"Mr. President, after three and a half years, do you regret at all, all the lying you’ve done to the American people?"
Trump was caught off guard. "What?" he responded.
"All the lying. All the dishonesties."
"That who has done?" Trump asked.
"You have done," the journalist said.
Trump froze for a moment and then called on another reporter (details here and here).
It was a watershed moment for several reasons.
The fact that Trump refused to respond is telling. It's the old rule of avoidance is admission. An honest person would have responded with a certain amount of indignant rebuttal. Something like "I have always tried to tell the truth."
But Trump knows he can't say that. Everyone in the room would have laughed.
In the past, Trump has been known to snap back at reporters, often with a personal attack, when they've asked a tough question he can't answer. He does this in particular with women journalists. Why didn't he here?
Instead, like a child, Trump just pretended the question hadn't happened and hurried on to another one. Too bad no one else asked a follow up to that topic.
The moment is also telling because it shows how Trump-the-perpetual-liar has become so pervasive in the zeitgeist. A significant majority of Americans know Trump is a habitual liar. The reporter asked Trump what most people have long ago concluded. How could he answer and retain any shred of dignity? So he hurried on.
And third, the question demonstrates that the media smells blood on the water. Many in that room have probably concluded Trump won't be around much longer. His defeat in November looks quite likely now. So it was an end-of-term question, something many have wanted to ask, and now that Trump's presidency is probably in its final months, this was the time to go for it.
All of the above notwithstanding, America is still waiting for the answer that Trump never gave.
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