CSotD: The Cheapshot Heard ‘Round the World
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I’d have liked to have seen more cartoons about yesterday’s Meet the Press interview, in which Kristin Welker pressed Trump for evidence of his claims and he reacted with the insult captured by Boris, Goris and Rapé, but it having occurred on a Sunday, a lot of cartoonists either decided to wait to make their responses or were hogtied by distribution channels that don’t work weekends.
So it goes. You snooze — for whatever reason — you lose. In a world without deadlines, relevance is a fast-moving target and those who comment tomorrow had better come up with some bunker-busters, because social media is already way ahead of them.
This looks like three of the same cartoon, and the childish insult and walkout was the most memorable part of the interview, but each cartoonist puts a different and significant spin on the moment. Goris points out Trump’s continuing war on the press, Boris wishes Welker had flung the insult instead of being on the receiving end, and Rapé makes the point that Trump’s refusal to engage honestly is more an insult to the nation than it is to a particular reporter.
That last point is the most important. Trump’s continuing refusal to treat women decently is, by now, an old story and while his childish name-calling at female reporters is a clear sign of his misogyny, there is plenty of other evidence in his vulgar Access Hollywood comments, his voyeuristic intrusions on pageant contestants and his legally-proven sexual assault, as well as in his ungallant treatment of his wives.
The degree to which he lied to Welker is predictable, but the critical point is his continual inability to be honest, which should be the cornerstone of the presidency. We’ve had presidents who were micromanagers and presidents who were figureheads, but the unifying principle is that they represented the nation, to its own people and to the world at large.
That’s still true, but we could hope the projected image were positive.
Trump earned the derisive nickname “Dear Leader” in mockery of how North Koreans obey their dictator, in a cult of personality that rivals Stalin and Castro. John Lennon once infuriated conservatives by observing that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ, but today we see the MAGA faithful actually comparing Trump to Christ.
Espinoza, rather, compares him to a vampire, repelled by Welker’s repeated requests that he provide some backing for his statements.
Welker did a good job of attempting to steer him back on topic, though she surely must have known how few of his opinions have any factual basis, and how unlikely it was that he’d even attempt to fake it.
Postgame analysis was in her favor, and self-appointed experts who knew what she should have done were largely slapped down in this Bluesky exchange.
Being lied to in an interview always raises the choice of pressing a point or moving on and hoping things will improve. She made the right choice by holding him accountable, and while he never answered her questions, his hissyfit spoke volumes, providing more clarity than in some previous dust-ups.
Trump didn’t walk out on Terry Moran in last year’s sitdown, but he refused to back up his statements and he threw insults at Moran rather than answer tough questions. Fox News filed a supportive report on the interview, while the Sun covered its contentious atmosphere.
Even when he keeps his temper, he doesn’t face issues well. His 2020 interview with Jonathan Swan made headlines because Swan managed to keep things calm while repeatedly bursting the bubbles of misinformation Trump was advancing.
Here’s a video segment of that interview, which seems to show the president in a more confident portion of his political life, better able to deal with being challenged if no better at being able to defend his positions.
Cole filed this cartoon last week, ahead of the MTP interview, and it’s evidence of the lion’s den into which Welker was walking. In his second term, Trump has made an open effort to shut down media that fails to kowtow to his expectations, launching farcical lawsuits that may or may not provide him with money, but will show who stands up to him and who would rather settle than fight.
This brings us to Blitt’s response to the MTP walkout, and to the other bit of media manipulation that has gained attention, the changes at CBS, and specifically at 60 Minutes, under the new guidance of Bari Weiss.
Blitt had previously shown Weiss hanging off the clock, in a parody of Harold Lloyd’s famous comedy scene, and it came as a relief from the flood of cartoons showing the 60 Minute clicking stopwatch as a timer on dynamite.
The fact is, 60 Minutes was always on the verge of setting off an explosion, as Heller recalled in a tribute to Mike Wallace when he died, and there’s no exaggeration in the cartoon: Wallace, in particular, was feared by politicians and business people who had something to hide.
Wallace was one of the original correspondents at the program when it went on the air in 1968, and it established a reputation such that it was equally damaging to refuse to talk to him as it was to agree and have him metaphorically jerk your pants down on camera.
It was a different world, in which you couldn’t just yell “Liar liar!” and expect the public to take your side, and 60 Minutes was seen as one of the good guys.
Perhaps you had to be there.
There have also been many cartoons showing Weiss destroying the stopwatch, but Bennett shows the true architect of the destruction, both of 60 Minutes and of the CBS Evening News, though the latter is perhaps in need of euthanasia.
But Weiss serves at the pleasure of David Ellison, the conservative loyalist who is now the new head of CBS and Parmount, and while “I was just following orders” is no excuse, the blame needs to be shared in fair portions.
However, 60 Minutes is only a symptom of larger issues, and of the importance of November.
If you seek heroes, look within.
Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.
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