On his Thursday night show, aired early Friday morning, NBC’s left-wing Late Night host Seth Meyers fawned over PBS NewsHour White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor for supposedly asking “very fair questions” during the daily Coronavirus Task Force briefings and marveled at her “poise” and “integrity” in dealing with President Trump.
“Now, of course, one thing a journalist doesn’t want to do is become part of the story,” Meyers claimed early in the softball interview, pushing the laughable fantasy that ego-driven journalists never want to make the news about themselves. He then asked: “You’ve been put in a awkward situation whereas you’ve asked very fair questions that the President has framed as nasty....What is going through your mind in those moments where you realize you are a part of this story as opposed to just getting the story?”
Alcindor replied: “What’s going through my mind is that I became a reporter because I think everyday people, vulnerable populations, deserve a voice, especially at the White House. So as the President maybe is lashing out at me and other reporters, the thing I keep thinking is, ‘Okay, but people need answers.’”
Meyers applauded her: “I want to compliment you for the fact that you keep your poise in those moments. I don’t believe I would be able to do so.”
They conveniently skipped over Alcindor’s own routine “lashing out” at the President during the briefings.
Moments later, Meyers urged his guest to explain the “root causes” of the pandemic. In other words, blame Trump: “Can you speak to what you believe the root causes are for not just how this started – and no one thinks it’s the Trump administration’s fault that, you know, this virus exists – but their failures to sort of deal with it, what the root causes of that were?”
Alcindor insisted that the President’s push for “smaller government” was at fault:
The first is that the President, before this coronavirus outbreak, he was making government smaller in his mind and in that regard he disbanded the National Security Council’s office that deals with pandemics. He also really pared down the CDC’s staff. So there was a – one moment where – or one thought that the President was really making sure that the government was too small – was smaller in his mind.
In reality, former National Security Council member Tim Morrison, who served as Senior Director for Counterproliferation and Biodefense, completely dispelled the notion that the NSC’s pandemic response office was “disbanded.”
After a commercial break, Meyers returned to ask Alcindor about whether the media should even cover the White House briefings:
There was a lot of talk of, you know, even before the last election, how do you cover a Trump rally? Is it the right thing to put it on television, unedited, live as it’s happening? The same question now is being asked about these press conferences. You know, there are some media critics who don’t think they should be on TV every night. As someone who’s in that room, you know, how – what do you think is the right way to present those press briefings as they’re happening?
Alcindor didn’t go that far: “So it’s really not my job to figure out whether or not we cover them live. What I can say is that when I’m covering them, I try to add as much context and fact checking as possible...”
Meyers also talked about how much he liked watching reporters gang up on the President during the pressers: “I think for people like myself who watch at home, one thing we enjoy to see...is that sometimes the President will cut off a reporter...and the next reporter will then follow up on behalf of their colleague who had the previous question.” He wondered: “Do you wish that happened more, and do you think it's important for the press to be unified in those moments where one will get cut off?”
Alcindor gushed: “I think it’s important to follow up on each other’s questions, for sure.” Appearing on MSNBC on March 30, she touted how covering Trump was a “team sport” in which reporters all “have each other’s back” – at least when it comes to liberal reporters asking hostile questions.
In his final question, Meyers pushed the unfounded accusation that the President “has been particularly aggressive with female journalists and with journalists of color.” Even Alcindor didn’t really buy that:
I think the President wants to have an opponent, and he wants to have a foil at all times. And whether or not that’s going after me or going after Jonathan Karl of ABC or Peter Alexander of NBC, he just at times, I think, wants a fight, wants a punching bag....So I think in some ways, I’m not sure if he’s particularly picking on black women, as much as he’s particularly picking on anyone that he sees as a threat.
Meyers wrapped up the friendly exchange by declaring: “Well, I really genuinely want to thank you for bringing the integrity that you bring to those White House press briefings. We’re really lucky to have journalists like you in the room...”
Reporters know that they be as incendiary and irresponsible in the briefing room as they want because the rest of liberal media will always be there to defend them and cheer them on.
Here are portions of the April 9 interview, aired early on the morning of April 10:
1:19 AM ET
(...)
SETH MEYERS: Now, of course, one thing a journalist doesn’t want to do is become part of the story. You’ve been put in a awkward situation whereas you’ve asked very fair questions that the President has framed as nasty. He’s told you to “be nice” and to not be “threatening.” What is going through your mind in those moments where you realize you are a part of this story as opposed to just getting the story?
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: What’s going through my mind is that I became a reporter because I think everyday people, vulnerable populations, deserve a voice, especially at the White House. So as the President maybe is lashing out at me and other reporters, the thing I keep thinking is, “Okay, but people need answers.” We’re in this time where people want to know, “Can I get a test? Am I going to be able to survive? How’s my family going to do when we’re losing our jobs?” I think all of those things come to my mind and I, in my own mind, think of myself as a civil rights reporter. So a lot of times I’m thinking about all the different people I’ve met over my career on the streets and on different stories and thinking they need answers, they want me to remain professional and focus on why I came to the White House today.
MEYERS: You do – I want to compliment you for the fact that you keep your poise in those moments. I don’t believe I would be able to do so.
(...)
1:21 AM ET
MEYERS: Can you just speak – you know, because obviously, you’ve been covering this story, like your colleagues, from the beginning. Can you speak to what you believe the root causes are for not just how this started – and no one thinks it’s the Trump administration’s fault that, you know, this virus exists – but their failures to sort of deal with it, what the root causes of that were?
ALCINDOR: I think there were two really big things going on. The first is that the President, before this coronavirus outbreak, he was making government smaller in his mind and in that regard he disbanded the National Security Council’s office that deals with pandemics. He also really pared down the CDC’s staff. So there was a – one moment where – or one thought that the President was really making sure that the government was too small – was smaller in his mind.
The other thing that was going on, though, that was President Trump was downplaying the virus. He was telling reporters like me and signaling to Americans all over the country that this was something that wasn’t that serious. That it was going to be gone by April. That this was going to be some sort of miracle that was gonna just be washed away. And because of that, you had those two things come together and now that’s why you have a lot of people criticizing the President’s response, because, one, they didn’t seem to be ready for a pandemic and, two, the President, once a pandemic was on his doorstep, was downplaying it, thinking really about his political future in a lot of regards, and thinking about being re-elected as president
(...)
1:32 AM ET
MEYERS: There was a lot of talk of, you know, even before the last election, how do you cover a Trump rally? Is it the right thing to put it on television, unedited, live as it’s happening? The same question now is being asked about these press conferences. You know, there are some media critics who don’t think they should be on TV every night. As someone who’s in that room, you know, how – what do you think is the right way to present those press briefings as they’re happening?
ALCINDOR: So it’s really not my job to figure out whether or not we cover them live. What I can say is that when I’m covering them, I try to add as much context and fact checking as possible, because I think, covering President Trump, I’ve learned you have to have context. You have to tell people, “Here’s what the facts are and here’s when he’s wrong, and here’s when he’s right.”
MEYERS: I think for people like myself who watch at home, one thing we enjoy to see – enjoy seeing, excuse me, is that sometimes the President will cut off a reporter without asking – answering the question and the next reporter will then follow up on behalf of their colleague who had the previous question. Do you wish that happened more, and do you think it's important for the press to be unified in those moments where one will get cut off?
ALCINDOR: I think it’s important to follow up on each other’s questions, for sure. Especially because some of the questions that we’re asking are the basic questions. The question is still: If you need a test, can you get a test? Will we have enough ventilators? What is the President doing to make sure people are gonna stay safe? When is the White House gonna say, “You know what, maybe the government can open back up and we can all go back to our normal lives”? How many people do we think are gonna die? Those are basic questions that at times we’re not getting the answers to, so I think those questions can and should continue to be asked.
MEYERS: This is obviously a case where the President has been aggressive with all walks of life, if they’re journalists. Yet, it has been pointed out that he has been particularly aggressive with female journalists and with journalists of color. Obviously, you tick both those boxes. Do you feel that there is truth to that? And what do you think that, again, says about this moment we’re living through.
ALCINDOR: I think the President wants to have an opponent, and he wants to have a foil at all times. And whether or not that’s going after me or going after Jonathan Karl of ABC or Peter Alexander of NBC, he just at times, I think, wants a fight, wants a punching bag, and as we get into the fall, he’s gonna then turn to Joe Biden. He’s gonna turn to the media that’s been of course a long foil of his. So I think in some ways, I’m not sure if he’s particularly picking on black women, as much as he’s particularly picking on anyone that he sees as a threat.
MEYERS: Well, I really genuinely want to thank you for bringing the integrity that you bring to those White House press briefings. We’re really lucky to have journalists like you in the room and thank you so much for making time for us tonight.
ALCINDOR: Thanks so much for having me.
MEYERS: Yamiche Alcindor, everybody.
