Backtalk F
FRANK MIELE / GUEST COLUMNIST Putting Words in Trump’s Mouth
or those of us who experi- ence Donald Trump as a Pro- methean bringer of enlight- ening fire to the dark, barren
fields of modern politics, it is hard to fathom the reaction of those who are terrified of him. We just say they have Trump Derangement Syndrome. But for Trump haters, it is the rest
of us who are deranged. We are cult members or Christian nationalists or foot soldiers of the new Hitler. You cannot imagine more diametrically opposed views of one man. Case in point: the now infamous interview of Trump by Eric Cortel- lessa that recently appeared in Time magazine. The corporate media and Trump’s
political opponents seized on it to declare conclusively that Trump would be a clear and present danger to the nation if elected to a second term. If you were to read just the interpreta-
tion of Trump’s words by Cortellessa in his story, you would be inclined to agree. Fortunately, Time magazine very generously published not just Cortel- lessa’s very damaging news story, but also the raw transcript where we can see what the former president actually said. Side by side, the story and the tran-
scripts are raw material for a master class on media manipulation. Early in his story, Cortellessa goes
through a long laundry list of offenses that he categorizes as “the outlines of an imperial presidency.” Trump’s offending statements are
the least sympathetic interpretation by the author of well-reasoned posi- tions taken by the former president in lengthy responses. Consider Cortellessa’s dismissal of
Trump’s rejection of FBI crime statistics: “On the campaign trail, Trump
uses crime as a cudgel, painting urban America as a savage hell-scape even though violent crime has declined in recent years, according to the FBI. “When I point this out, Trump tells
98 NEWSMAX | JUNE 2024
me he thinks the data, which is col- lected by state and local police depart- ments, is rigged. ‘It’s a lie,’ he says.” Well, Trump is right and Cortel-
lessa is wrong. In an Oct. 27, 2023, report at Stateli-
ne.org, Amanda Hernández reported, “Across the country, law enforcement agencies’ inability — or refusal — to send their annual crime data to the FBI has resulted in a distorted picture of the United States’ crime trends, according to a new Stateline analysis of the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting program participation data.” “Prior to 2021, 23% of U.S. law enforcement agencies on average did not report any crime data to the FBI. In 2020, 24% of agencies did not report, and in 2021, it surged to 40%.” Call it a lie, or call it a damned sta-
tistic, but Trump is closer to the truth than the author.
O
n another topic — abortion — Cortel- lessa tells his readers that Trump
is contemplating invasive monitoring of pregnancies. Not quite. When you read the tran-
script, you discover that it was the reporter who brought up the concept of states “monitoring women’s preg- nancies so they can know if they’ve gotten an abortion after the ban.” When asked if he thought states
should do it, he answered that they might do it, but he made it very clear that those decisions would be made at the state level and he would have no input on them. Cortellessa did everything he could
in the interview to twist Trump into saying he would like to serve a third term. Although Trump said repeat- edly that he would abide by the 22nd Amendment’s restrictions, the report- er asked him three times if he would consider challenging the amendment. As for the threat of violence if
Trump should lose the 2024 election, it is a gossamer-thin threat that exists
mostly in the author’s subconscious. “Trump does not dismiss the pos-
sibility of political violence around the election,” says Cortellessa. “If we don’t win, you know, it depends,” he told Time. “It always depends on the fairness of an election.” But Cortellessa once again had to
stretch Trump’s words to make it seem like he was contemplating violence if he lost the election. Here is the rel- evant passage from the first transcript. Are you worried about politi- cal violence in connection with this November’s election? Trump: No. I don’t think you’ll
have political violence. You don’t expect anything? Trump: I think we’re gonna have
a big victory. And I think there will be no violence. He then gave the quote that Cortel-
lessa seized upon: “I think we’re going to win. And if we don’t win, you know, it depends. It always depends on the fairness of an election.” Absolutely no reference to political
violence, or any other kind of violence. Ultimately, I recommend that
everyone read the transcript of the interview and avoid Cortellessa’s interpretive fantasy. What you will discover is a former
president who is fully in charge of his faculties, capable of arguing with nuance and gusto, and who has a vision for making America great again — the absolute opposite of the incumbent. Trump knew he had delivered a
knockout with his wide-ranging responses, telling the reporter, “I thought it was a good interview, actu- ally,” and then he qualified it based on his years of experience of having his words twisted: “I mean, if it’s written fairly, it’s a
good interview.” More evidence that Trump is at the
top of his game. Frank Miele is a columnist for RealClearPolitics.
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