Tipsheet

'Don't Talk to Me Like That': Why Trump Got Testy With a Reporter and Had to Shut Him Down

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  November 26, 2020 10:45 PM

President Trump got testy with a reporter and had to shut him down today. The president held a presser and took questions for the first time since Americans went to the polls earlier this month. The 2020 election has been called by the media and Democrats, but the allegations of voter fraud remain a lingering issue. Jeff Mason of Reuters began to speak over the president, which prompted a visibly irritated Trump to call Mason a “lightweight.” What prompted Trump shutting down Mason was an exchange regarding the certification of the Electoral College results (via Mediaite):

Reuters White House correspondent Jeff Mason asked Trump whether he would think about conceding the election when the Electoral College votes for Joe Biden, to which Trump responded, “Well if they do, they made a mistake, because this election was a fraud.”

“Just so you understand, this election was a fraud,” he continued. “So no, I can’t say that at all. I think it’s a possibility… they’re trying to, look, between you people…”

As Mason started to talk over Trump in an attempt to ask his question again, Trump snapped.

“Don’t talk to me that way,” he protested. “You’re just a lightweight. Don’t talk to me that way. Don’t talk to…”

“I’m the President of the United States. Don’t ever talk to the president that way,” Trump continued, before concluding, “Alright, I’m going to go with another question.”

Now, in Nevada, the Trump campaign will be allowed to present their case concerning the mountain of voter irregularities. Will it be enough to toss suspect ballots? We shall see. A hearing is set for December 3. The president reiterated his stance that this election was a fraud and that the mail-in ballots were a disaster. He’s not wrong. There was some funny business concerning the ballots, but it’s damn near impossible to make the case for fraud when election workers in Pennsylvania have destroyed the ballot envelopes. In the words of Alonzo Harris, it’s not what you know, it’s what you can prove. And proving voter fraud to the point where ballots are tossed is a high bar. 

The point is that Trump is going to fight this to the very end, which probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone, especially the White House Press Corps, but here we are. Never count Trump out when he’s down. We’ve all seen that, but it still doesn’t negate the fact that Biden remains on the high ground and he will stay there unless the Trump team can present the equivalent of an ICBM strike regarding the voter fraud allegations. We need ballots to be invalidated. Again, we’ll see if that happens. In the meantime, we need to be looking to shoring up the GOP’s stance in the Senate. We have the Georgia runoffs in January. If we pull out wins there, the Biden presidency is severely curtailed in what they can do. Trump knows this as well, and as a good leader of the party, he’s heading down to hold rallies for Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.

For the rest of the races, the GOP did well. No inroads were made at the state legislature level, meaning Republicans control the lion’s share of the congressional redistricting for another decade. Oh, and we gained seats in the House. Nancy Pelosi truly has zero room for error and really can’t afford to put up with any more looney lefty nonsense from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who most certainly cost moderates Democrats their seats. The 'defund the police' frenzy did not help at all. Pelosi will be working with the smallest House Majority since the New Deal. 

In all, we all know Trump isn’t going away, and remember he can run again in 2024 if all else fails. In that not so rosy scenario, Trump should seriously consider a 2024 rematch. 

Recommended

The Republican Party Has Two New High Profile Members Katie Pavlich
Chimney Rock Demonstrates Why America Must Stay United Dave Donaldson