Let the press revolt begin!
Let the press revolt begin! In Monday night’s press conference, in his latest specimen of consummate bigotry, misogyny and cowardice in the face of a strong woman, the child-raping murderer Donald Trump gathered up his toys, exited the Rose Garden and slinked back into the West Wing.
The source of Trump’s terror was no less a person than CBS correspondent Weijia Jiang. You may recall Ms. Jiang’s previous victory over the child-raping, murdering manbaby when, in April, after Trump attempted to blame China for not warning the United States sooner about the coronavirus, she reminded the cretin that COVID-19 was already in the country when the Chinese made their announcement.
This time Jiang scored a double blow, enough to knock the child-rapist clean out of the Rose Garden, and, what was particularly tasty was, she was assisted by another strong woman, a colleague from a sister network, CNN’s Katelin Collins.
It began when Jiang questioned Trump’s tiresome, and now perennial, leitmotif, that America is doing an “incredible” job. In the sense that the word “incredible” means impossible or difficult to believe, Trump may be right. But Trump made his remarks in front of a large sign that said, “AMERICA LEADS THE WORLD IN TESTING,” so Jiang quite appropriately asked him, “Why does that matter? Why is this a global competition to you if every day Americans are still losing their lives and we’re still seeing more cases every day?” To which Trump responded, “Well, they’re losing their lives everywhere in the world. And maybe that’s a question you should ask China. Don’t ask me. Ask China that question. OK? When you ask them that question, you may get a very unusual answer.” Trump then attempted to take a question from another reporter, but Jiang hit back: “Sir, why are you saying that to me, specifically — that I should ask China?”
Weijia Jiang, who was born in China and came to America with her parents when she was two years old, was calling Trump out on his obviously bigoted response. It is important to note that Trump’s response was stupid before it even dipped a toe into bigotry, as if the notion that anyone should ask another country why the United States thinks it is in a global competition for the category of Most People Tested is somehow relevant. But it was an obvious attempt by Trump to associate the “mess we are in” with innocent Asian Americans. (And you may rest assured that, somewhere in America, some Asian-American somewhere is getting or soon will be getting beaten or murdered as a direct consequence of the child-rapist’s offhand remark. Stephen Miller will no doubt be proud.)
As a fascinating denouement to Jiang’s insightful question, which Trump characterised as “a nasty question,” Jiang responded by saying, “That’s not a nasty question, why does it matter?” Trump then proceeded to call on someone else. At which point Katelin Collins stepped forward and said, “I just wanted to let my colleague [Ms. Jiang] finish [her question].” That is the point when, as previously noted, the manbaby gathered up his toys and stormed out of the Rose Garden.
This is Trump in a nutshell, his “world in a grain of sand.” Trump is angry and frustrated because he can’t use the bully pulpit as an unfettered source of pro-Trump propaganda, and he can’t depend on the press to be inappropriately sycophantic and adoring. Trump is the living embodiment of Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. He will continue to try to use these press conferences to his political advantage, and these press conferences will continue to be political suicide for him. Good. The best part will be after he loses in November. Then the press will become emboldened. They will no longer have anything to gamble, except possibly 78 days of exile from the White House Press Corps.
As I was writing this Trump, who was clearly upset by the whole debacle, tweeted: “The Lamestream Media is truly out of control. Look how they work (conspire!) together. They are the Enemy of the People, but don’t worry, we will WIN in November!”
I couldn’t resist responding: “Yes, a colleague coming to the defense of another colleague after you battered her down with your bigoted, irrelevant hate-speech sure looks like “conspiracy” from where I’m sitting. Uh-huh. By the way you are going to LOSE in November!”
Let’s all make it so, and vote for President Joe Biden in November. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.