For sheer entertainment value, you couldn’t beat it. Donald Trump’s sprawling – and first solo – press conference was a glimpse of the US presidency as reality TV. Here was a man utterly unsuited to the task at hand, bluffing and blustering his way through it on live television. It was like watching Howard Beale’s meltdown during the evening news – just too gripping not to watch.
What, if anything, did we learn?
1. He loathes the BBC. Not surprisingly. Maybe it was Laura Kuenssberg’s pointed question at the joint press conference with Theresa May last month, maybe some other slight. But no – he’s not a fan. ‘Here’s another beauty,’ Trump said sarcastically when Jon Sopel, the BBC’s North America Editor, introduced himself. ‘Impartial, free and fair,’ protested Sopel. ‘Just like CNN, right?’ replied the president, bitterly.
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