Slate - interesting - "What Its Like to Interview Donald Trump"

[NRaleighLiberal]

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/interrogation/2017/07/nyt_s_peter_baker_on_what_it_s_like_to_interview_donald_trump.html

A conversation with New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker.

By Isaac Chotiner

President Trump’s blockbuster interview with the New York Times this week displayed a commander in chief furious with his own attorney general, Jeff Sessions, and still fuming at his former FBI Director, James Comey. The interview was conducted by three Times reporters: Maggie Haberman, Michael S. Schmidt, and Peter Baker.


I spoke by phone with Baker after the interview was published. He is the paper’s chief White House correspondent and has covered politics and Russia for many years. (His latest book is Obama: The Call of History.) During the course of our conversation, which has been edited and condensed for clarity, we discussed why Trump so often takes his conversations off the record, different strategies for getting him to answer questions, and what Baker’s time in Moscow taught him about the Russia scandal.

Isaac Chotiner: What is your interview strategy for this president, and how does it differ from another president or politician?

Peter Baker: [Laughs.] Well that’s a good question. Look, I think we had certain questions we wanted to try to get some answers to, and he was willing to go there. With other presidents you are worried that they won’t engage, right? That they will try to shut you down by saying they can’t comment on this, or don’t want to comment on that, or they will just give their talking points. One thing about an interview with President Trump is that he doesn’t do that. He doesn’t stick to the script.

snip - much more at the link

[KT2000]

1. he doesn't stick to

ANY train of thought unless it is bashing someone.