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| Hurry get him off the stage, they're asking questions. |
Exactly one year ago today, Donald Trump held the first formal solo news conference of his presidency.
He hasn't held a single one since.
That puts him dead last among the group of recent presidents. In his first year in office, President Barack Obama held 11 formal news conferences while his predecessor, George W. Bush, held four. Bill Clinton held 14. George H.W. Bush held a whopping 26! (All of these stats come courtesy of Michael Calderone's terrific "Morning Media" newsletter.)
Trump has made no secret of his disdain for the press and the standard conventions of how a president interacts with the media. More so than any president that has come before him, Trump utilizes the media -- and his base's hatred of it -- to his political advantage.
The fact that he hasn't held a solo news conference in a full year will be greeted with joy by many of Trump's backers. Good, they will say. You media jackals are only out to get him!
Which, of course, isn't true. And misses the broader point of why presidential press conferences are important for a healthy democracy.
The President -- be it Trump, Obama, Bush, Clinton, Tyler, Monroe or Washington -- is a hugely powerful figure. Decisions he makes have profound impacts on real peoples' lives. From what Trump does -- if anything -- in the wake of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting to his tax policy to immigration to a hundred other big and small decisions he makes on a daily basis, it all matters. Bigly.
Say it with me folks, "Snowflake!"
I cannot believe that Trump's supporters bought that bullshit tough guy image of his.
This is by far the weakest, most cowardly, and least effective president that we have seen in over a hundred years.
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