D.C. Journalists In Awe Of Australian Reporter Able To Speak To Trump Without Succumbing To ...

[mahatmakanejeeves]

D.C. Journalists In Awe Of Australian Reporter Able To Speak To Trump Without Succumbing To His Raw Animal Magnetism

Link to tweet

[The Wielding Truth]

1. He was prepared with facts and didn't let that Trump lie and get away with it!

Why does our Press not push him on the truth?

[gratuitous]

6. He also didn't just accept Trump's framing of issues

Trump was at a loss to respond when Swan didn't accept the framing of the Covid-19 deaths. Trump could only sputter "You can't do that," and Swan was ready with "Why not?" So Donald leaped off that point like it was lava, and tried to start another gish gallop, but Swan was ahead of him again. I don't have the slightest idea why American reporters (with a couple of notable exceptions like Yamiche Alcindor) can't do what Swan did.

[AZ8theist]

22. "Animal magnetism"???? WTF?????

How about unbridled stupidity, imbecility, and outright senility?????????????????

[FoxNewsSucks]

25. No kidding!

He's got the magnetism and appeal of an overstuffed orange trashbag full of warm squishy feces wrapped in a suit and tie.

That's gotta be satirical, but I do wonder why DC journalists still keep putting up with his asshole behavior. It's gone way past just wanting to keep their job and access.

[moonscape]

26. The Onion n/t

[scarletwoman]

27. Psst - it's the Onion.

You know, satire.

[AZ8theist]

30. OH SHIT!!!! MISSED THAT!!!!!!!!

Sorry, brothers, missed the Onion part.....

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

But you could almost sense a DC reporter on the Reich Wing side saying that, right?
Guess that's why the Onion is so successful...spot on parody.

[scarletwoman]

31. You're not alone. It appears that many other posters on this thread missed it, too.

[AZ8theist]

32. It comes from today's reality pissing all over satire......

And, as a skeptic, I should be more investigative of anything on line....

[Joinfortmill]

36. Ha! True.

[calimary]

39. And Swan wasn't fawning and deferential like much of the US media still is.

If this was "Year #1" of the first trump term, and everybody was still naive enough to try to give him the benefit of the doubt that his track record of failure, lies, distortion, and general failure since then no longer applies (and that he's proved by now that he no longer deserves), that would be one thing.

But we're well into YEAR FOUR now, and the track record of lies, deceit, distraction, distortion, blaming-somebody-else, and spectacular general FAILURE is thoroughly and credibly well-documented.

[Iliyah]

2. Gosh, I thought he was from the UK ..

LOL

[Sneederbunk]

3. BBC correspondents also put American reporters to shame.

[mwooldri]

12. I'd like to see/hear Trump on HardTalk.

Stephen Sackur is OK... I don't think Trump could handle Zeinab Badawi though... female, mid-eastern, actual journalist... he couldn't stand a chance.

Now Sacha Baron Cohen - if he played an actual reporter and asked actual proper questions... I think that would be interesting too. Or if Jeremy Paxman came out of retirement - I'm sure he could repeat his Michael Howard trick of asking the same question multiple times until a straight answer is given or whether he thought he flogged that dead horse enough (he asked the then Home Secretary the same question 12 times in a row, with different answers each time).

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. Clearly Aussie - listen to his accent.

He's become the Crocodile Dundee of journalists.

[IronLionZion]

24. Jonathan Swan is Australian, working for Axios, an American news site

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Swan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axios_(website)

[rickford66]

4. When he said "everybody", how hard was it to ask "Name one"

Or when he said "You know", the reply should have been "No I don't".

We've been waiting four years for someone to ask the obvious.

[chriscan64]

8. "People are saying"

I have been waiting (still waiting) to find out who these people are.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

5. Trump actually does have raw animal magnetism, believe it or not.

Of course, that animal is a rabid badger, so...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. More like dead animal magnetism. Stinky and drawing flies.

[Fullduplexxx]

7. This and the question "why cant you do this " should be emailed to any reporter

Who has interviewed trump

[chriscan64]

9. Maybe they will see it and take the hint.

Now there is a template.

[dem4decades]

10. could he do Meet The Press or aren't brass balls allowed?

[Paladin]

17. Brass balls? On a show run by Chuckie Todd?

Surely you jest.....

[dem4decades]

34. i meant instead of Chuckie.

[Paladin]

37. Speed the day.... (nt)

[Mike 03]

14. I was half-seriously wondering if Swan had studied Steven Hassan's book

The Cult of Trump and Hassan's meticulous breakdown of techniques Trump uses to frame and reframe issues, because he was staggeringly good at grabbing the frame back from Trump and placing it where it belongs.

[Dem2theMax]

15. The Onion putting actual journalists to shame.

The irony.

If only actual journalists would feel some shame, and start doing their jobs.

[NCDem47]

16. U.S. reporters have to worry about their own access and their networks access.

Hence softball questioning. Wallace at FOX has given Trump a harder time.

While AXIOS is U.S. based, Swan conducted the interview like he’d be fine if he never interviewed Trump again.

[Mike 03]

18. Yes, Swan was fearless, and I agree, it's because he knew he'd never get another

shot at him (and didn't care), and he knew a confrontational interview would have no adverse impact on his career, and that reprisals could be laughed off.

[catbyte]

19. I'm surprised The Onion hasn't just given up by now. Reality is more bizarre than they can dream up

these days.

[malaise]

20. They should be

Most of them back off like hacks for corporate owners - oh wait!

[smirkymonkey]

21. Hilarious!

[llashram]

23. Hell this is how

our infotainment talking heads should have been doing it all along.

[scarletwoman]

28. Well done by the Onion!!

[Vinca]

29. Is Swan a naturalized American as well? Hope so because I fully expect Dear Leader to have

him picked up and shipped back to the old country if he isn't.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

40. According to Wikipedia:

He married Politico reporter Betsy Woodruff on September 14, 2019. He intends to become a citizen of the United States.

[DIVINEprividence]

33. both siderism is dead

Journalist perhaps felt this need to be even handed but after Cheeto Mussolini all bets are off

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

35. In a career in manufacturing years ago

we would have meetings to go over where we were in relation to the schedule, test dates, material shortages, etc,etc,etc if you've been in that environment you know what status meetings are like. Watching the interview I was transported back to when we had a very sharp VP in charge of manufacturing. Different people would show up and get called on to explain where their department stood in relation to commitments, due dates etc.
Invariably there would be someone who tried to bullshit the boss and throw up graphs and charts as if that's all it took. The VP would spend 5-10 seconds looking at them and if it was wrong, or didn't support the position as stated, he'd shoot it down. More than one person stood there grasping at straws when told 'go back to your area and don't return to this meeting until you've got your facts straight'
That was exactly what we were seeing except Jonathan just didn't say that...…………

[Cha]

38. Raw Animals are Smarter Bullshit.