That Q&A event with former President Trump hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) was mostly meh, but now that it’s over and the news media are still moaning about it, let’s look at how they’re lying.
Axios on Friday ran a ridiculous story claiming that a lengthy delay in the event’s start was Trump’s fault for insisting that he not be “fact-checked” on stage, a term that now means being interrupted by trifling reporters who wish to insert their own worthless opinions.
NABJ President Ken Lemon told the site, “[Trump’s team] said, ‘Well, can you not fact check? He’s not going to take the stage if you fact-check.'”
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told me in a text that there was no hold up over “fact checking,” which NAJB had agreed beforehand wouldn’t be part of the Q&A, though the amateur organization ultimately reneged and ended up posting live rebuttals to Trump’s comments on its website. Cheung said that the reason for the “close to 40 minutes” delay was due to “audio/technical issues” that “were fixed by NAJB.”
In that Axios article, Lemon admitted to the “audio problems.”
As for the ever-so-irksome “live fact checking,” Trump was in fact interrupted and disputed multiple times by the event’s moderators. (What’s it called again when you disprove an inaccuracy or false hood?)
When Trump said that presumptive Democrat nominee Kamala Harris “suddenly” claims to be black, Rachel Scott of ABC News blurted, “She has always identified as a black woman.” (Fact, checked!) When he said Democrats are inviting migrants to cross into the country illegally for the purpose of voting, she piped up, “People only who are American citizens are allowed to vote, sir.” (Boom!) When Trump said Democrats advocate for radical late-term abortions, she belched out, “Sir, that is illegal in every state in the country— executing a baby, in every state in the country is illegal, it’s a crime.” A co-panelist added her two cents that, “Well, Democrats have denied that.” (Aren’t you glad they were there to ensure Trump didn’t get away with that one?)
The Trump campaign sent me a statement that said in part, “When President Trump took the stage, he was met with hostility and a lack of professionalism by an unhinged member of the media. President Trump will continue to bypass the bias media and take his winning record and message of prosperity directly to Black communities like he will this weekend in Atlanta.”
That “unhinged member of the media” is one Roland Martin, a beady eyed bug of a man who if he didn’t declare himself a journalist, everyone would assume is one of those shyster prosperity gospel preachers.
Watch the video recording of the event and at least one person is heard shouting from the audience. Veteran TV news producer Justin Wells was at the event and told me that seated in the very front row was Martin, screaming his lungs to hell every time Trump spoke. “Totally obnoxious,” Wells told me. “He wasn’t even listening to whatever Trump said. Screaming in my ear. Obnoxiously toward the president.”
This was never intended to be a journalistic event. NABJ leadership members even resigned their posts when the Q&A was confirmed. They didn’t want a Q&A, they wanted a public humiliation spectacle. I feel genuinely sorry for any aspiring young black journalists who attended or watched it.