How To Interview Trump…

….Without It Becoming a Disinformation Forum

After yesterday’s Meet the Press interview with Trump , NBC released an after-the-fact fact check documenting 11 of the lies he told.

News flash: if you allowed someone to lie 11 times in such a short amount of time, you did something wrong.

And if you are a major media outlet, if you let it happen such that you need that hefty of a fact check, you are acknowledging that you provided a national forum for disinformation.

Which means you failed.

But if you are going to interview Trump, knowing he will lie repeatedly, how can you stop this?

Here’s my simple suggestion:

Never move on from the FIRST lie until he acknowledges it’s a lie.

NEVER.

Literally….end the interview rather than moving onto the next topic.

Why does this matter?

Because Trump and other dishonest subjects go into these interviews KNOWING they can get away with endless lying, for two reasons.

First, in many cases, they’re not even fact-checked.

Second, even if they are fact checked, they KNOW that the interviewer’s goal is to get through a long list of questions.

Which means they KNOW that if they simply dodge or repeat the lie just one or two more times, the interviewer will move on to their next topic they’ve planned out.

Which gives them their next opportunity to lie, and start the cycle over. And then they repeat the same pattern for the rest of the interview.

Again, the interviewer’s need to “move on” to the next question is the key…the best friend of the dishonest interviewee.

Repeat the lie enough, run right through the initial fact check (if there even is one), and you exhaust the interviewer until she or he feels like it’s time to move on to the next question. And the next lie.

And that’s how you get so many lies and so much misinformation spewed into one interview.

One other thing: every time you “move on,” if done incorrectly, it can come across as a white flag of surrender. A declaration of “both sides” having a point. As if it must not really be a lie. Or as if the truth of the matter is subjective. Or that there are perhaps multiple views of the matter.

And once that impression is left, the lie just won. The liar just succeeded. And then when the next questions come, he gets to do it again.

So what’s the answer?

Do NOT move on from the first lie.

Don’t do the very thing they count on you to do to get their next round of lies.

STOP at that first lie and dig in.

For as long as you need to.

Rebut that lie with every fact and figure and proof point there is. (Having of course planned in advance). Air video clips showing the truth. Whatever it takes.

Just keep going and digging and rebutting.

Make it clear to your audience (and the person you are interviewing) that there is an objective truth on the matter, and also make clear to the person you are interviewing that you will not move on until they acknowledge it.

Do it for as long as it takes to force Trump or the lying subject to acknowledge the lie.

And most importantly, for as long as they refuse to acknowledge it, as much as you want to move to the next question, do NOT!

Yes…if that means end the interview rather than moving on, end the interview.

And make it clear that you will not move to the next question—that you will end the interview if necessary—if they do not acknowledge that what they said is not true.

When this leads to awkward silence or hostility, which it will, stick to it. (Trump counts on that awkwardness and silence so that you will move on. It’s a form of his bullying).

And amid that silence, if Trump still won’t acknowledge the lie, just end the interview.

Get up and go.

But what about all those other questions you wanted to ask?

Forget them!

Those questions (and the lies they would’ve elicited if you move on from the first lie) aren’t nearly as important as making a clear statement that you will not move on from a blatant lie being shared on your airwaves.

Doing this may be the only thing that convinces the interviewee not to lie. Or to admit it was a lie. Because at some point, they too will want to move on to other questions.

But even more importantly, this approach is the ironclad guarantee that the forum you provide will not be used as a place for anyone to foment lies and disinformation.

Because you have established that if they even try it once, and you show them clearly they are lying, and they still keep trying to lie to you and your audience, you will close the forum immediately.

That guarantees that you won’t host a forum of disinformation.

Now, if all those who decide to interview the likes of Trump conducted interviews this way, things would be pretty different, wouldn’t they?

Hoping someone tries it.