Donald Trump’s interview with Larry King on the Russian-government-funded television network RT America is being widely seen in the mainstream U.S. media as evidence of unseemly coziness between Trump and authoritarian Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
The interview came after months of claims by Democratic Party officials and news media pundits that the Russian government is trying to get Trump elected.
RT America has a long history of coverage that benefits the Russian government and is critical of the United States, as many former employees have complained.
But there’s one problem with the theory that RT America and the Russian government are fond of Trump: RT America is sometimes more critical of Trump than U.S. media.
The interview with King itself was far from a softball event — with the host pressing Trump on topics from releasing his tax returns to his utter lack of any strategy in the Middle East. And it’s not uncommon to see criticism of Trump on the network.
Host Lee Camp has called Trump a “mediocre wizard who can magically turn unemployment into racism.”
Following Trump’s immigration speech in Arizona last week — in which he doubled down on harsh rhetoric after supposedly “softening” — RT host Thom Hartmann took Trump to task. “Trump Now Flip Flopping Hourly” read the chyron on the segment, as guest Mark Weisbrot exclaimed, “He doesn’t have a coherent position that stays the same, really, from one day to a next on really any of these issues.” Hartmann’s show has repeatedly labeled Trump’s politics as “fascist,” showing little hesitation with using the word compared to mainstream media.
During Trump’s trip to Mexico, anchor Ed Schultz hosted progressive writer and former Texas agricultural commissioner Jim Hightower, who described Trump and the Mexican president as “one president, and one presidential wannabe who have approval ratings down at the mad cow disease level in both of their countries, so they’re both hugging each other up hoping that this actually means something. It’s a freak show.”
King, who has a well-earned reputation for being an easy interview, actually pushed back when Trump said he’ll release his tax returns only once an audit of them is completed. “Why does the audit, it just confuses me. All you have to do is release the first three pages which is not part of the audit, it just states income, what taxes you paid,” King protested.
Trump’s claim that he has a secret plan to tackle ISIS also elicited King’s scorn. “You said that you’ve got a plan on ISIS and you don’t want to reveal it because you don’t want the enemy to know. Nixon said the same thing about Vietnam, but there really was no plan,” King also noted.
Unlike NBC’s Matt Lauer, King was not afraid to interrupt Trump to correct him.
Trump said about Iraq: “Once you go in, you gotta go out the right way, and Obama just took everybody out and it was like a shock to the system, and ultimately ISIS developed and now we have them in 26 to 28 countries and it’s a disaster.”
“The timetable was arranged by Bush for the leaving,” King corrected him.
“Well, you know what, let’s look to the future,” Trump said.
King’s last question to Trump caused the interview to end altogether.
“Let’s get something clear, because I know you a long time. On this immigration issue, what are your feelings about Mexican immigrants. What in your gut about — what do you feel about this?” King asked.
Trump offered no response, and the line went silent.
“Donald are you there?” King asked aloud.
“I don’t know what happened there, we did not lose the connection,” he told his audience.
King and Trump’s relationship goes back decades, but the host has already said he won’t be voting for his old acquaintance.
On Friday, the Trump campaign insisted Trump did not know the interview would end up on the Russian-funded network.
RT America for its part ran an article on Friday noting that the media networks that complained about Trump’s interview with King are owned by corporate conglomerates and Trump foes.
Reverse psychology?Because the Russians criticize Trump we are supposed to hate Putin who Trump likes,so Trump is a rube?
RT in reality,paints a better picture of reality than USmedia by far,although any person with a modicum of reasoning knows they also have a Russian agenda,unlike our media which has an Israeli agenda.
I think it’s a real indictment that all a Russian media outlet needs to do to paint US political figures as fools is, you know, be honest with them.
RT America actually covers third party candidates like Jill Stein with decent frequency, hence I have somewhat more respect for RT than I do the traditional corporate media here in the US.
What a mixed bag !
So, “RT America” has democrat hacks like Thom Hartmann,
Mark Weisbrot, Jim Hightower, and Ed Schulz pretending to be objective
observers of Trump on a network which is connected to
Russian money while the corporately owned democrats need to
portray Trump (and RT?) as a Russian tool.
What this means is that RT America is at least sometimes
a branch of the democrat corruption and can still have
people think that it is not what it is.
The ability to not be what they appear to be is THE key component
of democrat and republican “american exceptionalism.”
To be sure, there is no defense of Trump and his repulsive crap,
but this article appears as if it wants people to think that by having
notoriously chronic democrat hacks criticizing Trump that these
hacks are somehow breaking through some sort of Russian
propaganda network.
This impression is clearly ludicrous.
I don’t know about Larry King. to me he became a zombie years ago.
Maybe RT should change it initials to ART for
Another Ridiculous Toilet.
All media have a bias–including the American “free press” and The Intercerpt.
The idea that any media–mainstream or alternative, America or Russia or whomever–are objective is nonsense.
If you believe in media objectivity, you should also believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, or the official American version of the Sept. 11th attacks. ;-)
One problem that is not acknowledged by most Americans is that the America media–and broader Anglophone media–unfortunately set the agenda for what comprises “legitimate news” on a planetary level.
The entire Anglo American media cartel (AP/Reuters/BBC/ABC/NBC/CBS/Fox News/CNN/MSNBC/Guardian etc.) collectively wield much greater influence and power than non-Anglo media.
Americans of course have no problem with this as it allows them to shape and mold global public opinion, for instance, to justify its wars such as the USA’s brutual colonial occupation of Afghanistan or its proxy terrorist … I mean … human rights war against Syria.
And some Americans are hostile to RT not out of any concern for journalistic integrity but because it sometimes presents views that go against the American narrative–such as the legitimacy of America’s “humanitarian” intervientions or its Responsibilty to Protect doctrine used to destroy Libya and Syria.
And if there is one thing that the Land of the Free can’t stand it is a worldview that challenges its own.
Trump, this piece of trash garbage, has sunken to a new low by appearing on Russian TV and as usual criticizing the president of the United States along with the media. There are no comments that will “do this jackass” justice, but he made a complete fool out of himself, just as he did in Mexico. The Russians just laughed at this dumbass. He went on to blame Hillary Clinton for North Korea’s nuclear bombing along with President Obama. He should be tried for treason, and NO, THIS NARCISSISTIC, EGOTISTICAL, DRAFT DODGING, ALCOHOLIC BIGOT IS NOT FIT TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. He praised Putin so much that it makes one wonder, IS TRUMP A RUSSIAN AGENT OR WORSE A RUSSIAN SPY? If he loves Russia and Putin so much he needs to take his plane and make a one way trip to Russia.
If RT is “Russian TV” and the crap from Trump is part of
their grand plan, then why is RT America loaded with
democrat hacks?
Maybe both Trump and Hillary Clinton are both Russian spies,
they both are determined to drive the planet into a
black hole of violence.
This whole focus on Russia is a deliberate scam to manipulate
the suckers into another hysteria and boost the military budget
beyond its already disgracefully bloated dominance.
It’s worth comparing the Russian government-funded RT to the British government-funded BBC to the U.S. government-funded NPR to the Chinese government-funded Xinhua.
It’s all rather similar, isn’t it? Particularly when it comes to promoting the official government line on foreign policy issues. For example, neither Russian nor U.S. nor British reporting on Syria ever delves into the economic agendas behind the conflict, such as who gets to control the trans-Syria pipeline routes – for that, you need obscure internet sites:
Now, it was immediately after this later deal was signed that the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Qatar began working overtime to destabilize Syria by backing radical Islamic groups and fomenting civil war. Coincidence? That seems doubtful:
http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2013/05/31/the-geopolitics-of-gas-and-the-syrian-crisis.html
You are right in your assessment, unfortunately the bottom line is, and always was, our national security…by paying two dollars a gallon at the pump.
[The New York Times/Washington Post/CNN/Fox/TIME/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Radio Free Europe/Your Local Rag (et cetera, ad nauseam et infinitum)] has a long history of coverage that benefits the US government and is critical of Russia, as many ______ have complained.
Please stop reading NYT, WP, CNN, etc. You need to stop reproducing those crappy bits of propaganda hereabouts.
Can you guys please start referencing the US gov’t as the “authoritarian US gov’t” in the future?
It would only be fair, I think..
I mean, you guys are aware of the Snowden files, and the warmongering ways of our government, and the “Patriot Act”, am I right?
No.
In the near future we will finally get a proper government that will make our country great again and we will all participate equally in this cause. Just hang on till we can finally chuck all the rubbish over the wall.
Congratulations to Zaid for ruining an otherwise solid piece of reporting by citing to Sam Knight.
1 person complained, Abby Martin can be seen in various videos saying that she only had a disagreement with RT because she was contrary to the Tanks but hers was a great experience.
The only one really complaining was an American Journalist who was convinced by a NeoCon to say that RT was a fraud and they obliged you to cover news in a false way.
Now there’s Larry King, Ed Schultz and many MInisters from Europe and other country talk and are invited to their shows.
They’re definitely Pro Russia but compared to some embarrassing US and UK (to name a few) All Western, Anti-Russia & pro Hillary Media, RT comes across as a more than decent Newscaster.
RT is generally boring, but we will soon liven it up with our own inputs instead of just the putins that it now serves.
RT comes across as a more than decent Newscaster.
you can say that again.
I urge suitably critical readers to click on “many former employees” in the third paragraph and see what a fucking howler — re: a wretched piece of scribble re: one Sam Knight — materializes. Evidently Zaid Jilani has no competence in math, or else is bereft of any cognitive faculty. Or maybe both, come to that.
I’m reminded of an interview with Robert Firsk I saw where the interviewer started his question with ‘Some of your critics…’ At the end of the question Firsk asked the guy to name the ‘critics’, and eventually he named one person. So Firsk asked him to ask the question again so he could answer. Sure enough ‘Some of your critics…’ at which point Firsk interrupted him, again asking for the name. It took one more try before the interviewer asked the question ‘Mr X says…’ At which point Firsk pointed out the motivations X had for making that claim, and then took apart the claim. That is why when I hear those amorphous claims from interviewers and in articles, I treat it almost the same as those claims coming out of Trump’s mouth.