Former President Donald Trump has turned down prestigious news interviews like “60 Minutes” to defer to social media influencers and podcasters. 

His 18-year-old son, Barron Trump, has been his new campaign advisor for choosing his interviews, which shows many different sides to Trump that his two previous campaigns did not. 

Barron has gotten his dad on the most popular podcasts with young audiences, including an Adin Ross Twitch stream and “This Past Weekend with Theo Von,” which has a younger, sillier style that tries to bring out Trump’s personality.

Trump also appeared on podcasts with a larger age range of viewers like comedian Andrew Shulz’s YouTube podcast “Flagrant” and Spotify’s leading podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience” that felt more like an informal interview. 

While we see more candidates go on non-news or radio station interviews. Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on “Call Her Daddy” with Alex Cooper and “The Breakfast Club” with Charlamagne. Politicians who have been trained on how to bob and weave through questions professionally can maneuver around without answering them authentically. 

When Trump was asked whom he thought was behind the second assassination attempt and how Apple did not allow the FBI to bypass encrypted messages, instead of answering the question, he said, “These are great questions. What the hell? I don’t get questions like this from the fake news.” Shultz had to ask the question again when Trump instead rambled on about how dangerous it is to be a president. 

He avoids questions effortlessly, and once he is called out for his uncanny ability to dodge an uncomfortable question, he admits he has already came up with a name for it: “the weave.” 

He’s not ashamed of it, either. After flaking a question about Iran and weaving, Trump defers to talking about his weaving ability, saying that “some people think it’s so genius, but the bad people, what they say is, ‘You know, he was rambling.’ It’s not a ramble; I don’t ramble.” Eventually Trump “weaves” back to the question regarding Iran’s open threat towards the former president.

These non-professional interviews allow for some really weird but funny moments that both sides of the political party can enjoy. When making fun of the 81-year-old President Joe Biden in his bathing suit on the beach, Shultz rushed to Biden’s defense saying it all “depends on what he’s packing” to which the former President of the United States of America replied with “I don’t wanna know what he’s packing.”

Trump’s appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience, which a CNN article reported had over 30 false claims made by the former president over “immigration policy, environmental and energy policy, the legitimacy of the 2020 election, Trump’s record in office, Vice President Kamala Harris, crowd sizes and how schools deal with transgender children.”. 

Rogan wanted to approach this rigidly, especially during moments that Trump once again makes false claims or weaves around his questions. Rogan says, “He starts to answer it, and then he takes you on a totally different route. You got to bring him back,” to get him anywhere close to the original question. 

As more podcasts invite political candidates hosted by comedians or content creators without trained interview experience, more disinformation without immediate fact-checking accountability will continue to slip through the cracks.

Share