Tiedrich: holy shit, Meet the Press, what the fuck were you thinking

[geardaddy]

https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/holy-shit-meet-the-press-what-the?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1162742&post_id=137124893&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=2jdyxl&utm_medium=email

Snip

the whole thing was a shit-show, from beginning to end. the overstuffed trash bag of personality defects that is Donald Trump burst open and every fetid pathology came spilling out — the vanity, the narcissism, the grandiosity, the belligerence, the delusions, the petty grudges and whiny grievances — the whole stinking mess.

and above all, Trump is a victim. oh my god, what a victim. the most victimest victim who was ever victimized. so unfair!

please, let’s stop calling what happened an “interview.”

you see, there is no “interviewing” Donald Trump. there is no conversation. there is no question-and-answer, no back-and-forth, no give-and-take.

the guy is a fucking steamroller. give Trump an opening and off he goes, bloviating and filibustering, spouting one fantasy-filled stream of unconsciousness after another, and no one can wedge a word in edgewise.

[Bayard]

1. Will you just shut up, man?

[cayugafalls]

44. I would have popped him one. But Joe has class...

That tubular tub of orange bio-waste disgusts me on an entirely different level.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Best description of DJT ever! "overstuffed trash bag of personality defects that is Donald Trump"

[Buns_of_Fire]

4. Along with "...the

quadrice-indicted twice-impeached popular-vote-losing adderall-huffing insurrection-leading judge-threatening lawyer-ignoring witness-tampering inheritance-squandering language-mangling serial-sexual-predating draft-dodging casino-bankrupting daughter-perving hush-money-paying real-estate-scamming bone-spur-faking ketchup-hurling justice-obstructing classified-war-plan-thieving weather-map-defacing horse-paste-promoting paper-towel-flinging tax-cheating evidence-destroying charity-defrauding money-laundering diaper-filling 91-count fluorescent tangerine crime-factory".

There's got to be a way to make that fit on a bumper sticker.

[dchill]

9. Sure - leave out all the wonderful things he has done...

...for Russia!

[Larissa]

50. Putin is lying in wait

. . . for a Trump victory. Then Pootie will work on flattening Ukraine while Trump looks the other way while withdrawing all U.S. military support from Ukraine.

[Conjuay]

30. Bumper sticker?

That would be a full car wrap!

[calimary]

40. It wouldn't fit. BUT...

Think of how many bumper stickers you could get by featuring each individual “attribute”!


I counted 29 “attributes” assuming “91-count fluorescent tangerine crime-factory"” is a single “attribute.” A difficult quest considering my cat wanted in on whatever it was he thought I was doing.

Or a link could be established online, listing them all, and you’d just post the link on the bumper sticker. With an “Ask me about…” as a preface. And we all could start using it and spreading it around - all over EVERYWHERE! And by doing so, that would make it “a thing”!

AND, hopefully, others could start posting it elsewhere online, send messages or emails with the link to various news anchors, Washington DC-based or White House reporters or Congressional reporters, and editorialists of all kinds.

[electric_blue68]

41. 🤔 8 pt type?! 😄

[gratuitous]

3. The nation reels in shock

Nobody could have foreseen this, or anticipated that a highly respected, professional political journalist like Kristen Welker would be overwhelmed by the gish galloping defendant.

Oh wait; a LOT of people were saying just that, and despite having three days to edit the interview footage, NBC couldn't quite find a way to wedge into the defendant's deathless pronouncements the fact that he was lying his ass off. But they did put up a "fact check" web page. So there's that.

[Delphinus]

7. Great reply!

[dem4decades]

5. For fucks sake, she should have called him Mr. Trump, just to set the stage.

She didn't, and NBC, Welker, and the nation all lost.

[wnylib]

23. She called him Mr. President in order to flatter him to

keep the interview going. She knew, as everyone knows, that he would end the "interview" and walk out the minute that he felt like he was not being honored.

So that is evidence enough that an "interview," with Trump is just a campaign speech for him, not an interview. It is an accommodation to his authoritarian demands.

Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny, wrote that it is essential not to start accommodating to authoritarian expectations of you. Do not anticipate how they want you to speak and act and adjust yourself to them. They gain strength and more control when you do that.

After watching the entire episode, I am left wondering whether it helped Trump or hurt him. Yes, he got a platform for his propaganda, but viewers also got to see his evasions of answers, rambling off topic, bizarre accusations, talking over Welker, and her reminders to stay on topic. Committed Trump supporters will not care about those things. But Independents and even some past Trump voters would have negative feelings about those behaviors.

I don't think that Trump's behavior in that quasi interview swayed anyone who is not a Trump cult member.

[onecaliberal]

6. But then again, they already knew that.

[musclecar6]

8. Like others

We can’t wait for the day when he will be addressed as Convict Trump. Has a nice ring to it.

[Permanut]

35. It does.

and I kind of like "inmate Trump".

[dchill]

10. "...give Trump an opening..."

And that was their first, and biggest, mistake. One should never attempt to interview a rabid wild boar - especially when it is cornered.

[Baitball Blogger]

12. I don't think the ordinary American watches Meet the Press.

[LudwigPastorius]

16. If the ratings are accurate, about 7/10ths of 1 percent of the population.

Yeah, it ain't exactly "NCIS".

[DENVERPOPS]

13. Just what you would expect

from a Republican, Corporately owned/operated, Media outlet..................

About 95+% of ALL media in the U.S. is now owned/operated by Uber Rich Republican 1%ers......they are just one.........

[SergeStorms]

14. I watched about one minute...

Before the "interview" I was willing to give Ms. Welker the benefit of the doubt before I passed judgment. Classic mistake.

That oozing pus-sac of a carbuncle on the ass of the United States wouldn't allow anyone to get a word in edgewise, as usual.

Less than one minute, actually. Impossible to watch that asshole and Welker couldn't control the "interview" for one second.

Why the media keeps trying to pretend he's a normal human being is beyond me. He's a five alarm dumpster fire. A flaming dumpster full of lies, and plain old shit. 🤮

Never again.

[geardaddy]

17. It's all about ratings and revenue for them

Since the advent of cable news, network news has been chasing money. It used to be a money loser, but those old news guys thought of it as a public service.

[Permanut]

36. "..oozing pus-sac of a carbuncle on the ass of the United States.."

Sergestorms, you've become absolutely Shakespearean with your insults. Nicely done.

[Danmel]

15. Spot on assessment of Trump according to Philip Roth

Trump "is ignorant of government, of history, of science, of philosophy, of art, incapable of expressing or recognizing subtlety or nuance, destitute of all decency, and wielding a vocabulary of seventy-seven words that is better called Jerkish than English.”

[housecat]

34. Yes of course, but since he can't shut his mouth, he includes some good confessions for court cases.

[republianmushroom]

18. The bottom line, Tiedrich, the bottom line.

And the hell with facts.

[geardaddy]

20. Yes, exactly.

It's all about the bottom line.

[SouthBayDem]

19. Tim Russert, Garrick Utley, Lawrence Spivak, and Roger Mudd

collectively facepalmed in their graves.

(Marvin Kalb is still alive at age 93; he must be PO’d too.)

[DFW]

21. Trump at this point is not exactly an unknown quantity to the media

The producers of MTP MUST have know what the result of this would be, and so should the host. There is enough footage of him by now for this not to have been any kind of surprise at all.

Kirsten Welker should have refused to have Trump as her first "guest." If NBC threatened her to accept him, it would have been better for her to resign in honor in advance than to resign in shame, which is what she SHOULD be doing right about now. If you can't handle your "guest," then DON'T HAVE HIM AS YOUR "GUEST." Don't anyone tell me she had no idea. There is months worth of interviews with him to answer any ambiguities.

[housecat]

25. I disagree. The interview had another purpose -- to get on-air confessions out of tfg. IMO she did.

[DFW]

29. In the clip I saw, it didn't look like that, however

We don't get US TV here, so all I see is clips. So, if you got that impression after seeing the whole thing, I'll defer to your judgment from having seen the whole episode.

[housecat]

31. lol I saw it on MSNBC. If I had just seen the clips, I would have agreed with you.

[spudspud]

22. Keith Olberman asks: "DID WELKER-TRUMP 'INTERVIEW' VIOLATE NBC NEWS WRITTEN GUIDELINES?

[FakeNoose]

26. Keith Olberman raises some very good points

1. Should Kristen Whelker be fired for this abrogation of NBC News written guidelines? If not her, then maybe her boss the News Director for NBC News?

2. Should Meet the Press be shutdown by NBCUniversal, or by their owners Comcast?

3. Or maybe they deserve a fine or some other punishment?

[Paladin]

28. Olbermann deserves another political commentary show. And damned soon.

This country is in desperate need of it.

[housecat]

33. YES YES YES!!

[FakeNoose]

47. I think he's great, but he burned bridges a few years ago

Now he's going on full attack vs. NBC News.

[calimary]

48. True, but there's always the new-management trick.

That actually happened to me, early in my career. I sent a resume & aircheck to another rock station after it became clear that the program director where I was a part-timer had nothing full-time for me. My tape came back so fast I was stunned. I called and asked if I could submit another one that might be more suited to what I thought that news director might be looking for. He said, rather abruptly, “your voice wasn’t right.” And he quickly ended the call.

A few months later, there’d been a management change at that same station where the guy couldn’t hang up on me fast enough. I soon learned he wasn’t working there anymore and his replacement had been calling all over town trying to get ahold of me! Same station! But new management. It really can make a difference.

[housecat]

32. I love Keith Olberman, and miss him dearly. However

there is more to the fake interview than listening to tfg lie. He also made some on-air confessions that IMO can be used in court. Yes yes of course is was a stupid non-interview, but I think tfg gave us more than regular lies.

[Paladin]

37. Get back to us when tfg's comments are actually used against him, with lasting negative effect.

Wouldn't THAT be a nice change of pace!

[housecat]

38. I'll try to do that. We need to try everything.

[Paladin]

46. Amen. (nt)

[housecat]

24. whew!! Perfect description

[Warpy]

27. Nice rant, but what the fuck were YOU thinking

by spoiling your Sunday morning with that shitshow instead of sleeping in with the rest of us heathens?

He's never going to be any different. He's a malignant narissist who got everything he ever dreamed of, only to have a bunch of nobodies go to the polls and take it away from him. It's HIS and he wants it back NOW! It was STOLEN by a bunch of peons who should have had no right to vote on something like the presidency!

Tiedrich, he's always been like this and he's not going to change unless he gets his daddy's Alzheimer's and manages to start forgetting all his grudges.

If you're tempted to watch him again, don't. JUst remember one of his old rants. They're basically all alike.

[MistakenLamb]

39. They are trying to get Trump re-elected

And have a very favorable chance to succeed.

[ShazzieB]

42. I haven't watched this, but I did see a clip of one nice moment.

He was talking about abortion, spewing out all kinds of rudiculous lies about Democrats wanting abortion to be legal up to the very last minute before birth, etc. She told him directly, "No, that is not something Democrats want."* At first he brushed her off, repeating the same b.s. and then going even farther, saying Democrats support killing babies even after they're born, but she kept on with "No, Democrats do not support any such thing," until he stopped pushing that particular pack of lies. He did not acknowledge what she was saying in any way, but he did back off and let the matter drop in response to her pushing back. I was impressed by the way she calmly stood her ground and got him to drop the lies he was pushing without actually getting into an argument with him. That's more than most interviewers do when he starts lying.

*I'm paraphrasing what both of them said, because I can't remember the exact words or remember where I saw the clip.

[SouthernDem4ever]

43. It's probably been 8 years since i watched MTP

Last edited Tue Sep 19, 2023, 09:05 AM - Edit history (1)

glad I haven't started back.

[PortTack]

49. Same here or more...sick of political commentary from those that think they are experts

Especially when their naïveté is constantly showingp

[azureblue]

45. well, there went her cred out the window

The only redemption her and her network should do, is to have a show entirely devoted to a point by point refutation of the lies Trump spouted on her show..