Donald Trump’s interview with Brett Baier on Fox News on Monday evening started innocently enough with questions about what Donald Trump sees as the most important issues facing America today and what would be the first thing he would do to turn the country around.
The responses were predictable. The economy and national security were top on Trump’s list.
His first order of business would be to resume domestic drilling for oil and to close the border.
Trump’s Addresses His Indictment
However, he quickly devolved into his typical contentious stance when questioned about his classified document indictment, interrupting Baier mid-sentence, and engaging in the usual slandering of both used-to-be friends as well as foes as “cowards,” “incompetent,” and “thugs.”
Trump raged on against the unjust actions inflicted upon him by the Department of Justice and the FBI with regard to the case against him concerning the discovery of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence.
This is understandable. When you feel you are being unjustly indicted, the natural inclination is to defend yourself and point out, as he did, all the instances where the law has been unequally applied.
“This was a weaponization of politics. This was a weaponization of the White House. This was a horrible thing. It’s never been done before.”
Even some of Trump’s adversaries would agree with him.
What About the Voters Who Matter?
However, when Baier gives Trump the opportunity to address the many voters – voters exactly like me who, for the most part, supported his policies, but, as Baier says, “can’t handle the scandals, or the controversies or the name calling or the vitriol” – he doesn’t answer the question.
He does the very thing that repels so many – he touts himself.
“Based on the polls, I’m leading Biden by a lot. Based on the polls, I’m leading all of the Republicans by a lot. By forty points and more. Right now, I have the best polls I’ve ever had. People see this stuff for what it is. It’s a political witch hunt.”
That may be true, but it doesn’t mean all other sins are pardoned.
The sin of pride, for example, makes Trump exhausting, and the thing that, no matter how much we hope and pray, will never change.
It’s the very thing that many worry will lose him the general election against, heaven help us, Joe Biden.
Baier offers yet another opportunity for Trump to address a coveted segment: the “female independent voter in the suburbs who’s struggled with family financing because of inflation, she’s now against Biden … but wasn’t with you in 2020 and so far is a hard no for you in 2024. What do you say to that female independent suburban voter to win her back?”
I waited with bated breath, praying he would say something – anything – to me, the very voter Baier described. Yet, I was once again let down.
“First of all, I won in 2020 by a lot, okay? Let’s get that straight.”
I rolled my eyes with a deep sigh, shaking my head. It feels like a toxic relationship that at some point, a woman must simply walk away from.
Rather than address his weaknesses or try to appeal to those who may be on his side with a bit of convincing that he could do things a tad differently, he chooses to focus entirely on himself.
Donald Trump: The Vitriol Continues
I have no energy to even address the rest of the interview, even if some of Trump’s claims are true.
Baier does an excellent job of providing examples of why women like me are tired of Trump’s antics.
“You recently called Barr a gutless pig. This week you called your White House chief of staff, John Kelly, weak and ineffective and born with a very small brain. You called your acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney a born loser. You called your first secretary of state Rex Tillerson dumb as a rock and your first defense secretary James Mattis the world’s most overrated general. You called your White House press secretary Kaleigh McEnaney milk toast [milquetoast].”
Who in their right mind would go to work for a person who in all likelihood will demoralize you at the first opportunity? And very publicly?
I lost count of how many times Trump said the word “I.”
While I am on board with many of Trump’s policies, Republicans deserve someone who will serve the people of this country, not themselves.
Donald Trump has proven time and time again, despite his many talents, selfless service and dignified rebuttal are not skills in his wheelhouse and defects that will lose him the 2024 election.
Jennifer Galardi is the politics and culture editor for 19FortyFive.com. She has a Master’s in Public Policy from Pepperdine University and produces and hosts the podcast Connection with conversations that address health, culture, politics and policy. In a previous life, she wrote for publications in the health, fitness, and nutrition space. In addition, her pieces have been published in the Epoch Times and Pepperdine Policy Review.
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