Every person should be reacting to the Trump campaign the same way 60 Minutes anchor Scott Pelley did in his interview with Trump on the aforementioned program. Pelley – the normally very sedate and calm head anchor of the CBS Evening News – got respectfully adversarial on Sunday in his interview with Trump.
The newsman put Trump under the microscope early when Trump began to dodge the specifics of his tax plan that he would release this week. Pelley made it clear that he had no desire for Trump to sidestep specifics in this interview.
Occasionally Pelley’s piercing blue eyes would flair up with agitation when the candidate would say something outrageous or impractical.
He pushed Trump hard on issues of trade when Trump said he wanted to repeal the free trade agreement that the United States has with several countries, specifically China and Mexico and firmly reminded the candidate that the US is a country with a president, congress and supreme court who all have an active part in the law of the land and not a company with a CEO who is simply told ‘yes’ all the time.
My favorite moment of the interview, however, comes in the moments when Pelley asked Trump about not shutting down a man who prompted at a rally: “We have a problem in this country and it’s Muslims.”
When Pelley asserted that this man was a bigot and Trump tried to defend the man claiming we can’t know if he’s a bigot or not. Pelley then quoted the man again: “A problem in this country and it’s Muslims?” in an inflection that seemed to beg the question: are you sure you want to defend this guy?
What I like about this interview is that unlike other journalists who have had to confront Trump (Chris Wallace, Megyn Kelley and Jake Tapper), Pelley never went for the “Gotcha!” moment. He never tried to do anything that was particularly gimmicky or like he was on the move.
He just let Trump be Trump and what followed was perhaps the most damning thing that Trump could’ve done to himself: he made himself look dumb.
Now, you might be arguing that Trump has been looking dumb this whole time…and you’d be right. However, never has another person allowed the Donald to look as foolish as he did and provide a pretty typical reaction to his campaign promises.
The fourth estate has failed us a lot in years past. Many would argue that professional journalists are the ones who sold us the Iraq war, haven’t vetted political nearly seriously enough in the last few elections and are generally pushovers.
But there was none of that Sunday night. Pelley was strong in his assertion for answers and when answers weren’t provided, he didn’t look weak for not getting them. Trump looked defensive for not giving them.
Forget debates. I want every candidate – Democrat and Republican – to have to sit down and get the Scott Pelley treatment. Ben Carlson believes a person’s role in society should be limited by their religion? Don’t relent. Make him answer in a manner that makes sense.
Carly Fiorina’s business record is questionable? Find a journalist who will ask her the tough questions. Hillary Clinton is still dodging questions about her emails? Get a real concrete answer.
Although, I would like to add, that Chuck Todd during a Meet the Press interview seemed to really frazzle Clinton in regard to her emails and the process in which data was collected. A good start, but not really a proper grilling.
I dock points for not calling Clinton out on her lame-duck excuse of “I’m not a technical expert.” A proper response would’ve been something akin to: “Madam Secretary, it’s an email. You hardly have to be a technical expert to know how emails work.”
It’s also worth mentioning that it’s probably not a good idea to elect someone who is confounded by the technology of email. Imagine how confounded Clinton must be when she receives an Elf Yourself at Christmas time.
I liked what I saw in the Pelley interview on Sunday. I just wish I would see a lot more it in regards to the other candidates.
Brian Laughran
Editor-in-Chief