never understood why powerful public figures in american society are so terrified of "tough" questioning from reporters

generalizing, but one thing i respect about brits is their willingness to join the rhetorical fray & go toe-to-toe with reporters to defend their policies

the entire american media ecosystem is built around making rhetorical points in friendly contexts (eg on favorably partisan cable news)

US policymakers & commentators tend to get deeply offended when someone calls bullshit or disagrees with them

this unwillingness to withstand public challenges to intellectual orthodoxies or countenance robust disagreements without devolving into a shouting match of ad hominems and non sequiturs is a sign of the navel-gazing vapidity that pervades american politics & news media