Doing A Donald

Our PM and the US President arent a million miles apart in their approach to the media.

- Bill Ralston

If I were to say that Jacinda Ardern is emulating Donald Trump, the left would snarl in outrage and attack me as deluded, and the right would snicker under their breath and shake their heads. Yet, curiously, in one aspect of her premiership she is following the Trump White House model.Shortly before Ardern left the country for New York, National Party leader Simon Bridges accused her of behaving like Trump for giving a TED Talk-type address to party faithful after cancelling interviews on Three’s Newshub Nation scheduled for the previous day and TVNZ 1’s Q+A on the day of her speech, citing a “diary issue”.

In much the same way as Trump rejects speaking before general audiences, preferring partisan crowds wearing Make America Great Again (MAGA) hats, Ardern has been tending to avoid traditional media scrutiny in favour of more supportive, non-confrontational public appearances.