Trump plants and insults an NBC journalist because he doesn't like the questions
The Republican cuts the conversation at the moment the presenter insists he provide proof of corruption in the Californian elections
BarcelonaThe President of the United States, Donald Trump, has once again demonstrated his hostility towards the media. Yesterday, Sunday, the Republican leader abruptly left an interview previously arranged for the well-known political analysis program Meet the Press, on NBC. This is not the first time Trump has made it clear that he does not like questions or being questioned, especially if female journalists do it. Here you can read the full transcript of the interview.
The tension exploded when Welker rebutted Trump's statements about alleged electoral fraud in California, reminding him that a slow count by officials is not an indication of manipulation. Outraged and without providing any evidence, Trump attacked the journalist, calling her "corrupt."
“You are corrupt or stupid. You know these elections are fraudulent. Your outlet knows it,” Trump snapped at the host. Then, he removed his lapel microphone and unilaterally ended the conversation with a condescending remark: “Thank you, honey, have a good one,” while Welker tried in vain to convince him to continue, arguing that they had traveled to Wisconsin specifically for the meeting. The journalist's insistence that the American president provide proof of a series of accusations did not please Trump at all.
Before leaving, Trump defended the creation of a fund of $1.776 billion to compensate those investigated by the Department of Justice for supporting him, including participants in the January 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol. He insisted on this to the journalist, even though the Department of Justice and Congress itself have rejected this idea. "Well, look. If it were up to me, I would pay them the amount of money they deserve. People have been destroyed. Lives have been destroyed. Many suicides, think about it. There are people who have committed suicide because a bunch of thugs went after them," Trump said.
"We won Venezuela"
In one of the other implausible moments of the conversation, Trump boasted about his military operations, stating emphatically: “We won Venezuela. We didn't lose anyone. We took control of the whole country and now we have a great relationship there,” he said. The president also assured that the Iranian army is "practically decapitated" since American bombers attacked its nuclear facilities a few months ago. He confirmed open negotiations with the son of the former supreme leader of Iran, who according to him is "seriously injured", and issued an ultimatum: either a quick agreement is reached or they will "militarily devastate them".
Faced with Welker's insistence on whether these conflicts break his historic electoral promise of "not starting new wars", Trump defended himself by attacking her personally: "Why should I build an army? Now, I didn't want to use this, but I'm doing you and everyone else a big favor. We have the best financial market in history, it's the best time in history as a country, because as you know, in the last term we were a dead country, Kristen. I know you, you are a great liberal, a great progressive," he assured.
This new episode adds to Trump's history of insults towards reporters who question him, such as the incident last November on board Air Force One, when he told a journalist to shut up by saying: "Shut up, piglet".