If you’ve read any headlines or been on Twitter this morning, you’ve probably heard the news: Donald Trump justified calls to “hang Mike Pence.” But if you listen to the interview that supposedly supports this wild claim, you’ll soon learn the corrupt media is at it again. It’s just not true.
The audio comes from a sneak peek of an interview between Trump and ABC chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl for the latter’s forthcoming book about Jan. 6, which is bound to be hogwash if Karl’s interpretation of this particular interview is any indication. And the corporate media had a field day Friday morning, all announcing with shock and awe that Trump would have been OK with a mob hanging Pence.
“Trump Defends Capitol Rioters’ ‘Hang Mike Pence’ Chants: ‘People Were Very Angry,’” was The Daily Beast’s fare, with Business Insider claiming, “Trump justified his supporters calling to hang Mike Pence at the Capitol riot, saying it’s ‘common sense.’”
Axios’s Mike Allen went with the headline, “Exclusive audio: Trump defends threats to ‘hang’ Pence,” and led with the story in his morning newsletter. Trump “defended, quite extensively, supporters who threatened to ‘hang’ former Vice President Mike Pence,” Allen said, adding, “it is unprecedented for a former president to openly say it was OK to threaten the life of his vice president.”
In order to get the full picture, you must listen to the audio, not just look at the transcript, because the exchange didn’t occur in a back-and-forth Q&A format as the media portrays. Listen here:
If you’ve ever listened to a Donald Trump interview, you know that his style of communication is ranting. Members of the media are well acquainted with it, and it’s such a well-established fact that “Saturday Night Live” even uses it as the basis for some of its Trump jokes. It’s also how we get interviews like this one.
As you can tell from listening to the audio, Trump begins by telling Karl he wasn’t worried about Pence’s safety because the vice president was well-protected from the rioters at the Capitol and Trump had heard he was fine — end of story regarding Pence’s safety, as far as Trump is concerned.
Trump begins to go on a rant, but Karl jumps in, turning his attention toward the rioters. “Because you heard those chants, that was terrible. I mean, you know, the…” Karl begins before trailing off.
Trump jumps back in, first to continue his rant with “He could have—” but then to respond to Karl’s mention of unspecified chants.
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