Picture:
(Picture: Axios/HBO/Screengrab)The Australian journalist who grilled Donald Trump about the United States’ Covid-19 statistics in a grilling which sparked a thousand memes has now won an Emmy for that interview.
Jonathan Swan is a political reporter for Axios and received widespread praise for his 2020 sit-down chat with then president Trump.
In the interview, Swan directly and persistently challenged Trump’s misleading claims and attempted to fact-check him on the spot for his misinterpretation of statistics.
Swan’s many facial expressions during the HBO interview, which some mistook for satire because of how bizarre it was, caused him to become an instant meme and internet star.
Which @jonathanvswan are you today? pic.twitter.com/A347YxH380
— Philip🏴☠️ (@Philip_Germain) August 4, 2020
These @jonathanvswan facial expressions in the Trump Axios interview is pretty much how it feels to have a functioning brain while living in Trump’s America pic.twitter.com/YQ3u1HvMeW
— 🧩full🎃slack🧩 (@full_slack) August 4, 2020
We are all @jonathanvswan’s facial expressions. pic.twitter.com/QrujEdIvo7
— Meg Gorman (@Meg4Congress) August 4, 2020
Now, Swan has won the News Emmys Award for Outstanding Edited Interview for his Trump interview.
Speaking about his win, Swan told Guardian Australia: “I’m deeply honoured to have won this award, and grateful for the gifted, generous team who helped make the interview a great piece of journalism.”
The #NewsEmmys Award for Outstanding Edited Interview goes to "President Donald J. Trump: An interview," @HBO @axios. pic.twitter.com/E5uMmHhKvp
— News & Documentary Emmys (@newsemmys) September 29, 2021
During the interview, Trump was clearly flustered by Swan’s probing questions on his understanding of the data.
At one point during the interview, Swan reminded Trump of his responsibilities to his supporters to tell the truth.
Jonathan Swan: How is it under control? Thousands of people are dying every day.
— Sunrise Movement 🌅 (@sunrisemvmt) August 4, 2020
Trump: It is what it is
We are in a pandemic that could’ve been almost over by now but Trump refused to take it seriously. He‘s the reason why thousands are drying every daypic.twitter.com/j2bOakRTaN
Swan also told Trump that the figures for deaths as a proportion of population in the United States are “really bad” and “much worse than South Korea, Germany, et cetera”.
Trump replied, saying: “You can’t do that. You have to go by… the cases.”
Trump also suggested that South Korea’s cases were so low because they were issuing fake statistics.
Some of the interview’s most bizarre moment include:
Trump infamously said the US Covid statistics were “lower than the world”
Trump said: “Well, right here, United States is lowest in numerous categories. We’re lower than the world.”
Swan responded: “Lower than the world? Oh, you’re doing death as a proportion of cases. I’m talking about death as a proportion of population.”
Every single person in America needs to watch Jonathan Swan’s Axios interview with Trump. #AxiosOnHBO pic.twitter.com/QTeXhTvkFG
— TheBigDrumAfrica #BusinessConnect (@TheBigDrumAfric) August 6, 2020
Trump claimed he did more for the black community than anyone except Abraham Lincoln
The former president also claimed to have done more for black Americans than Lyndon Johnson, who passed the Civil Rights Act.
.@realDonaldTrump: "I did more for the Black community than anybody with the possible exception of Lincoln..."
— Jessy Han (@hjessy_) August 4, 2020
Swan: "You believe you did more than Lyndon Johnson who passed the Civil Rights Act?"
...
Trump: "How has it worked out if you look at what [LBJ] did?"#AxiosOnHBO pic.twitter.com/bqHd4jBzAP
Trump called mail-in ballots “new”, but Swan informed him they’ve been around since the Civil War
In a wildly incorrect claim, Trump suggested mail-in voting was a new system for the 2020 election, but Swan put him right.
... trump: “so we have a new phenomena. it’s called mail-in voting...”@jonathanvswan: “new? it’s been here since the civil war.” pic.twitter.com/fppTysPe8v
— fake nick ramsey (@nick_ramsey) August 4, 2020
Trump wished accused child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell “well”
At the time, Ghislaine Maxwell had been arrested on suspicion of trafficking children for sex, but the president continued to wish her well despite the allegations.
1. Let's take a look at what the president said about Ghislaine Maxwell in his interview with @jonathanvswan.
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) August 4, 2020
Swan asks the president about his comment 11 days ago when he said "I wish her well" in response to a question about Maxwell pic.twitter.com/Cjwfnd5D55
Ben Smith, media columnist for The New York Times, wrote that Swan’s interview was “perhaps the best interview of Mr. Trump’s term”.
