Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan spoke about her recent encounter with the president-elect, who had deliberately avoided him for eight years, and wondered if his “charming” personality clouded her judgment. He expressed concern that this may be the case.
“I had never met Trump until a couple of weeks ago,” Noonan said. in a recent conversation He was released on Tuesday, along with Free Press founder Bari Weiss. “In 2015 and 2016, when he was deciding to run for president, or was deciding to run, his office and aides did what they would do to anyone else in journalism. It was about reaching out and saying, “We want to know.'' Now, meet the boss and have lunch. “And I always said, ‘No, I don’t want to. ”
“The reason was that I had a hunch that if I looked at him up close there would be something charming and interesting and endearing about him, and I thought that would ruin my swing as an observer. ,” she explained. “I didn't want to see him up close. I didn't want to see him far away. I wanted this intuitive feeling. [to] Look at him in the middle distance. And I felt like I could see him clearly in the middle distance. ”
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Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan said she met President-elect Donald Trump for the first time just before the election, after refusing to meet him since he entered politics. (William B. Plowman/NBC via Getty Images)
Noonan, a vocal critic of President Trump, acknowledged the years of verbal war with the former president and the attacks he received through tweets and rallies, telling Weiss: That's a weird way to do it. ”
“So a couple of weeks ago, when he came to the Wall Street Journal for an editorial board meeting, my instincts kicked in again: 'Don't go.' But then I corrected myself. I did,” Noonan said. “I've been writing about him for eight years. I sometimes whipped him like a seal. He sometimes whipped me too. And if he came to my newspaper, it was very It would be wrong, and he wouldn't be able to go there and retaliate.'' Either that, or whatever he wanted to do, I thought that was the fair and right thing to do, so I went. Ta. ”
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Noonan said he first met President-elect Donald Trump at a pre-election meeting with the Wall Street Journal editorial board. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
“So we're waiting for him…I'm sitting next to him.” [Wall Street Journal editorial editor] Paul Gigo, and as we waited nervously, Paul said, in silence, “How many times have you met Trump?'' And I said, “I've never met Trump.'' No,” he said. And he said, “You’ve never met Trump?!?” And he was like, “Oh, here's where the drama begins.” And all of a sudden I thought, “Oh, this could be a drama.'' You know how Trump acts, like, when he's going to be terrible, I mean, up close,” she continued, “Anyway, at some point, the door opens and the aides come in. Come on, there's Trump, he's wearing that blue suit in person, his tie is huge, his hair is huge, everything is huge. is wonderful.” You are the most remarkable woman. ”
“And he sat down with us…he spoke on the record and off the record. But off the record, he was hilariously rude and inappropriate and said things to a lot of journalists about foreign leaders. I said something wrong. And I just sat there.'' I looked back and the last thing I thought was, “Honey, your instincts were right. If you had met him in 2015, you would have loved him and wanted him.'' We wouldn’t have met,’” Noonan added.
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Noonan said Trump ignored her colleagues at the Wall Street Journal and told her, “You're great,'' despite their long, frosty relationship. (William B. Plowman/NBC via Getty Images, Evan Vucci/AP)
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Mr. Noonan, a former speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan and author of “A Certain Way of Thinking About America,” recently told Fox News' Bret Baier that the country is in the throes of “something very big” after Mr. Trump's victory. “We're in the middle of it,” he said.
“I feel like people think everything they've seen so far in the 21st century doesn't really like it, and Trump doesn't like it either. That's why they elected him twice. 'And I think more than half of the country is in a huge backlash against the system,' Noonan said.
