Before President Donald Trump banned journalists from press conferences, former Prime Minister Robert Muldoon did the same here in New Zealand.
In 1982 Muldoon famously threw New Zealand journalist and cartoonist Tom Scott out of his weekly press conference. Muldoon had taken exception to Scott's satirical commentary on his leadership.
Scott told Morning Report he sees some parallels between the two men.
Robert Muldoon and Donald Trump Photo: Wikicommons
“Muldoon was a bully and he wouldn’t take questions from certain journalists. He was very aggressive to members of the press, but he was only prime minister of New Zealand, he wasn’t leader of the free world.”
Like Muldoon, Scott says, Trump dominates the landscape but he believes he will eventually burn out.
“I think he’ll be gone before the four years is up, he’ll exhaust himself and exhaust even the people who adore him now.”
And he says the Trump presidency and the president’s antipathy toward the media has been galvanising.
“I’m getting stopped in the street and congratulated on my Trump cartoons like I used to be back in the ‘70s with Muldoon.”
However Muldoon differed from Trump in other ways, says Scott.
“Muldoon was a much smarter person, far more intellectually curious, Muldoon wasn’t a liar Trump is a pathological liar, there’s some very weird things going on inside Trump’s head.”
Scott believes Trump’s presidency will also be good for democracy in the long run.
“We took things for granted, we all thought certain things were set in concrete, now Trump is saying nothing can be taken for granted.
Democracy and voter participation have to be defended, Scott says.
“In the long run he’ll be good for western civilisation.”
