A mock interview with Donald Trump
Joe Scarborough takes the role of the ex-president.
A few weeks ago I had an early breakfast at a New York City diner, one of those old-style Greek restaurants. Through a quirk of immigration history, many New York diners were started by Greeks in the twentieth century. New York’s classic to-go coffee cup is a legacy of this; it has a Greek-themed design. The Greek diner is the kind of place where you sit in a booth or on a counter stool, and they will bring you bacon and eggs and black coffee in the morning. (Or an oversized plate of souvlaki at night).
I was the second customer of the morning. The other customer, a silver-haired man, was quiet at first; but then a friend of his entered at sat down at a booth of his own. As the server brought their breakfast, they began a running commentary across the aisle, reviewing the day’s news.
They started with sports (did the Dodgers overpay for the great pitcher Yamamoto?) and later moved on to a shooting at a university in Prague. This led to a discussion of American universities, and the allegations of plagiarism against Harvard’s then-president, Claudine Gay. It emerged that one of the customers had been a Harvard student more than sixty years ago, and recalled how the dean at that time, McGeorge Bundy, had handled a plagiarism involving a student. (He said Bundy sent away the student for a year.)
This scene—people talking over the news in a diner—is essentially the format of Morning Joe on MSNBC. There is much to admire in that format, whether or not you agree with the opinions of the people on the show. I think of this example sometimes when talking about ways to improve Morning Edition, which is a different show with a different format and always will be, but sometimes makes an innovation.
Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski preside over a rotating cast of guests at the table, some of whom come for a few minutes, and others who linger for an extra cup of coffee. Some are directly involved in the news and some are observing it. Just as the Greek diner used to have stray copies of the New York Daily News lying around on the counter, Scarborough has a pile of newspapers and articles in front of him. He stirs the discussion at times by picking up something to read aloud.
On Friday I spent about half an hour at the table, and Scarborough read aloud from an article of mine. It was from this Substack— “How to Cover 2024,” which suggested an approach to this election year. In short, I said we do not need new rules for journalism, but do need to keep better faith with the rules we have.
The onetime Republican congressman, now a constant critic of presidential candidate Donald Trump, then proposed to talk through the media’s challenge in 2024 by conducting a mock interview with Trump. He proposed to play Trump himself.
I had no warning, but was game; I have interviewed Trump and also have conducted mock interviews to prepare for the real interviews!
Scarborough gave an authentic Trump performance. Later, a colleague of mine observed that the mock interview resembled an actual interview with Trump on NPR in 2022.
When the sound and fury was over, Katty Kay—another guest in the diner—asked a penetrating question that helped us to analyze the whole thing. You can watch for yourself!
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