Trump refuses to answer when asked if he would ‘revoke access to mifepristone’ in ‘unhinged press conference;’ O’Donnell criticizes ‘tame’ press corps

09.08.2024 11:13

Mifepristone is a drug used in about two-thirds of abortions. When a reporter asked Donald Trump Thursday if he would ban (“revoke access”) mifepristone, a “yes/no” question, nonsense followed. Where are the editorials lambasting this man’s cognitive state?

HAAKE: Would you direct your FDA [Food and Drug Administration], for example, to revoke access to mifepristone?

TRUMP: Sure, you could, you could do things that will be, would, would supplement. Absolutely. And those things are pretty open and humane. But you have to be able to have a vote, and all I want to do is give everybody a vote. And the votes are taking place right now as we speak. Yeah, but it’s a very.

HAAKE: Is that [banning mifepristone] something you would consider?

TRUMP: There are many things on a humane basis that you can do outside of that but you also have to give a vote and the people are gonna have to decide.

Just part of Lawrence O’Donnell’s opening tonight on The #LastWord. He lacerated Trump and the U.S. corporate news media and its lackey Trump sycophantic reporters. Shades of Peter Finch in “Network”—this is the kind of thing more people need to do. @rolandsmartin does this often pic.twitter.com/LW9GXa3Sog

— Omar Moore (@thepopcornreel) August 9, 2024

Trump’s answer reflects tangentiality, “shifting from topic to topic, with few connections,” which STAT News highlighted earlier this week.

[Tangentiality] is one of several disjointed and occasionally incoherent verbal habits that seem to have increased in Trump’s speech in recent years, according to interviews with experts in memory, psychology, and linguistics.

However, it was not the only low point in what Vanity Fair labeled an “unhinged press conference.” Nor was it the only behavior that needs highlighting.

Every *single* big-media reporter who did a story on "concerns mount about Biden's cognition" has a journalistic, civic, intellectual, and "both-sides" obligation to devote comparable energy to Trump's neurological state. https://t.co/ObLtdPKTFh

— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) August 9, 2024

In an extraordinarily pointed commentary, MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell took the political reporters in that room to the proverbial woodshed in ‘Stupidest’ candidate Trump did not answer reporters’ questions (it’s 24 minutes and worth your time). He characterized the press corps behavior as “tame and reserved and polite.”

It would be hard to find a sentence in what Donald Trump said today that did not include at least one lie…

The words Donald Trump spoke to those reporters in response to that clear, simple and important yes-and-no question [about mifepristone] was an insult to everyone in that room and they took the insult…

Anyone who then tells you that Kamala Harris has to answer questions from reporters because Donald Trump already answered questions from them is lying to themselves and to you …

The first time Kamala Harris does do a press conference as a presidential candidate, the reporters that were assembled today should all agree among themselves to apply the same rules that they decided to use today. No shouting, no followup questions, and no interrupting each other, and no interrupting the candidate. No screaming.

I'd love to see Harris and/or Walz sit down for a long, substantive interview on their views. But I know — everyone who follows politics knows — that an interview w/ a professional US political reporter would be a series of shallow gotchas designed to produce "scoops."

— David Roberts (@drvolts) August 8, 2024

It’s clear that David Roberts is right ond O’Donnell’s hopes are too high. Evidence: Harris asking a gaggle of reporters on Thursday “what you got?”

Press questions asked of Harris today:

• Respond to Trump’s press conference
• Respond to him accepting debate
• Opine on why he pulled out of debate
• Respond to Trump’s criticisms of you
• Respond to Trump’s criticisms of Walz
• When will you take more press questions

— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) August 9, 2024

Watch O’Donnell in full. And read Trump Spews Lies, Disparages Harris’s Intelligence, Insults Jews, and Rambles About “Insane Asylums” in Unhinged Press Conference.

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