Billy Bush Deserves Better

Watch out, world: the perhaps next President of the United States is having another temper tantrum. In an interview with Howard Stern, who was laughing and egging him on, Trump revealed that he walked in on pageant contestants in various stages of undress -- because he owned the pageant and could act with impunity. So far, there's been no cry for Howard Stern to lose his job. Billy Bush, on the other hand, did what a good journalist is supposed to do: keep the subject talking, providing him/her with enough rope to make for a good story, and Bush loses his job and maybe his lifelong career.

Poking and prodding a talkative subject like Trump, who likes to hear himself talk, often results in him saying more without thinking first, without self-censoring. Billy got Donald to cross the lines of decency in a way that Trump otherwise might not have done. Get a braggart bragging and see what comes out is the job well-done by Billy Bush. Call it locker room talk if it makes you feel better, but I call it good journalism: catching a future Presidential candidate revealing the content of his character.

Howard Stern did the same thing Bush did: kept Donald talking, Stern laughing along with the storytelling and letting Donald run his mouth about how he thinks about and treats women. Donald admitted to Howard Stern he did what women are accusing him of, most especially the incident at the pageant. When others accuse Donald of what he has already admitted to doing, he denies it and calls it "vicious lies"--unless a good reporter gets him to talk while the tape is running.

Howard Stern got Trump to talk on tape and Billy Bush got Trump to talk on tape, but Billy loses his job. Why does Billy Bush have to take the fall for Donald Trump? Invite Billy onto the talk shows to tell how easy it was to push Trump’s buttons and get him to reveal what he’s really like. Billy was a good reporter doing a good job of revealing Trump being Trump and should not lose his job for doing his job well.