After talking with "Meet the Press" host Kristen Welker for the better part of 50 minutes over the weekend, President Donald Trump addressed his proposed plan for a $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund aimed at compensating individuals who were unfairly targeted by the government following the 2020 election and what the Left continues to call an "insurrection" on Capitol Hill Jan. 6, 2021.
Welker pressed him, saying there were no facts to support his claims.
"The election was rigged," the president insisted. "It was a dirty election, and it's happening again right now in California."
"You've never presented evidence that the 2020 election was rigged," Welker argued.
Luis Cornelio of Media Research Center says the exchange triggered President Trump's antipathy to the press; he let Welker know he did not think much of her or her work.
"Your elections are crooked, and you're crooked," he said. "'Meet the Press' is crooked, and so is ABC and CBS and CNN. You're one-sided, crooked networks."
After a further exchange of words, Trump reached his limit.
"Let's call it quits, because I've had enough," he said. "Thank you, darling, have a good time."
"You ought to straighten out your press, because a country can never be great with a dishonest press," he added before standing up, gently patting Welker on the shoulder, and walking away.
Noting that these types of exchanges were more common in Trump's first term, Cornelio says Trump was serving notice on the mainstream media in this case.
"It just sent a message that this administration is no longer playing games … by the elitist media," the MRC spokesman tells AFN.
Welker protested the president's leaving, complaining that she had flown all the way out to Wisconsin for the interview. But Cornelio says she "knew what she was doing."
"There's no question that this was premeditated," he submits. "She just wanted that moment to go viral, because at the end of the day, that's all really they care for."
