On Thursday, MSNBC anchor Lawrence O’Donnell took news outlets to task for repeating the same mistakes they made in 2016, after former President Donald Trump’s latest press conference.
O’Donnell expressed frustration with cable news networks for their handling of Trump’s press conference, which was filled with rambling and false claims. The MSNBC anchor was particularly critical of how Trump’s response to a straightforward question from NBC News’ Garrett Haake about mifepristone was treated. Trump’s answer, described by O’Donnell as “not an answer,” was deemed an “insult” to the journalists present.
“The words Donald Trump spoke to those reporters in response to that clear, simple and important yes or no question were an insult to everyone in that room and they took the insult. Nothing in those words was an answer, nothing,” O’Donnell stated passionately. He condemned both the press and news networks for not pressing Trump further or challenging his misleading statements.
O’Donnell’s ire was directed not only at Trump’s evasive tactics but also at the media for their apparent susceptibility to his manipulation. He argued that Trump is adept at using the media for his own benefit, drawing parallels to the 2016 election when similar patterns were observed.
“Donald Trump is not smart enough to answer questions. Anyone who then tells you that Kamala Harris has to answer questions from reporters because Donald Trump already answered questions from reporters is lying to themselves and to you and you must not allow them to do it.”
He criticized reporters for failing to ask follow-up questions and pointed out that networks only fact-checked Trump’s claims after he had finished speaking, which he described as “utterly useless.”
Additionally, O’Donnell slammed the networks for not broadcasting Vice President Kamala Harris’ Michigan speech live, despite having ample notice of its timing. He noted that while Trump received extensive live coverage, Harris’ important speech was relegated to delayed coverage due to Olympics programming.
In response, O’Donnell pledged to rectify this imbalance by providing MSNBC viewers with full, unedited coverage of Harris’ speech.
“All of the networks knew [the speech] was coming, they knew what time it was coming, they knew how to cover it live and they didn’t after giving Donald Trump more than an hour of live coverage on all of their networks. It’s 2016 all over again,” he said.
Watch the segment below to see O’Donnell’s full critique.
