It’s mind-boggling how the press pretends that hostilities between President Trump and the press is a one-way street. They somehow never qualify as hostile. Axios.com mourned the end of a “truce” after the shooting attempt at the Correspondents Dinner.
Zachary Basu began: “One uncomfortable question was all it took for President Trump to resume hostilities with the Washington press, less than 24 hours after their shared brush with death.” CBS 60 Minutes interviewer Norah O'Donnell repeated the shooter's claims that the president was a rapist, pedophile, and traitor. How is that question not "resuming hostilities"?
In liberal brains, hostile questions are just "accountability" questions. In his reliably liberal newsletter, Brian Stelter put it this way: "The president wants attention but he resists accountability. The press is going to keep up the accountability, so the relationship is going to remain tense, and that's OK....O'Donnell did her job and asked hard questions." Trump called her a "disgrace."
WATCH: Trump is unsure whether the shooting will change his relationship with the media, BLASTS Norah O'Donnell as a "disgrace" for citing the "pedophile" portions of the manifesto, refuses to find fault with the Secret Service:
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) April 26, 2026
NORAH O'DONNELL: You can see the gunman running… pic.twitter.com/WygbJIvz8F
O'DONNELL: The so-called manifesto is a stunning thing to read, Mr. President. He appears to reference a motive in it. He writes this quote, "Administration officials, they are targets." And he also wrote this, "I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes." What's your reaction to that?
TRUMP: Well, I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would because you're-- you're he-- you're horrible people. Horrible people. Yeah, he did write that. I'm-- I'm not a rapist. I didn't rape anybody.
O'DONNELL: Oh you think-- do you think he was referring to you? [How stupid does she want to appear?]
TRUMP: I'm not a pedophile. Excuse me. Excuse me. I'm not a pedophile. You read that crap from some sick person? I got associated with all -- stuff that has nothing to do with me. I was totally exonerated. Your friends on the other side of the plate are the ones that were involved with, lets say, Epstein or other things. But I said to myself, "You know, I'll do this interview and they'll probably" -- I read the manifesto. You know, he's a sick person. But you should be ashamed of yourself reading that because I'm not any of those things.
O'DONNELL: Mr. President these are the gunman's words –
TRUMP: And I was never-- excuse me. Excuse me. You shouldn't be reading that on 60 Minutes. You're a disgrace. But go ahead. Let's finish the interview.
O'DONNELL: The other thing that he wrote, in the--
TRUMP: You-- you're disgraceful.
How would reporters like it if their conservative targets shared the worst things ever said about them? Even milder accusations, like mocking Norah for her reported annual wardrobe budget of $65,000 or the New York Post report that "her hair and makeup staff take the brunt of her tantrums and have been known to end up in tears."
Liberals like Brian Stelter don't acknowledge that "accountability" is not what 60 Minutes has done for Democrats. Let's just talk about the many Steve Kroft softball interviews with Barack Obama. From our old Special Report titled Syrupy Minutes:
Barack Obama was a major beneficiary of 60 Minutes admiration. CBS has devoted hours of air time to the promotion of Barack Obama – five interviews before the election, and six after it, all reported by Steve Kroft. Of the 49 Kroft questions in the first four CBS interviews (before the financial crisis hit), 42 were personal or horse-race questions. Only seven focused on issues – five on foreign policy, and two on trade – with no real focus on any domestic issues. Kroft never focused a question on Obama scandals, or his record in the Illinois legislature. Even issue questions were soft and open-ended. Kroft's interviews were even made into a DVD for nostalgic Obama supporters, Obama All Access.
