American reporter's surprise in interview with Trump

New York Times reporter Peter Baker commented that Mr. Trump has "perfect instincts" to say surprising things.

US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, White House. Photo: Reuters.

As New York Times reporter Peter Baker left the West Wing of the White House, an area occasionally guarded by a uniformed Marine and used by US presidents to host world leaders, his editor texted him with the familiar question: “What’s new?”

Baker and his colleagues Maggie Haberman and Michael Schmidt completed an interview with US President Donald Trump last week, and according to him, the issue is not whether there are any good articles, but how many can be written.

In 50 minutes, President Trump expressed his frustration with his attorney general, saying he regretted appointing Jeff Sessions. Trump also accused the former FBI director of deliberately leaking damaging information about him, hinted that he might fire the special counsels overseeing the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election if they got too deep into his finances, and revealed that he had discussed sanctions against Moscow with his Russian counterpart.

"Trump is like a real media machine. Every time he opens his mouth, there's a breaking news story. He's turned White House media into a thriving industry," Baker commented. "With other presidents, we sometimes have to dig up new information every time we interview. With Trump, we're overwhelmed."

Baker said he had interviewed seven US presidents but with Mr Trump, "the experience was completely different in almost every aspect".

Distinctive

According to a writer from the New York Times, former US President Bill Clinton is quite rambling, he discusses a variety of different topics, often citing comments, anecdotes or pieces of information that he finds interesting but not necessarily related to the news at that time. He talks enthusiastically and has many thoughts in his mind. Interviews with former President Clinton are always interesting but not necessarily related to the news update and framing him into a clear question "is a challenge".

Former President George W. Bush, on the other hand, was more concise and focused on the topic of discussion, Baker said. He paid close attention to getting his message across through his statements. He only agreed to interviews when he had something to share or announce. The challenge was how to ask a question that might surprise him and take him off his prepared script.

Former President Barack Obama enjoyed interviews, Barker said. He liked to give highly technical answers, speaking clearly, coherently and logically. However, the downside was that his answers were often long, and reporters had too many questions and too little time.

However, Barker asserted that the three presidents mentioned above cannot compare to President Trump in terms of provocation. Being so familiar with the media world, he has a "perfect instinct" to say things that are sure to surprise and attract attention.

An aide always tries to steer him away from dangerous topics, but President Trump often doesn't care and continues with what he wants.

Barker said President Trump brought only one assistant to the interview. In Barker's experience, other presidents have several advisers and a stenographer in these types of interviews.

“Unlike other presidents, we didn’t have to try to distract him from what we had prepared,” Barker said. “President Trump was happy to answer all of our questions, even if they might distract from his message.”

"With President Trump, conversations move very quickly. He doesn't mind if you interrupt him. But he tends to jump from one story to another, changing the subject before you even know what's going on," Barker recalls.

According to him, despite facing many troubles in the first 6 months of his term, President Trump still seemed quite comfortable and optimistic at the meeting with New York Times reporters.

"He said he would still talk to us next time, even though we were from the 'failing New York Times,'" Barker said, citing a criticism Mr. Trump once made of the American newspaper.

According to VNE