Here’s how I draft questions for the president.
Step one: think of every topic the mainstream media is obsessed with, the questions every other reporter in the room is about to ask.
Step two: ask the opposite.
That’s exactly the process I followed Monday, when I asked the president about Flock cameras – those pesky license-plate scanners popping up across the country that have caused quite the stir well beyond conservative circles.
A White House aide texted me Sunday night. President Trump was meeting with Ryder Williams. He was the 16-year-old lifeguard who pulled a young boy from the water off the California coast. The meeting had been moved to Monday. It was originally scheduled for Friday, when I was on White House pool duty. The aide knew I’d been eyeing the event and told me to hang around in case it opened to the press. If it did, I could get in.
An hour out, it still wasn’t open. I hovered in the press office anyway. And sure enough, that familiar crackle of the intercom broke the quiet, calling us to gather in the Oval Office.
After the president delivered his opening remarks honoring Williams, he opened the floor to questions. But the president broke from his usual routine. He didn’t want questions on any topic. We were only to ask questions about the rescue.
I had none. Which was fine. I’d rather save my turn for a policy question anyway. Plus, that would make my editor happier.
So I waited as other reporters asked the teenager about the rescue, and a few asked the president about legislation to help lifeguards. Some were bolder than me and tried to slip in a policy question. He shot them down.
Eventually, the questions ran dry. Reporters had nothing left to ask the lifeguard.
I broke the silence.
