A black female journalist stands up to a bully
Donald Trump had an interview with a national news network, and he got fact-checked. Obviously, this network was not Fox News, because it would typically allow him to lie unabated.
It was a wide-ranging interview with NBC News’s Kristen Welker that aired Sunday on Meet the Press, and ended abruptly in a hissy fit on his part. Trump claimed that the California gubernatorial primary is “rigged” in favor of Democrats. Instead of letting his lie slide by, Welker pushed back and pointed out that there is no evidence to his claim. Welker was professional and tried to move the interview forward after calling out his lie, but Trump would not let it go.
Trump has a tradition of castigating black female journalists, and he continued it with Welker, saying, “You’re either crooked or you’re stupid,” before ending the interview in a tantrum.
More than 35 minutes into the interview, after Trump defended his regime’s planned “anti-weaponization” fund for individuals who believe that the government “wronged them,” Trump repeated his false claim that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged” in favor of Joe Biden, who fairly defeated him and won the election, and said that “it’s happening again right now in California.”
Vote-counting is still ongoing in California, with 73 percent of the vote counted as of Sunday morning. Democrat Xavier Becerra will advance to the November general election with 27.2 percent of the vote, while Republican Steve Hilton is in second with 25.9 percent, leading Democrat Tom Steyer, who has 25.5 percent. There are 61 candidates for governor, so counting is taking a while.
Trump said that election officials in California are “crooked,” along with Welker and her media colleagues. “They’re crooked, just like you’re crooked, your press is crooked. And ‘Meet the Press’ is crooked,” said Trump.
Welker replied, “To be fair, I’m not crooked,” and attempted to move the conversation along. She also repeatedly noted that there is no evidence that the 2020 presidential election or the California primary was rigged. Trump could not take it. Kristen Walker is not Laura Ingraham. She is an actual journalist with nearly 30 years of experience. She is also a Harvard grad, so she is not stupid.
He said, “You’re either crooked or you’re stupid. You play right into their hands with this crap. You know that these elections are rigged. Your network knows that they’re rigged.”
Trump later said, “Your elections are crooked, and you’re crooked, and ‘Meet the Press’ is crooked. And so is ABC and CBS and CNN.” He then called NBC News a “one-sided crooked network.”
And your mom’s stupid and crooked, and so is your father. And your mee-maw, she’s stupid and crooked too. Stupid, stupid, stupid, and crooked. And your dog is stupid. Do you have a goldfish? Well then, he’s stupid too. What, you had a pet turtle when you were a kid? I bet he had a stupid and crooked face, stupid, stupid, stupid. Everybody’s stupid and crooked. Your cameraman is looking at me funny. I bet he’s stupid and crooked, too. Is that your producer over there in the corner? He’s stupid and crooked.
And then Trump said, “Sorry. Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good time.” Then Trump took off his microphone and tossed it to the ground.
You know, the last person to tell me to have a good time was the lady who sold me a hot dog in Reykjavík, except she probably actually meant it. Here, Trump obviously did not mean for Welker to have a good time with the results of the interview that she traveled to Wisconsin for to conduct in a barn that was leaking rainwater on top of them. And yeah, it’s weird when someone tells you to have a good time after you buy a hot dog from them. It wasn’t like I was going to take it dancing and try to get to second base with it. And if you saw that hot dog, you would know that nobody has a good time with an Icelandic hot dog. It has ketchup and remoulade on it. Do you know what remoulade is? It’s a gunky, yellow mayonnaise sauce, and here, it’s mayonnaise on a hot dog. You’re not going to have a good time with a hot dog slathered with ketchup and mayo, even if you do get to second base with it.
Before walking away, Trump said, “A country can never be great with a dishonest press.” Except that is exactly what Donald Trump and MAGA want.
Donald Trump wants a press that is dishonest and slanted in his favor. He wants a press that does not challenge his lies. He wants to change our laws that eliminate a free press. He wants the FCC to be able to cancel late-night talk shows that make fun of him. He wants critics to be limited in what they can say. Donald Trump does not want to be challenged. He especially does not want to be challenged by female journalists, especially if they are black. Donald Trump hates women, and he is a racist.
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