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By Mark Jacob
Republicans love doing interviews. But they hate answering questions.
That was evident last week when Donald Trump appeared before Black journalists and was asked about his past racist behavior. His response: “I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner.”
That’s a common Trump trick – shifting the focus when he gets a tough question. ABC’s Rachel Scott attempted to press the issue, but Trump often talked over her. At least she tried, which is more than CNN’s anchors did during the Trump-Biden debate in June. Asked what he’d do to make child care more affordable, Trump discussed his former chief of staff John Kelly, the FBI, Afghanistan and the border – but nothing about child care. Rather than pushing for a real answer, CNN host Jake Tapper responded, “Thank you, President Trump.”
Way too often right-wing politicians dodge questions and get away with it. Here’s my list of a dozen ways Republicans respond when they don't want to address what’s asked:
1. That’s not my focus.
Ousted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was asked last December whether he’d support a primary challenge against Matt Gaetz and other Republicans who had turned on him. His non-answer: “I'm not focused on that.” You’d think some journalist might say, “Well, get focused on it because that’s what we’re asking you about.” But no.
2. I don’t want to talk about the past.
When Republicans don’t want to talk about ticklish subjects like Trump’s criminal cases, they use some version of what Rep. Darin LaHood said last year: “Politics is about the future, not about the past.” This is a particularly popular GOP sidestep. Former Vice President Mike Pence likes to dismiss the value of “relitigating the past.”
3. I don’t want to talk about the future.
NBC News’s Kristen Welker tried eight times to get Sen. Tim Scott to say whether he would accept the results of the 2024 presidential election no matter who won. Eight times she asked, and eight times he wouldn’t say. The last time he said: “I’m not going to answer your hypothetical question.”
4. Don’t ask me – ask the guy who’s not here right now.
The Trump White House was a chorus of cluelessness in 2017 on an important question: whether Trump thought man-made climate change was real. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said: “Honestly, I haven’t asked him that. I can get back to you.” Three days later he was asked again and said: “I have not had the opportunity to specifically talk to the president about that.”
Scott Pruitt, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, wouldn’t say whether he thought Trump believed climate change was a “hoax,” as Trump had said in the past. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said he personally didn’t think climate change was a hoax, but “I do not speak for the president.”
When a journalist asked Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway the same question, she said: “You should ask him that and I hope you have a chance.”
5. I’ll pretend you didn't ask me the question you just asked me.
This is the dodge Trump used after the debate question about child care. Pence did the same thing in his October 2020 debate with Kamala Harris when Susan Page of USA Today asked a soon-to-be-highly-relevant question: If Trump refused to accept Biden’s victory, what would you do? Pence spent 393 words lying about the conclusions of the Mueller Report and discussing the Trump administration’s energy policy and judicial appointments. But he never answered Page’s question.
6. Let’s not talk about me.
Politicians love to talk about themselves, except when they don’t. Sen. Marco Rubio, angling for Trump’s vice presidential nod, was asked if he’d be willing to move out of Florida for the job, since the president and vice president can’t be from the same state. “Leaving me aside for a moment …,” he said, and he switched to a discussion of the supposed unfairness of Trump’s criminal trial in New York. He never answered the question.
7. Your question is poorly timed.
When Republicans want to avoid an issue, they say the timing is poor. During flooding in Texas, Sen. Ted Cruz rejected questions about climate change, saying “it’s wrong to try to politicize a natural disaster.” After the Uvalde school shooting, Rep. Andy Ogles said, “Now is not the time to politicize this tragedy.” They didn't disclose when the “right time” was, since climate-related disasters and mass shootings are all too common.
8. It’s the media’s fault for asking questions.
This is the tactic Trump used with Black journalists last week. And it’s a popular choice for Trump sycophants like Rep. Elise Stefanik. “To interview Stefanik is to strike a sort of deal: access in exchange for browbeating,” wrote Russell Berman in The Atlantic. Facing questions about election denialism and January 6, Stefanik told him: “Everyday Americans are sick and tired of the biased media, including you, Russell, and the types of questions you’re asking.”
9. Don’t ask me – I’m not a scientist.
During Stefanik’s first campaign for Congress, she was asked her position on climate change. She didn’t have one. She told the Glens Falls (N.Y.) Post-Star she had no opinion on the issue because she was “not a scientist.” (Disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, used the same dodge regarding fracking.)
10. I don’t know anything about it, and I don’t want to know.
When Republican politicians don’t want to comment on the news, they plead ignorance. After Trump admitted he lied to the public about the threat of Covid, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee was asked about it and said he hadn’t read any news coverage. A reporter for Nashville’s Tennessean newspaper offered to play audio of Trump’s quote, and Lee refused to listen.
11. Speaking of Hillary Clinton …
In that 393-word debate non-answer by Mike Pence mentioned above, he cited “Hillary Clinton” as if it was a magical incantation that would protect him from scrutiny. And last year, seven years after Clinton ran her last political race, Kevin McCarthy brought her up to distract from Trump’s criminal cases.
12. I’ll take the combo platter, with multiple dodges.
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos interviewed ranking GOP House member Steve Scalise last November, creating a remarkable example of avoidance. (The key passage starts at the 15:00 mark of this video.) Stephanopoulos asked Scalise half a dozen times: Can you say unequivocally that the 2020 election was not stolen? Scalise never answered, choosing from the Republicans’ lavish array of distractions, including the relitigating-the-past dodge (“You want to keep rehashing 2020”), the not-our-focus dodge (“Getting our country back on track is our focus”) and the I’ll-answer-a-question-you-didn’t-ask dodge (“We just passed a bill Friday that gets no press coverage that stands up to Iran‘s ability to sell their oil on world markets”).
Journalists need to stop inviting politicians on their programs if they refuse to answer questions. Otherwise it’s not news – it’s just a game of dodgeball.
