The Memes About Jonathan Swan’s Blistering Trump Interview Keep Rolling In
Our new favourite meme format.
Earlier today, we wrote about Australian journalist Jonathan Swan’s televised sit-down interview with Donald Trump, in which the President is, for once, placed in a position where he’s forced to answer follow-up questions about the USA’s abysmal response to COVID-19.
One particularly mind-boggling part of the interview has gone viral, as Swan challenges Trump’s assertion that the US is “lower than the world” when it comes to COVID-19. As a recap, Trump backs that up by pointing to a misleadingly kind statistic of US deaths as a proportion of known cases.
.@jonathanvswan: “Oh, you’re doing death as a proportion of cases. I’m talking about death as a proportion of population. That’s where the U.S. is really bad. Much worse than South Korea, Germany, etc.”@realdonaldtrump: “You can’t do that.”
Swan: “Why can’t I do that?” pic.twitter.com/MStySfkV39
— Axios (@axios) August 4, 2020
When Swan points out that the US’s death rate in proportion to its population is pretty horrific, the President simply responds “you can’t do that”. An incredulous Swan responds with “why can’t I do that?”, and continues to grill the President.
Adding the Veep music underneath it gives the interview a certain je ne sais Selena Meyer, too.
God, I wish this was just a dumb show like ours. https://t.co/n3edLDiqiq
— Julia Louis-Dreyfus (@OfficialJLD) August 4, 2020
Now, this particular exchange — the passing of papers, Swan’s incredulous face — has become a meme itself, in addition to the previous reactions.
In short, Trump passes Swan a drawing, and Swan isn’t impressed. It’s only about one step more ludicrous than the actual interview.
In the full almost 40-minute chat, Swan also presses Trump over previously wishing Ghislaine Maxwell well, as well as his feelings around the late civil rights activist and congressman John Lewis. He’s been universally praised for the interview by other journalists.
“The reason this feels so alien is because very, very few journalists have pressed him/been given the opportunity to press him this way in a non-press conference format where he doesn’t have complete control,” wrote BuzzFeed‘s Anne Helen Petersen.
“This is hands down the best TV interview of Trump during his presidency,” added senior CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy. “It’s not even close. Swan displays a masterful grasp of the facts & how be confronts Trump with them is remarkable to watch.”
“Frankly, there should be several TV news anchors/broadcasters out there who have interviewed Trump who should be rather embarrassed watching Swan school them on how to properly do their jobs.”
Swan’s father, Dr. Norman Swan of ABC’s Coronacast, is also super proud, and reposting plenty of the praise on his Twitter. Cute.
Enjoy some of the best variations on the meme.
— metal.txt (@metaltxt) August 4, 2020
— No Context Silent Hill (@NoContextSilent) August 4, 2020
— Yaakov Cohney (@YaakovCohney) August 4, 2020
— Joe Rumrill (@2tonbug) August 4, 2020
i gave u all the cluez pic.twitter.com/jVAtOqsWDM
— TheScottToddy (@OGScottieT) August 4, 2020
Oh my god pic.twitter.com/GfSxfOzzco
— James Boodt (@JDBoodt) August 4, 2020
Trump has some great taste in art (sorry if it has been done before) pic.twitter.com/hnLmPWvviG
— BottleOfMustard (@AlleywayMustard) August 4, 2020
— VoteForBidenToOwnTheLibs (@TooMeaty) August 4, 2020
— Louviers (@LouSirTheThird) August 4, 2020
Same energy pic.twitter.com/tyVKYCOJqE
— Armand Valdesksksk (@ArmandTweets) August 4, 2020
Find the full interview below.