I agree. And a good follow-up is a wonderful thing. (Dana Bash has no talent for following-up, so I'm a little concerned about that.)
But here's the thing. Trump's answer to your questions would be something like this:
"We did everything. Look. There were maybe some people who did bad things, but you have to remember that Nancy Pelosi was responsible for sending in the troops or whatever. She didn't do it. She didn't. Why doesn't the press ever ask Nancy Pelosi? And some of those people ... good people ... the police. They let them in. They waved them in. People came to me and said, sir, you should say something. And I said okay and then I told everyone to ... and you've got to remember, when I made that speech. It was a great speech. One of the biggest, if not the THE biggest crowds I ever spoke to and I said "be peaceful." That's what I said. "Be peaceful." So, I think, in all honesty, that we did everything we could on January 6 and now we have these people, patriots I call them. Hostages. They're hostages. And it's a disgrace. They got no trial. They got no anything. In jail. It's a terrible thing for this country."
And then Dana Bash will "move on" because that's what she does. He filibusters. His MAGA Army nods in agreement and the interviewer moves on. "Okay, sir, let's talk about energy policy." Clock runs out and there we are, same place we started.
I read a book many years ago, the story of a destroyer in WWII. The author -- who served in the ship -- described his experience as being like a series of clocks. A watch was four hours long. A day was six watches long. A week, seven days. The clocks turned and the war went on and you watched the clocks knowing that someday the war would end, but also knowing the clocks could stop. That's how I think Trump looks at things. Very much: right now. Win the news cycle. Win the day. Win the week. Win the month. Win the election. He wins the news cycle or the day by getting through this debate, which WILL happen. And then, whatever happens, he takes that and uses it to win the next news cycle. It's how this guy's brain works and the media is incapable of dealing with it because they have clocks running too. And they're not going to voluntarily stop them.
I agree. And a good follow-up is a wonderful thing. (Dana Bash has no talent for following-up, so I'm a little concerned about that.)
But here's the thing. Trump's answer to your questions would be something like this:
"We did everything. Look. There were maybe some people who did bad things, but you have to remember that Nancy Pelosi was responsible for sending in the troops or whatever. She didn't do it. She didn't. Why doesn't the press ever ask Nancy Pelosi? And some of those people ... good people ... the police. They let them in. They waved them in. People came to me and said, sir, you should say something. And I said okay and then I told everyone to ... and you've got to remember, when I made that speech. It was a great speech. One of the biggest, if not the THE biggest crowds I ever spoke to and I said "be peaceful." That's what I said. "Be peaceful." So, I think, in all honesty, that we did everything we could on January 6 and now we have these people, patriots I call them. Hostages. They're hostages. And it's a disgrace. They got no trial. They got no anything. In jail. It's a terrible thing for this country."
And then Dana Bash will "move on" because that's what she does. He filibusters. His MAGA Army nods in agreement and the interviewer moves on. "Okay, sir, let's talk about energy policy." Clock runs out and there we are, same place we started.
I read a book many years ago, the story of a destroyer in WWII. The author -- who served in the ship -- described his experience as being like a series of clocks. A watch was four hours long. A day was six watches long. A week, seven days. The clocks turned and the war went on and you watched the clocks knowing that someday the war would end, but also knowing the clocks could stop. That's how I think Trump looks at things. Very much: right now. Win the news cycle. Win the day. Win the week. Win the month. Win the election. He wins the news cycle or the day by getting through this debate, which WILL happen. And then, whatever happens, he takes that and uses it to win the next news cycle. It's how this guy's brain works and the media is incapable of dealing with it because they have clocks running too. And they're not going to voluntarily stop them.
Is it wrong to respond to one's own post?
Well, on the Trump answer I wrote above, when it actually came up, it's almost exactly what he said.