“I was prepared to go on stage to craft a statement, saying he decided not to go on stage because of fact-checking… we couldn’t compromise on that.”
As [NABJ president Ken] Lemon was preparing that statement, Trump walked onto the stage.
“I was prepared to go on stage to craft a statement, saying he decided not to go on stage because of fact-checking… we couldn’t compromise on that.”
As [NABJ president Ken] Lemon was preparing that statement, Trump walked onto the stage.
I actually think they more or less missed an open goal here, to be honest. Sure, the overall appearance was probably a net negative for Trump, but it could have been way worse. They got him off balance from the start, but afterwards failed to push back when he started walking all over them in his responses.
It’s clear neither of the hosts could handle either holding him to his statements based on facts, or pushing back against his loudness and personal attacks. They let him control the narrative way too much with stuff like “millions and millions of illegal immigrants swarming in from insane asylums” going unchecked and loud “nasty woman” rants bulldozing over the hosts.