The president, even though he is supposed to be representing the interests of the entire nation as its leader, routinely does not do so, instead promoting his own no matter what the cost. This is why he finds it nothing to undercut the freedom of the press in an effort to make his story lines be the most important ones in any given situation, and this is why, on Sunday, he praised an aide’s appearance on CNN that, by journalistic standards at least, did not at all go well.
The interview in question centered on the question of whether or not the president is mentally up for the task of leading the United States. This question has yet again been raised with the recent publication of the infamous Michael Wolff book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.
Trump has tried to defend himself in the face of the rising tide of allegations against him of incompetence, but it’s not working. On Saturday, he went so far as to tweet that he is a “very stable genius,” although the fact that he has to say this in an angry tweetstorm seemingly proves otherwise.
Steven Miller attempted to defend the president while appearing on CNN — at least, that’s what he did if you put it nicely. In reality, after host Jake Tapper tried to get him to actually answer his questions following Miller’s insistence on going on about how great and stable the president apparently is, Miller ended up shouting so belligerently that Tapper had no choice but to ignore him and cut to commercial break.
Check out the incident, which has unsurprisingly attracted a lot of attention, below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5jPSzxddrM
Trump, in praising this, is making a fool of himself yet again; there’s little way to get around that fact. Few of those watching the segment on Tapper’s show featuring Miller would come to the conclusion that Miller came out on top — it ended with Tapper calmly cutting to commercial break as Miller kept babbling and yelling.
Is the president really desperate enough to be willing to claim that as a victory? Apparently he is.
Jake Tapper of Fake News CNN just got destroyed in his interview with Stephen Miller of the Trump Administration. Watch the hatred and unfairness of this CNN flunky!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2018
It’s not as though such doesn’t match up with his well documented past attitudes towards the press. He’s ranted about the “fake news media” on at least five of the seven days that have so far transpired this year, claiming repeatedly that Wolff’s new book is a part of a conspiracy on the part of the “fake news” to destroy his presidency.
His comments about Miller’s appearance on CNN add a disturbing level of childishness to the president’s behavior. He apparently thinks that forcing a CNN host to cut to commercial by incessantly yelling at him is an “own.” That’s not exactly the hallmark of a “very stable genius.”
The press hasn’t been the only one on the receiving end of attacks from the president in the wake of the publication of Wolff’s book. Trump has also lashed out at his former ally Steve Bannon, revealed in Wolff’s book to, among other things, believe Donald Trump Jr.’s infamous 2016 meeting with a Kremlin connected lawyer to be “treasonous.”
Trump has claimed that Bannon “lost his mind.”
Check out Twitter’s response to the president’s latest ranting below.
Featured Image via Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images
