Former Republican President Donald Trump has once again become a target of internet mockery following his petulant performance during an interview with National Public Radio.
When NPR's veteran reporter Steve Inskeep asked Trump a simple question about his repeated baseless 2020 election fraud claims, that was it for Trump.
He abruptly hung up on Inskeep.
See the moment below.
According to a tweet Inskeep posted, his interview with Trump had been six years in the making.
For about six years I've been asking Donald Trump for an interview. It never happened until the former president came on the line today. Tomorrow on @MorningEdition we'll hear what he said, up to the moment that he hung up on me. @NPR— Steve Inskeep (@Steve Inskeep) 1641941347
But though they had 15 minutes scheduled, the interview immediately went sideways and abruptly ended after just seven minutes. As Inskeep wrote:
"For about six years I've been asking Donald Trump for an interview. It never happened until the former president came on the line today."
"Tomorrow on @MorningEdition we'll hear what he said, up to the moment that he hung up on me."
Unsurprisingly, it was Inskeep simply pointing out that even many Republicans don't believe Trump's claims about the 2020 election that seemed to set the former president off. Inskeep referenced Republican South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds' recent comments in which he told ABC's This Week that Trump's claims are not only false, but dangerous.
As Rounds put it:
"The election was fair, as fair as we have seen. We simply did not win the election... And if we... tell our people don't vote because there's cheating going on, then we're going to put ourselves in a huge disadvantage."
Trump of course vehemently disagreed, telling Inskeep:
"No, I think it's an advantage, because otherwise they're going to do it again in '22 and '24, and Rounds is wrong on that. Totally wrong."
He also called Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell a "loser" for agreeing with Rounds.
Trump then launched into a lengthy, rambling diatribe full of absurd lies about the 2020 election. Inskeep followed up by asking if Trump is requiring candidates to sign onto these "Big Lie" theories in order to get his endorsement in this year's elections.
Trump responded with another meandering soliloquy, this time about conspiracy theorist Kari Lake, the current Republican primary front-runner in Arizona's gubernatorial race. After claiming Lake is leading because the American people want to get to the bottom of the supposed fraud in the 2020 election, Trump hung up on Inskeep.
On Twitter, Trump's childish handling of Inskeep's very simple questions definitely struck a chord, and the mockery came in hot.
Trump hung up on NPR reporter this am when pressed on election lies. He\u2019s such an unhinged coward. Have a nice day.— Scott Dworkin (@Scott Dworkin) 1641997661
BREAKING: Donald Trump threw a fit and abruptly ENDED an interview with NPR after they pressed him on his election LIES.\n\nWho thinks it's because Donald Trump is HUGE LOSER who can't accept the fact he LOST?— Jon Cooper \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@Jon Cooper \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1641996173
I just watched the clip on CNN where he hung up on you.\nMan baby can\u2019t handle any type of push back!— Cathy (@Cathy) 1641992159
Wow snowflake https://www.npr.org/2022/01/12/1072204478/donald-trump-npr-interview-presidential-election-lies-vaccines\u00a0\u2026— The Lincoln Project (@The Lincoln Project) 1641997841
This is the impression I have from the interview.pic.twitter.com/Ybs5KHgUCX— wish you were here (@wish you were here) 1641994478
This is what it sounds like when a good journalist refuses to let the guy who tried to overthrow the republic spread his lies unchallenged. He runs away.https://www.npr.org/2022/01/12/1072204478/donald-trump-npr-interview-presidential-election-lies-vaccines\u00a0\u2026— S.V. D\u00e1te (@S.V. D\u00e1te) 1641991744
He is only use to soft ball interviews on Fox, Newsmax and OAN where the interviewer sits there and nods their head to everything he says— suzyaz (@suzyaz) 1641993760
Just listen to him. He is mentally unfit. He\u2019s nothing but a prop being used to make money and gain power by an entire lost party. Who will finally grow a spine and end this?\n\nTrump cuts NPR interview short when pressed about election lies : NPRhttps://www.npr.org/2022/01/12/1072204478/donald-trump-npr-interview-presidential-election-lies-vaccines\u00a0\u2026— Fred Wellman (@Fred Wellman) 1641997964
Trump's "NPR was very unfair to me" press release written in crayon coming soon!— \ud835\udce3\ud835\udcf1\ud835\udcee \ud835\udcd4\ud835\udcea\ud835\udcfb\ud835\udcf5 \ud835\udcf8\ud835\udcef \ud835\udce1\ud835\udcea\ud835\udcf6 (@\ud835\udce3\ud835\udcf1\ud835\udcee \ud835\udcd4\ud835\udcea\ud835\udcfb\ud835\udcf5 \ud835\udcf8\ud835\udcef \ud835\udce1\ud835\udcea\ud835\udcf6) 1642000676
There's a longstanding fantasy that confronting Trump with reality will cause him to crumple.\n\nNPR's Steve Inskeep did that. Trump didn't crumple. He just hung up.https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/12/trump-inskeep-interview/\u00a0\u2026— Philip Bump (@Philip Bump) 1641997298
Inskeep and Trump also briefly discussed the pandemic, in which Trump once again repeated his recent recommendations that people get vaccinated but gave a subtle tip of the hat to his legion of anti-vaxxer supporters, saying that vaccination should be an "individual choice."
