Press Conference? Press Conference? What Press Conference?
A Play on Jim Mora's Famous Playoffs Rant. Or, an Exploration of The Double Standard Which Favors Republican Politicians.
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In New Jersey, Donald Trump gave what some people (most notably, Donald Trump) considered a “press conference” at his Bedminster Golf Course.
Press conference? Press conference? What press conference? You mean, that was a press conference?
Remember when people called on President Biden to do more interviews and engage in tougher interactions with the press? So that he could sway voters’ concerns? Well, after his debate performance, President Biden did all kinds of unscripted interviews throughout the end of June and into the month of July—all while continuing the intense, and high-stress, day-to-day business of the presidency. Think of the NATO Summit press conference. He had 10 minutes of prepared remarks and soon after went on for more than an hour at least answering all kinds of questions from the press.
Though the classic Bidenisms unfortunately dominated the headlines more (again, a statement on the state of media today), the President went for about 90 minutes or so, showing a clear ability to answer pointed and sometimes complicated questions about domestic campaign problems, and on the weeds of foreign policy of China, Russia, the Middle East, and more.
Now, the same criticism launched against Biden has been pushed on Vice President Kamala Harris—most notably by Donald Trump himself, who says the Vice President doesn’t even have “the intelligence” to answer tough and complex questions (we’ll see about that). Now, has it been 20 or so days of the campaign that the Vice President hasn’t had a primetime interview or a major press conference? Yes. But that does not mean she won’t. She just went through a 3-week-old campaign that required intense work consolidating support for her nomination, picking a good VP running mate in Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, rolling out her ambitious campaign agenda, and preparing for the Democratic National Convention this week.
In fact, at this point, why shouldn’t she wait before doing more interviews and press conferences until after the Convention concludes? Doesn’t that make more sense from a logistics point of view? After all, there is only so much you can do in a day.
Yet what about Donald Trump? What are his standards of public accountability? Is he doing interviews and talking with the press outside of conservative lightweights like Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon, and Charlie Kirk?
Is Trump committed to actual, substantive press conferences where he answers tough questions from reporters on all kinds of issues? Is he laying out an agenda with any specificity or coherence?
On all those questions, the answers are unequivocally no. Although the Mar-a-Lago press conference was similar, I am going to focus more on the entire Bedminster therapy session, since I actually watched that one in full.
For more than 45 minutes (time it yourself if you doubt my math), Donald Trump went on a rambling, incoherent speech on all kinds of things. He repeatedly called Vice President Harris a “Communist” and “Marxist,” although he predictably offered no specifics as to why Harris is supposedly a card-carrying follower of Marx, Stalin & Lenin. Still, why expect specifics when you can only get slogans from Trump?
He denigrated price controls not merely as bad policy, but as “Communist.” Which essentially means that, with Nixon’s support for price & wage controls, he must have been a Communist too.
He called “Crooked Joe Biden” “gonzo” (ironic much?). He criticized “Tampon Tim” and “Gavin Newscum.” He again predicted a 1929-like economic crash that will take place if Harris is elected. Coincidentally, he made the same prediction in 2020, which proved completely incorrect (the stock market, for instance, had a record run of 3.5 years during the Biden presidency).
He exaggerated his Trump Presidency successes (which on the economy does not even include the disastrous management of the coronavirus pandemic, and the man-made/Trump-made factor behind the COVID economic downturn). He praised authoritarian leaders like Viktor Orban, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong-Un—even saving some good words for the leader of the Taliban.
He still aired grievances over how he won the 2020 election and won the swing states that he actually lost. He lashed out at “the Fake News Media,” and “the weaponized justice system.” He made plenty of empty promises with very few concrete solutions of his own. More so, he just rambled and ranted about how bad the Biden-Harris Administration has been to the nation.
He even went into how awful electric vehicles, windmills, and solar panels are (surprised he didn’t read the snake poem again or continue the death by shark/electrocution debate). Finally, and per usual, he had to brag about his viewership on the Twitter interview with X saboteur Elon Musk, and they both celebrated together about firing workers who went on strike (keep an eye on this support of “economic terrorism,” Sean O’Brien, and remember what Democrats have done in historic fashion for unions).
All of this, as usual, occurred without fact-checkers running down each of the claims at each and every moment. And that pile of lies was more than half of the “press conference” right there.
Hmm, what about the questions? Might have taken 6 total at best. The first one? That concerned how his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went (who, for the record, has clearly indicated his desire for Trump to win in November). Second question? That one was about Trump’s thoughts on “God saving his life” after the assassination attempt in Butler, PA (thankfully, Trump’s life has been preserved so we can beat him at the ballot box in November). Then, the third question was, and I practically quote, how important do you think the issue of the economy is to voters?
Seriously? Nothing about his reprehensible public comments? Nothing about James David “Weird” Vance? Nothing about his comments on terminating the Constitution, or on his clear plans to challenge the election results should he lose a second time? Nothing about how his tariffs would raise prices for American consumers, right after news that inflation has gone under 3%? Nothing on the reported $10 million bribe from Egypt to Trump?
Nope. Those were the first three softball questions that had to come either from FOX News, Newsmax, or One America News. On the hardest question of the entire “press conference,” he declared he has every reason to engage in personal attacks on the Vice President (it is weird that this is where he wants to assert his rights, but whatever with him).
At least with Biden-Harris, you will hear their administrative record on Build Back Better. At least you get a chance to hear what the Harris-Walz campaign is about from their own words. Whether people like it or not is a legitimate question only the voters can decide. Not from Trump-Vance though. All you’ll hear from them are slogans.
Fortunately, the Heritage Foundation provides the context for what a Trump-Vance Administration will actually look like via the infamous Project 2025. For all the rhetorical posturing, the truth is the Project 2025 authors and Trump campaign officials are working hand-in-hand to make sure their agenda is enacted with success this November. The authors are not even alarmed or concerned about Trump’s public criticism of their agenda on the campaign trail. And why not, since they admit they have an ear directly to Trump himself?
But who’s going to ask Trump for his agenda specifics or his affiliation with Project 2025 at these “press conferences?” The double standards for the presidential candidates are very clear right now.
As for Know-Nothing follower JD Vance, he blames Irish, Italian, and German immigrants for problems in the mid-19th century like “higher crime rates, ethnic enclaves, and inter-ethnic conflict.” Even though his startup employed foreign migrants outside of his local Kentucky community. And he’s the “normal one” in this race? And Vance is the one who’s pretending he and the Trump campaign are submitting to press scrutiny?
One might say we should expect a blue wave in November from all this. I take it with a little caution from how the polls were off in both 2016 and 2020 (though recently the polling has actually underestimated Democratic support lately). At any rate, it is up to everyone who believes there should be a blue wave to work for it. And to call out Trump’s lies, as well as the double standards that prop them up.
Just as importantly, pay attention to the down ballot elections. They might be just as crucial to a Harris-Walz wave as the presidential ticket itself is.
For instance…
In North Carolina, not only is Holocaust denier Lt. Governor Mark Robinson trailing AG Josh Stein for Governor, but the NC GOP has nominated the most extreme party ticket in the entire nation (see Michele Morrow, for instance).
In Texas, Senator Ted Cruz is statistically tied with Democratic Congressman Colin Allred in his reelection bid. On a related front, Cruz now has to return illegal campaign donations and disclose his newly-revealed ties to bitcoin in full.
In Florida (which has marijuana legalization and abortion-codifying referenda on the ballot this year), not only is the Senate race tight between highly unpopular GOP incumbent Rick Scott and Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, but the state also could be in play on the presidential level, if recent polls are indeed accurate (although I approach those polls with caution, for now).
In Missouri, abortion is on the ballot there as well, with a dramatic Senate race (self-avowed Christian Nationalist incumbent Josh Hawley vs. former Marine Lucas Kunce), a high-profile Governor’s race (Mike Kehoe vs. Crystal Quade), and an Attorney General’s race (incumbent Andrew Bailey vs. Elad Gross).
In Indiana, the Governor’s race heavily favored by Republicans beforehand has now been plagued by problems. It started with the Indiana GOP’s decision to nominate a Christian nationalist running mate over the objection of gubernatorial nominee GOP Senator Mike Braun—who is being challenged by former Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Jennifer McCormick. In addition, election-denying AG Todd Rokita is facing his own reelection fight against Destiny Scott Wells, after Rokita tried to prosecute a doctor who helped a raped 10-year old Ohio girl get an abortion.
In Arizona & Nevada, marquee Senate races have been shaped between strong Democratic contenders and election-denying/skeptic Republicans. In Arizona, there is Congressman Ruben Gallego up against Kari Lake, who still refuses to acknowledge her 2022 loss for Governor. In Nevada, Senator Jacky Rosen is facing challenger Captain Sam Brown, with abortion access & democracy on the ballot in both states. These races are likely to impact House races and control of the state legislatures.
Not only are there major Senate races in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, & Montana with GOP self-funding millionaires & billionaires in each state running against incumbent US Senators, but it is also very likely to put even more US House seats and state legislatures in play for Democrats across the Midwest.
In Georgia, gun safety, voting restrictions, and future mapmaking are becoming key issues for control of that state’s legislature.
And talk about Republican morale killers. In Minnesota, NBA player Royce White is running an uphill campaign against popular Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar. If that is not hard enough for White, try doing so as a Steve Bannon ally, a proud Anti-Semite, a public misogynist, and a man who spends campaign finance contributions at a strip club because he went there for “the food.”
Hard to not feel bad for the poor down ballot Minnesota Republicans.
If Democrats talk about big policy issues and promise a change forward from the Clinton & Trump eras, they can raise the odds of a November blue wave. And down ballot coattails could actually be a real key to victory.