Trump’s ’60 Minutes’ interview shows why we need a free press
OpinionRodney Kennedy  |  April 29, 2026

The recent 60 Minutes interview with President Donald Trump hosted by Norah O’Donnell was not great television, but it revealed a glaring and well-known flaw in our president. He attacks and denigrates everyone he deems critical of him.

He always has reserved a particular animus for intelligent women, as they have taken the brunt of his most vicious criticisms.

There’s an exchange in the interview where Trump trots out all his usual decrepit tropes of ugliness. His lack of good manners has become his defining trait. His dismissive remarks have exploded on the leaders of other nations, the press, even Pope Leo.

O’Donnell reads a statement from the manifesto of the man arrested the night of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. “I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.”

Then she asks, “What’s your reaction to that?”

Trump responds, “You’re horrible people. Horrible people. Yeah, he did write that. I’m — I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody.”

Then he tells O’Donnell, “You should be ashamed of yourself reading that because I’m not any of those things.”

Trump’s defense: “I’m not a rapist;” “I’m not a pedophile” sound like the infamous remarks of other presidents: Richard Nixon’s “I’m not a crook” and Bill Clinton’s, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”

“You should be ashamed of yourself reading that because I’m not any of those things.”
The American people, as with all Trump matters, are divided. Nearly half of Americans believe Trump was somehow involved in Jeffrey Epstein’s underage sex trafficking ring, a striking new poll has revealed. When asked by YouGov, “Do you think that Donald Trump was involved in crimes allegedly committed by Jeffrey Epstein?” 46% of respondents said yes, compared to 32% who said no and 23% who were unsure.

Last year, 47% of Republicans said they still would vote for Trump even if he were expressly implicated in Epstein’s crimes. The statistic is from a poll the Canadian market research company Leger conducted in partnership with the media companies 338Canada and Maintenant Media between July 25 and 27, 2025.

Social media troops can fight over Trump’s character. I have little use for these endless tirades. I am interested in setting the record straight about O’Donnell and the press. She didn’t make the statement about Trump.

O’Donnell is not a horrible person. “Horrible” means being extremely unpleasant or bad. She is the opposite of horrible.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, of all people, offered a more accurate assessment of Trump when she tweeted, “President Trump hates women he can’t control, who don’t worship him, women who actually worship God, and are much more intelligent than he is.”

O’Donnell doesn’t have the character issues faced by Trump. She hasn’t told more than 32,000 documented lies like Trump. She hasn’t been convicted of a single felony. Yet Trump says, “You’re horrible people.”

“O’Donnell is as far from ‘horrible’ as you can imagine but has been called ‘horrible’ by a president who surely is a horrible person.”
O’Donnell is as far from “horrible” as you can imagine but has been called “horrible” by a president who surely is a horrible person.

Trump’s attempts to shame O’Donnell smack of irony. He won the presidency by teaching MAGA to stop feeling shamed by liberals, gay rights activists and feminists. Trump’s rhetoric emerges in part through his mastery of a circuit of shame and dignity, in which supporters who feel ashamed find, in his verbal and visual style, a repudiation of that shame and so mobilize behind him.

Then, he treats O’Donnell as if she is an object of derision rather than a fellow human being. Trump tries to make himself look good by attempting to make O’Donnell look bad.

Finally, Trump attacks O’Donnell’s character rather than addressing the issue. More and more, people are tired of Trump’s old scripts like this.

More than ever, we need professional journalists like O’Donnell. The misinformation spinning out of the Trump political machine requires good information. Only the free press can provide the good information as a foil to the lies of Trump and his social media.

Every Trumpian piece of disinformation has to be fought by a legion of fierce reporters willing to tell the truth. Trump plays the “fake news” script on an endless social media cycle.

Trump has done tremendous damage to the reputation of America’s free press. He should be held liable for the lies and misinformation he foments on a daily basis. Every honest member of the press corps should sue him for libel and defamation.

Here’s the truth: Norah O’Donnell is not a horrible person; our president is an ill-mannered, uncouth old man filled with grievances and a desire for revenge. I raise my glass to O’Donnell and honest reporters.