Mark Halperin, senior political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC as well as co-host of Showtime’s The Circus, visited a Washington, D.C. elementary school to interview fifth-graders. In the process, he did his Pied Piper of Hamelin routine, leading the children to voice their distaste for President Trump while subtly underlining that attitude with his questions and responses.
Halperin began, “We’ve got a new president, you all know who the new president is, right? And so a lot of people in the country are talking about that. One word to describe President Trump”
The kids responded, “Crazy.” “Business.” “Disrespectful.” “Trouble.” Trouble, okay. “Interesting.” “Rude.” “Money or rich.” “Complicated.” “Untruthful.” “Troubling.” “Misled.” “Careless.”’“Surprising.” “Confused.” “Unexperienced.” “Truthful.” “Hard-working.” “Unpredictable.”
Halperin asked, “What do you think he’s done so far as president?”
One girl answered, “He’s started the process of building a wall.”
Halperin: “You like that or you don’t like that?”
The young girl shook her head.
Halperin, “Anybody like that?”
The one kid who was a Trump supporter answered, “Not all of the people who come in illegally are bad, but some of them will bring in, like, drugs and other stuff.”
Halperin segued, “So people who don’t like the law; why is it a bad idea?”
He got more answers on that one.
Halperin: “Tell me something else he’s done as president?”
Halperin got just what he wanted. One kid answered, “Well, he hasn’t done this but today he’s supposed to sign an executive order that’s gonna get a bunch of like the coal factories and gonna start digging gas again. It’s like very hurtful to nature.
Another kid echoed, “He doesn’t believe much in global warming and I think it’s very important for the president to care about the environment.”
That was a perfect set-up for Halperin: “Who thinks President Trump cares about the environment?”
The same lonely Trump supporter raised his lonely hand, thus making it perfectly evident how out of step he was.
The last question from Halperin was obvious in its implications: “One of the things that is confusing to a lot of people, particularly who live in Washington, where the president is not very popular, is why did Donald Trump win? I’m wondering what your guys thoughts are, why did Donald Trump win?”
First of all, it’s a pretty good guess that had Halperin been speaking of Barack Obama, it would have been “President Obama.” Second, if you’re a kid in the class who supports Trump, wouldn’t you feel just a little intimidated that Halperin told you everyone in Washington, D.C, hates Trump?
At the end, a pizza was brought in. Halperin turned to the kids as they posed for a photo: “3-2-1, say Gorsuch!”
One kid said, “What is that?”
That prompted collective laughter.
What a surprise.
Video below: