Super Bowl, Times interviews: The more Trump talks, the less we know to be true

Normally, when the president engages with the press and speaks to the American people, we think of it is as a good thing. Citizens need information, and here&#8217;s information from someone who has enormous influence on our lives.But after President Donald Trump&#8217;s interview last week with the New York Times and his Super Bowl conversation with Margaret Brennan of CBS, it seems like the more Trump talks, the less we know, because the more Trump talks, the more uncertainty, confusion and discords he sows.Here&#8217;s the way his Super Bowl interview began, and it went downhill from there.MARGARET BRENNAN: Would you shut down the government again?PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, we're going to have to see what happens on February 15th and I- I think &#8212;MARGARET BRENNAN: You're not taking it off the table?PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I don't &#8212; I don't take anything off the table. I don't like to take things off the table. It's that alternative. It's national emergency, it's other things and you know there have been plenty national emergencies called. And this really is an invasion of our country by human traffickers. These are people that are horrible people bringing in women mostly, but bringing in women and children into our country. Human trafficking. And we're going to have a strong border. And the only way you have a strong border is you need a physical barrier. You need a wall. And anybody that says you don't, they're just playing games.MARGARET BRENNAN: You had quite the showdown with Speaker Pelosi. What did you learn about negotiating with her?PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I think that she was very rigid &#8212; which I would expect &#8212; but I think she is very bad for our country. She knows that you need a barrier. She knows that we need border security. She wanted to win a political point. I happen to think it's very bad politics because basically she wants open borders. She doesn't mind human trafficking or she wouldn't do this because you know &#8212;MARGARET BRENNAN: She offered you over a billion dollars for border security.PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Excuse me?MARGARET BRENNAN: She offered over a billion dollars for border security. She doesn't want the wall.PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: She's &#8212; she's costing the country hundreds of billions of dollars because what's happening is when you have a porous border, and when you have drugs pouring in, and when you have people dying all over the country because of people like Nancy Pelosi who don't want to give proper border security for political reasons, she's doing a terrible disservice to our country....Artificially hyped and grossly commercialized as they are, Super Bowls are supposed to be a day when 100 million or so Americans can share the same experience. Not with this divisive president. He wants to tell Americans that &#8220;people are dying all over the country because of people like Nancy Pelosi.&#8221;Deride, divide and and try to conquer.As for the Times interview last Thursday, it was such a ramble that the day after it ran, the interviewers, Maggie Haberman and Peter Baker, wrote another piece about it headlined, &#8220;What Do You Learn in an 85-Minute Interview?&#8221;Not much that anyone would call concrete.In their second-day piece, the authors wrote, &#8220;In interviews, Mr. Trump can be like an unguided missile,&#8221; and, &#8220;Pinning him down can be a challenge.&#8221;No kidding?Trump changes his story so often, sometimes within the space of seconds and minutes that there is no real record with which to hold him accountable &#8212; just a series of contradictions.The Times piece ended with the authors laying out three contradictions by Trump on significant issues related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller&#8217;s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.There was one great thing about the Times Interview: A.G. Sulzberger, the paper&#8217;s publisher, who was also present, challenging the president about his attacks on the press.Trump had invited Sulzberger to an off-the-record dinner, which the publisher declined instead suggesting an on-the-record interview with two of his reporters, which he would attend.Host Brian Stelter and I discussed Sulzberger&#8217;s actions Sunday on CNN&#8217;s &#8220;Reliable Sources.&#8221;I cannot praise Sulzberger enough for the way he handled this, particularly using the forum to challenge the president&#8217;s reckless attacks on journalism.

Super Bowl, Times interviews: The more Trump talks, the less we know to be true

Don't miss our 4th of July sale!
Save big on local news.

SALE ENDS SOON

$1 FOR 12 WEEKS

Don't miss our 4th of July sale!Save big on local news.

SALE ENDS SOON

$1 FOR 12 WEEKS

Don't miss our 4th of July sale!
Save big on local news.