I watched maybe 3 minutes of this softball game where propagandist Kelly tossed the most absurdly expected questions that an interviewee could have ever wanted, and of course propagandist Putin knocked them out of the park. No followups. It was a classic display of what journalism ISN’T! You would almost think the questions were designed to let Trump’s puppet master Putin off the hook.
Here is an EXTREMELY kind analysis of the interview by Yashar Ali:
2. Megyn Kelly is not a foreign affairs anchor, that's not an insult, it's just a fact. And that lack of experience showed.
3. As a reporter friend of mine just said "Putin is KGB, not KFC" unfortunately he rolled Megyn from the beginning to the end.
4. Megyn asked him questions that he could make fun of or deny. For example, asking him about his relationship with Mike Flynn.
5. First of all, even if Putin had this incredibly close relationship with Flynn, he's not going to tell Megyn Kelly about it but Putin said
6. Putin said he barely spoke to him, which is probably the truth. Putin is not going to cozy up to Flynn directly, he's got people for that
7. She asked him repeatedly about Russian interference, he's not gonna tell the truth about that so there's no point in asking. Wasted Q
8. She asked him about Trump's finances, how did she expect him to weigh in? "Yes i've seen his taxes and I'm using them for blackmail"
9. Here's what she didn't ask him about: Chechnya and the murder and torture of gay men there. She didn't ask him about journalists murdered
10. She didn't ask him about Putin critics who end up getting killed, she didn't ask him about his economy or his personal finances
11. She didn't ask him about Bashar Al-Assad. She didn't ask him about Russia's relationship with Iran or North Korea.
12. She didn't ask him about Russian interference on a global scale: France etc. She didn't ask him about NATO.
13. She didn't pound him on the same question over and over. The interview was choppy.
14. Yes, Putin was a C-List KGB officer but he still has the skills + training of an intelligence professional + he used it against her
15. One of the things that's gotten attention is he's referred to her children and their age in interview, some people see that as a threat
16. It's not a threat - it's trying to disarm/throw her off. Since the interview was edited I have no idea if it worked.
17. You can't ask someone like Putin "the evidence shows that Russia interfered" He'll say "Did you see the raw intelligence?"
18. Megyn should have asked him about his relationship/thoughts about Hillary Clinton in order to get a glimpse into how he felt.
19. Depending on his answer, she could have found an opening there, even if it was a tiny opening, to dig deeper on his motivations
Like many propagandists, Megyn Kelly isn’t stupid. I’ve gone over a cynicism cliff lately, so I’m going to go with this pathetic interview was on purpose. It was a free pass for Putin to say whatever he wanted. And the reason was, she was doing a favor for Dear Leader so that she can get the interviews with this corrupt regime to give a boost to her new show.
NBC is trying to be FOX lite, but all you have to do is look at the ratings of their right wing people on MSNBC to see that this is a betrayal of the Comcast stock holders.
RESIST!