Andrea Mitchell, who once said Donald Trump is “Completely uneducated about any part of the world,” has been trying to get answers about the world from Trump’s Secretary of State, Exxon-Mobil’s Rex Tillerson.
That’s not easy when Tillerson, seven weeks into Trump’s administration, has yet to hold a press conference. However, Tillerson did meet publicly yesterday with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin.
Mitchell seized the day, or as the kids translate the Latin, “YOLO’d” and now her efforts have gotten her escorted from the room as she asked Tillerson how he will respond to threats from China, and if Donald Trump will be strong against Vladimir Putin.
Watch courtesy of MSNBC:
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That caused Bill O’Reilly to crow via Twitter,
Unruly Andrea Mitchell escorted from press conf https://t.co/dqXjCZke1Y
— Bill O'Reilly (@oreillyfactor) March 8, 2017
A Fox spokesperson said the tweet was not from O’Reilly himself but from a staff person on the show but it was International Women’s Day, of all days to call Andrea Mitchell, a woman, unruly, and the damage was done.
Mitchell owned it, signing off with “That does it for this unruly edition of Andrea Mitchell Reports.” As NBC News’ Brad Jaffy added, [mic drop].
She became an instant rallying cry for the press. Jaffy went on to lecture O’Reilly that,
“No. She was trying to ask questions — as any good reporter should. And I’m proud to call her a friend and colleague.”
The venerable Dan Rather offered “full support and encouragement to her. Solidarity.”
Jake Tapper spoke out too, tweeting,
Yeah, that's not "unruly," that's a dogged reporter trying to get a powerful person to answer questions important to the public. https://t.co/v3uHU5H0SS
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 9, 2017
The next thing you know you have Buzzfeed’s Anne Helen Peterson tweeting,
Celebrate Unruly Women Day https://t.co/MnNff2Tpq2
— Anne Helen Petersen (@annehelen) March 8, 2017
Brian Williams quipped “this is not Andrea Mitchell’s first rodeo and she’s been tossed out of even fancier places while trying to do her job.”
Which isn’t saying much but is saying enough for Donald Trump’s so-called state department.
Photo: Screen grab MSNBC News
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.
