Former President Donald Trump has spoken at nearly 80 campaign rallies and political events since he declared his bid for a second term on Nov. 15, 2022.
You probably know the script by now.
Trump, in his standard stump speech, routinely promises to slash federal regulations, cut American energy bills in half, rejuvenate the country’s auto industry, protect Social Security, shift a significant portion of federal law enforcement agencies to border security, end Russia’s war in Ukraine and prevent World War III.
You might have some questions about how Trump plans to do all that. He’s in no rush to give you any answers.
Trump has long preferred the cozy confines of right-wing media outlets, where he happily swallows cakewalk questions and spews back distortions and lies with no threat of being challenged or corrected. Rarely do we see him getting piercing questions from the news media.
President Joe Biden, facing growing concern about his ability to handle the rigors of campaigning for a second term, attempted to demonstrate his mettle with what the White House imprudently referred to as a “big boy press conference” at the conclusion of this month’s NATO summit in Washington, D.C.
Biden took questions from 11 news outlets for about an hour on July 11. He didn’t look or sound so great. It didn’t quiet the clamor of Democrats who said he should step aside for Vice President Kamala Harris.
Ten days later, the president dropped his bid for another term.
When can we expect the next Trump press conference
Which got me thinking: When is Trump going to face his own big boy news conference?
Biden is 81, and time caught up to him in a very public way on the campaign trail. Trump, 78, spent months calling Biden too old and frail for the presidency. But Trump has also clearly lost a step, slurring common words and phrases at rallies, wandering off on weird tangents that quiet and confuse his fans, and rambling about his paranoia that everyone everywhere is out to get him.
Trump mostly limits his media interactions to sycophantic supporters who lob softballs his way. Sometimes, he hits. Sometimes he misses. But the pro-Trump talking heads treat everything like a grand slam.
Now Trump, who agreed back in May to a Sept. 10 presidential debate hosted by ABC News, wants to debate on Fox News instead after the Democrats replaced Biden with Harris. Trump tried hard to paint Biden as a president campaigning from within a protective bubble, but Trump is now showing us his fear of leaving his own bubble.
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Could Trump, known for giving rally speeches that push on for more than an hour, stand at a podium for a similar amount of time, taking questions from reporters asking for straightforward, detailed answers about his politics and policy, and how he would govern in a second term?
Trump’s campaign didn’t want to answer that question when I asked if he had any plans for a standard news conference.
What do you suppose Trump’s campaign had to say about it?
“President Trump holds rallies with tens of thousands of attendees, gives long-form speeches, engages with media on a daily basis, participates in interviews from a wide variety of platforms, and much more,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung told me in an email. “He has also released the most significant and detailed policy plan in recent campaign memory.”
Trump and the Republican National Committee did release a slimmed-down platform document ahead of this month’s party convention in Milwaukee. But Biden had plenty of policy on paper, too. That didn’t do much to convince people that Biden could press on until Nov. 5.
Trump did hold a limited conference call with media outlets, organized by the RNC on Tuesday. That’s not remotely the same as standing in the glare of the lights on live television while being asked to explain what you really believe.
But Trump’s approach to engagement has consistently been to talk a lot and then run from the questions.
Trump loves to hide from questions behind his supports and safe spaces
Trump faced a few questions from reporters informed that he would be making a June 22 stop at a cheesesteak stand in Philadelphia before a rally there. He mustered a couple of short replies but mostly used a crush of fans to shield himself from reporters.
He also made some remarks for less than five minutes during a June 13 meeting with Republican legislators in Washington, D.C., but retreated from the microphone when reporters tried to get him to respond to questions.
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And, Trump spoke for about 30 minutes on May 31 in New York, the day after a jury there convicted him on 34 felony counts for scheming to pay hush money to an adult film actress to prevent her from speaking about an affair she had with him, which could have impacted his 2016 bid for the presidency. Assembled supporters cheered as Trump fled from questions shouted by reporters.
Trump supporters and traditional media outlets complained for months about Biden avoiding interviews and taking no questions after speaking in public.
Trump should be held to the same standard. So should Harris, now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. But she’s only been at the top of the ticket for a week now. And she shows no signs of hiding.
Trump will remain the think-skinned politician he’s always been
Let’s be clear here – I don’t think Trump, if he decided to hold a big boy news conference, would offer a cogent analysis about the chances of a World War III or his approach to avoiding that cataclysm.
Trump, after all, vowed after surviving a July 13 assassination attempt to present a convention speech that would shift away from his usual bombast and focus instead on a push “to unite our country.” That lasted about 10 minutes in Trump’s RNC speech five days later, and then he shifted right back to his typical, rambling collection of aspersions, grievances and lies from the convention stage.
Trump is as thin-skinned a politician as America has ever seen. He despises being asked for details about his own statements. Sometimes he blusters with a “You’ll see …” response. More often, he erupts in anger, attacking anyone with the temerity to ask him to explain himself.
Voters should get a chance to see that, to judge it for themselves, to decide what it all means when they cast ballots for a president this year. That’s why Trump will avoid the big boy news conference at all costs.
Follow USA TODAY elections columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ByChrisBrennan
