Donald Trump really might just be as mighty as he claims. He did what no NBA team has been able to do to the New York Knicks in the basketball playoffs. His very presence in Madison Square Garden caused them to lose, breaking a 13-game winning streak.
As so many have said before, everything our “president” touches tends to die.
He also united what many consider the greatest city in the world in hatred. His profile, flashed on the Jumbotron, inspired a vast chorus of boos to rain down on him from the rafters. He is so despised by New Yorkers, so intensely loathed and on such massive scale, that it makes you wonder why he would feel compelled to attend the event and inspire such a symphony of contempt.
The sense of denial that drives the man has scarcely been equaled in human history. His selective hearing won’t allow him to believe he is being greeted by anything but adoration.
But it’s his unwavering supporters who are most in denial, of course. They have somehow convinced themselves that a man with no sense of concern or compassion surrounding his fellow citizens cares about them deeply and is making their lives better than anyone ever has before, when in fact the precise opposite is true.
Every time Trump releases an outburst claiming something utterly preposterous and without evidence — like rigged voting in California — they believe him. They have to, because they’re way past the point of no return when it comes to aligning their life view with his. To suddenly see the light would be to out themselves as eternal suckers. And so, they go along because they believe that at this point, they have no choice.
Journalists, however, suffer no such delusion. They see through every part of Trump despite feigning esteem and decorum, since the office he represents still demands deference even if the man himself deserves less than zero.
But much of that regard is beginning to fall away. A man who turns to attacking journalists personally every time he’s presented with an uncomfortable question that he can’t easily answer is worthy of no due respect. Not when he is so purposefully rude and hostile and misogynistic.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins has lately been on the receiving end of that chauvinistic nastiness. Last week, Trump responded to a perfectly legitimate question from her by replying, “I see a young, beautiful woman. Never smiles. I never see a smile on her face. I see her standing there with hatred in her eyes.”
This is, of course, his attempt at humiliation and condescension. The fact that Collins, and none of her colleagues, has yet to respond with vitriol — something like “Quite frankly, Mr. President, you’re a fat, angry, bloated pile of smelly vomit” — is a study in professional restraint.
However, Meet the Press host Kristen Welker demonstrated the proper way of dealing with a vile bully on her show over the weekend. The video clip is already the stuff of legend. Welker’s behavior should be the model for brushing off his attempts at intimidation going forward. She spoke plain truth to Trump, and he predictably caved.
In case you missed it, Welker stood her ground and simply asked the same question repeatedly: Where is the evidence, Mr. President? It’s the one question His Royal Lowness has no answer for. And this time, it finally led to a meltdown and his pulling off his microphone and leaving, because at the end of the day, he’s a vibrating puddle of cowardice.
When confronted with facts, Trump pivoted to victimhood. When challenged with evidence, he turned to personal attacks of Welker. When backed into a corner, he cobbled together a conspiracy that made no sense. It never does.
But the difference this time is that Welker wouldn’t be double-talked into silence. This was a journalist who knew what she would be facing and came prepared. And without one of his usual exit ramps to employ, Trump panicked and bolted. He wasn’t accustomed to someone refusing to let him rage on and on without simply nodding their head in acquiescence.
When Trump claimed the January 6 rioters had been set up by the FBI, Welker calmly reminded him that none of the investigations turned up that kind of evidence or anything close. When he railed that the recent California primary and the 2020 elections were rigged, she again requested actual proof.
“All I have to do is look,” Trump defiantly claimed.
“But that’s not evidence,” Welker replied, unimpressed.
Check and mate.
That was predictably where the emperor became aware that he was in fact naked and decided to make a hasty retreat — but not before railing, “You’re either crooked or you’re stupid…Your elections are crooked and you’re crooked. Meet the Press is crooked. And so is ABC and CBS and CNN.”
He might as well have added, “And the camera recording this. And the burger I had for lunch. And your mama. And your daddy. All crooked.”
“Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough,” he finally said. “Thank you darling. Have a good time.”
And with that, he unclipped his mic and was gone, later blaming the rain for his meltdown, because of course, nothing can ever be his own fault.
This is not the behavior of a leader but a frightened little man who is making it all up as he goes along. By calling out the wizard behind the curtain, Welker supplied the template for how it’s done. She behaved like an actual journalist. The reason it felt so liberating to witness is we’d all forgotten what it looked like.
This is how you do it. You don’t take the disdainful bait. You just bring it all back to reality and, in speaking truth to power with such directness and composure, you give the world a demonstration in competence and courage.
(Ray Richmond is a longtime journalist/author and an adjunct professor at Chapman University in Orange, CA.)