In my ongoing quest to highlight media disasters – so you and your team can avoid repeating them – the White House in 2026 has become an overflowing treasure chest.
The media blunders made by U.S. President Donald Trump, and so many figures around him, are the gifts that keep on giving to my mission.
And the blunderers are not always American.
Take, for example, Donald Trump’s relatively new “Special Presidential Envoy for American, Exceptionalism & Values.”
He’s Nick Adams who was born and raised in Australia – before becoming a U.S. citizen and getting the opportunity to work on behalf of the American President.
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Alas Nick Adams has proved to be in the same “exceptionalism” league as Donald Trump himself when it comes to media mishaps.
As Britain’s Sun newspaper says when it prints a story readers may find hard to believe, Nick Adams can make so many mistakes within a single interview “You couldn’t make it up!”
Nick Adams has just been interviewed on the London-based News Podcast “The News Agents” where he makes a string of monumental media mishaps.
The following Nick Adams interview is conducted by the News Agents’ Jon Sopel – a former BBC Washington Correspondent – and Emily Maitlis who is most famous for her BBC Newsnight interview where the now-Ex Prince Andrew made a right royal mess of failing to stand up to her well-researched interrogation.
Alas Nick Adams doesn’t fare much better.
Watch out for:
+ The Nick Adams’ recurring inability to give direct replies to straight-forward questions
+ The point where Jon Sopel highlights one of the most glaring Nick Adams question-avoidance manoeuvres by flagging “That’s a swerve!”
+ The Nick Adams’ declaration that “I call it how it is”, while proceeding to do the exact opposite.
The interview starts by seeking the Nick Adams’ response to one of the worst ever examples of Donald Trump’s overt racism – and what it means for American tourism.
The question refers to the President’s well-documented insult to a whole continent of people.
The continent is Africa, and Donald Trump has more than once used a disgustingly profane insult to refer to what he considers to be the kind of places where many of Africans live.
The evidence for this particular case of Trump anti-African racism comes towards the end of this column.
But – having warned you about it – please brace yourself and check out the Nick Adams interview here…
Having watched the interview, what do you make of the claim by Nick Adams that “I am the least politician-type person you’ve ever had on this show, I can guarantee”???
Despite being a self-declared “least politician-type”, Nick Adams has risen to the heights of Trump envoy after a short but colourful career in Australian local politics.
At 21-years-old he became a deputy mayor in western Sydney in the Municipality of Ashfield in 2005.
Nick Adams represented Australia’s Liberal Party which is broadly parallel to Britain’s Conservative Party.
He became best known for his aggressive approach to pigeons in a bid to eliminate the threat of bird flu.
As Councillor Adams, he gained headlines through a press conference at a shopping centre where he spread birdseed to create a swarm of pigeons for the cameras.
Nick Adams controversially proposed to completely eradicate or banish pigeons from Ashfield.
However, his eradication plan lacked specific extermination details – and ultimately failed to get council approval.
This setback didn’t stop him from going on to become a Trump-adoring, beer-swilling, steak-eating, self-described “alpha male” on social media in America.
His elevation to Trump envoy is giving him an ever-higher profile – so expect to hear more of him, gaffes and all!
Meanwhile, not to be outdone by his own envoy, Donald Trump is building on his on-going efforts to grab headlines through another badly-behaved presidential media appearance.
President Trump has stormed out of a “Meet The Press” TV interview on NBC.
He was triggered by a series of questions asking him to provide evidence to back his latest claims of voting fraud in America.
In the interview President Trump asserts that the latest election results in California have been rigged – along with the presidential election he lost in 2020 and which he still refuses to accept.
When repeatedly asked for supporting evidence by interviewer Kristen Welker – and failing to provide it – the President declares: “You are either crooked or you’re stupid”.
He then flounces off the interview set.
You can view the lowest points of the interaction in this video segment here…
The ongoing lessons here for everyone needing to do media interviews, include:
+ Even if you get irritated by the questions, be a saint and keep your cool
+ Storming out of an interview brings publicity, but rarely good publicity
+ Be ready to provide evidence for any assertion you make.
In the spirit of providing evidence, I promised earlier to give it for President Trump’s insult to the people of Africa which his envoy was asked about on The News Agents.
In the following commentary made in December 2025, CNN reporter Jake Tapper shows a video containing the coarsely-phrased insult – and gives a brief outline of the Trump supporters who sought to deny that it was ever made.
Please click on this image below.
In media interviews, it’s always advisable to be on your best behaviour – so that any criticism you need to make of anyone is well thought-out in advance and diplomatically worded.
In TV interviews you’re effectively being invited into people’s loungerooms, so it’s ideal to behave impeccably – as you presumably would be if there in person!
Quality media interview response training gives opportunities for practising, testing and refining whatever you’re planning to say before you’re in the spotlight.
There’s more about it at: https://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/media-master-classes/
Media interview response training can, when necessary, be done on an emergency basis shortly before you know that the media is coming to interview you.
Ideally, it’s best to do your media training WELL BEFORE you become the subject of media attention.
This allows time to plan, prepare, practise – and to see yourself and colleagues played back on screen – before you’re in the deep end making the mistakes that the worst performers repeat over and over!