Katie Couric: Sarah Palin’s ‘Anti-Intellectual’ Rhetoric Paved Way For Trump’s ‘Anti-Media Sensibilities’

Amazingly, it has now been ten full years since Katie Couric’s unforgettable television interview with then-Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin that included infamous moments such as the Alaska governor saying she read “all of them” when asked what magazines and newspapers she read. The interview would be mercilessly mocked on Saturday Night Live and elsewhere during the 2008 election.

Appearing on CNN’s Reliable Sources this morning, Couric was asked by host Brian Stelter to reflect on the infamous and memorable Q&A session.

“I think it was one of the most pivotal and impactful,” Couric said. “It was the third interview that Governor Palin did. I think it had a big repercussion because I think people saw she was out of her depth and could not answer public policy questions in a very satisfying or satisfactory way.”

She went on to explain how she was currently looking at the interview through the lens of time, looking back at stories that Palin hadn’t been properly vetted by John McCain’s campaign team and “the role of the media in this.” Couric further noted that in the current social media landscape, the “rite of passage of the network news interview with an anchor asking probing questioning is no longer necessary.”

“So we wanted to look at that and how much things have changed and how her anti-intellectual red meat populism — anti-media rhetoric — did pave the way for Donald Trump and his anti-media sensibilities if you will,” Couric stated.

Stelter pointed out that Republicans and Pail would later complain that Couric’s interview was “gotcha journalism,” causing Couric to highlight that McCain and Republicans at the time praised her for being “exceedingly fair” to Palin and that the complaints largely were the result of the governor not performing well.

Watch the clip above, via CNN.