he may do, who should be bound by congress, the judiciary, and a people who hold to principle and not blind hatred of their political enemies.
I don’t want a religious leader as president. I want someone who (at least seems) stable and competent and who is bound humbly by some code higher than himself. This is what I wanted during the election, and there is no reason it should change now by one iota.
Please, elaborate.
Yes, it looked like offense to me. Defensive is what those articles about it are. They got their little feelings hurt.
What do they expect? The made a pact not to “normalize” Trump. Now they are surprised he calls out their lies?
And hatred for Trump is all the left has right now. They seem not to see their own hatred, which is the most bizarre thing to watch.
The nuance is in the fact that most of us realize that we can’t be at all sure that the nation will do well under Trump. (We know this about each other because of all our exchanges on other posts.) In the meantime, we are enjoying this smack-down of a smug press that is constantly twisting information and presenting one side only. Getting immense enjoyment out of this press conference does not mean that we think Trump is exactly what we want. No, we realize that our other choices were worse. That is the nuance.
Firstly: deep breaths, everybody! One of the greatest problems with the President is that he divides those who voted for him, but Ricochet needs must be the centre of all that is calm and good.
Right, preachy bit over with. I didn’t see the presser, but it seems to encapsulate the existential problem noted in my first paragraph, on an even wider scale. I did see Sky News’ report, and received the familiar impression that media coverage is less about What’s Going On than about How We Are Going To Talk About What’s Going On.
From this perspective, Trump may, by calling them out, simply be making the best of a bad situation. I never liked the man, nor his candidacy (there is evidence on Ricochet to that effect, which I will not call fake news) but he is different, he is so very definitely not business-as-usual that something in dire need of change might actually change as a result.
I’m sure that many, like me, envision an Ideal Republican who won the presidency with style and grace and whom the media and beltway treats with respect. And I have a troubling fear that this person would NEVER have won the general. And even if s/he had, would the losers have been gracious in defeat?
So yes, Trump does make things worse. But he won, and we have to make the best of it whilst resisting the national psychosis.
Outrage builds up inside and destroys a person. Barack Obama ceased to live rent free inside my head. I know he didn’t care that I hated him. I never expected him to moderate his destructive policies or poisonous rhetoric. I just thought about keeping his chosen successor out of the White House. My opinion, as documented on this site, was always that it would take a fighter to win. Say what you will about Trump, but he certainly does fight.
OK, then. Good luck…for us all and our country. I don’t agree with you, nor do you with me.
There is always a worse choice. Would you be willing to produce a date by which we can stop comparing him to past candidates and start judging him on his own merits as he (and the United States) richly deserve?
Your form of nuance seems to involve ignoring much else of what happened in the press conference, such as the lying, petulance, ignorance, etc. etc. What about misunderstanding the question of a Jewish reporter and then still failing to answer it when someone can get a word in edgewise makes you happy? Why does a continued focus on his electoral college numbers and a willful ignorance of their non-historic numbers inspire you with confidence? Why does an apparent lack of familiarity with the term “Congressional Black Caucus” make you think the presidency is well-run an successful? I am not from the media; I just don’t understand.
Okay, fine. Trump does not live “rent-free” inside my head. He is the elected President of a constitutional republic who, in my view, is going to make a big mess of things. Your argument seems to be that every four years we put a new King in office and the correct response is to suck it up and deal, and your joy is reflective of the idea that the king is on your side of the aisle this time.
I disagree with the premise, and I disagree with the conclusion. If for no other reason than the pursuit of truth, I am not going to ignore whatever the President does and says and “wait my turn” ’till 2020.
P.S. Taken to its logical conclusion, it’s not obvious why a discussion site like Ricochet should exist at all between elections…