Thread: How did President-elect Trump handle press conference? Nailed it

Story highlights

• Tim Stanley: Journalists may not like the bullying, but many partisans distrustful of press will be fine with it
• His behavior may be unfair. But calling out the press is not entirely unheard of, Stanley say

Editor's note: Timothy Stanley is a historian and columnist for Britain's Daily Telegraph. He is the author of "Citizen Hollywood: How the Collaboration Between L.A. and D.C. Revolutionized American Politics." The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.

(CNN)How did President-elect Donald Trump's first press conference go? He nailed it. It was strange, abusive, occasionally misleading. But he nailed it.

And while the media will complain that he tried to silence individual reporters -- which he did -- the reality is that the conference was about as raw and detailed as you're likely to get from a president-elect. He gave us a dozen headlines from just one encounter. This is the Trump paradox: Trump and the press hate each other yet they feed off each other.

We actually learned a lot. Trump's two legislative priorities are building the wall and repealing and replacing Obamacare. What he'll replace Obamacare with remains a mystery -- but at least we know what's coming. Trump also said that he'll name his Supreme Court nominee within two weeks of his inauguration.

In addition, he compared the behavior of some within the intelligence community to Nazis and suggested that the very mention of Senator Lindsey Graham makes him laugh. He even pledged to sack his sons should they underperform while running his businesses. And, perhaps most importantly of all, he signaled that no amount of speculation on his relationship with Vladimir Putin will shift his position towards Russia. Russia was probably guilty of hacking, he concluded, but that will cease once Trump is in charge.

This was presumably not the press conference that he wanted to give. The night before, Buzzfeed published some unverified, lurid claims about Trump's time in Russia that have clearly got under his skin. For some unclear reason he has decided that CNN -- which did not publish allegations that it could not independently verify -- is also guilty of trying to undermine him, and he shouted down questions from CNN's Jim Acosta.

It was unfair, bullying behavior. But calling out the press is not entirely unheard of. Obama scolded reporters for doing things he didn't approve of; Nixon obsessed about the hostile liberal press. What's different about Trump is how happy he is to personalize his battles, to roll up his sleeves and jump into the fight while on live TV.

Un-presidential? Yes. Unpopular? I suspect not...

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/11/opinio...ley/index.html

If I were him, instead of not answering CNN, I would include in my answer a swipe at their bias, so if they tried to air the comment, it would only embarrass them.

Originally Posted by Bookman

If I were him, instead of not answering CNN, I would include in my answer a swipe at their bias, so if they tried to air the comment, it would only embarrass them.

I think he was fine the way he handled it. Answering the question at all rewarded rude behavior. I was more shocked at the reporter than I was at Trump. He knows better than to keep shouting once Trump acknowledged another question. I think the disrespect the press has is appalling.

He handled it well...his answers were direct and conclusive and not laced with innuendo...otherwise known as PC so they could do damage control after the fac and spin it which ever ay the wind blows...

Originally Posted by fuego

But calling out the press is not entirely unheard of. Obama scolded reporters for doing things he didn't approve of...

Neil Cavuto addressed that:

Originally Posted by krystian

Neil Cavuto addressed that:

Didn't see your post here. I just started a thread with that.