One of the “rewards” for winning a presidential election is the advantage of having people who represent the views of the winner appearing on television to speak on their behalf.
It’s rare to see anyone from Hillary Clinton’s campaign as part of a news show roundtable, let alone having time alone with a news show host. Kellyanne Conway, by virtue of being Trump’s campaign manager when he won in 2016 and now as counselor to the president, gets invited on a variety of different news shows.
A common theme has surfaced in the aftermath of her appearances. What typically follows are pleas on social media, in newspapers (the most recent is from Margaret Sullivan at the Washington Post) and elsewhere, imploring the hosts in question to stop inviting her on those shows. The reason? Because they say she lies.
This is not a revelation, and the idea that Conway is the first person who gets on television and obfuscates for a president is rather silly. It is different in the sense that President Trump cannot get through one day with uttering some kind of lie that people are forced to defend. But it’s ridiculous to expect a show host to not have Conway appear because she deflects or repeats the drivel espoused by her boss.
If there’s any good reason for having her not appear, it is that viewers don’t learn anything new. Think about it for a moment: Have you watched an interview with Conway and knew more than you did before it started? It’s always that way. Conway’s latest interview with Chris Cuomo on CNN was a complete farce. Forget watching the video. Try and make it through some of the transcripts and see how long it takes before you’re banging your head on the table.
The problem is, Conway has a shtick. It’s pretty much the same every time, and the hosts fall for her trap every time. No matter who she’s talking to, it doesn’t take long before the interview descends into a back-and-forth about the bias of the interviewer and how the network (outside of Fox News) is totally unfair to Trump.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
It will go on like that the entire time. The follow-up stories focus on the interview “going off the rails” or pointing out it was a “circus.” Unfortunately, there are never any reports about was said, because no news ever comes out of these appearances.
Part of the problem is the format. Cable news shows, in particular, try to squeeze in as much coverage about a variety of topics into a 60-minute show instead of taking a single issue and attempting to look at it comprehensively. So instead of a 30-minute discussion, it’s 6-7 minute back and forth with the host spending more time complaining a guest didn’t answer a question than anything else.
The other problem is, hosts continually underestimate Conway. It’s easy to write her off as a partisan Trump hack who just spouts whatever talking points came out of Sarah Sanders’ office that day. The reality is, Conway is a shrewd, intelligent operative and knows how this game is played. She was getting versed in D.C. politics while she was still attending college and has a resume of television interviews going back to the mid-1990s.
She sets a trap for hosts, and they almost always fall in. Once she has them, there’s no getting out. She controls the interview at that point.
Only two possible solutions exist for the problem. The first is not to have her as a guest. Conway, unlike other Republicans, will appear on any network with any host. She’s not cowed by being on CNN or MSNBC despite knowing she’ll face some hostile questioning, so the invites will continue. The other solution is for the host to make clear they won’t tolerate her usual antics and not be afraid to cut off the interview when she tries to set her trap. It’s very easy for a host to cut a mic and tell the producer to go to a break.
A better way would be taking a page from Bill Buckley’s “Firing Line,” spending an hour to have in-depth discussions about current events and political issues so viewers come away with some value.
Unfortunately, that’s wishful thinking. So expect the circus to continue.
Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is an editorial writer at the Dallas Morning News. He is also a contributor to National Review.
