My Take | America’s PR for world’s biggest merchant of death

What’s the difference between interviewing a merchant of death who is a fellow American and the ambassador of a major country that has a very complicated relationship with the United States? Ask Margaret Brennan, she knows all about it. The news clips of her two different interviews, more than a month apart, really need to be seen to believe.

Brennan, the host of CBS’ Face the Nation, became infamous in China for her inquisition of Qin Gang, China’s ambassador to the US. Back in late March, she was all combative and confrontational, nary a single smile for the nine-minute interview during which she interrupted Qin more than 20 times, or at least twice a minute.

What a sea change when it came to interviewing Jim Taiclet, the president and CEO of Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest weapons maker. Was it an interview or free PR for Lockheed? Brennan was all smiles and ingratiating. As one commentator observed, “ask yourself if state television in a totalitarian country would have done it any differently”. Well, probably not as cheerfully as Brennan. Love those batting eyelashes.

She worried that Lockheed had to disrupt its existing production plan to accommodate Washington’s demand for Javelins, the shoulder-launch anti-tank missiles used to great effect against Russian tanks in Ukraine.

“But you’re a business-person. You have to plan ahead,” Brennan inquired worryingly. “We don’t know how long this war is going to last. The CIA says, you know, Vladimir Putin thinks he’s got to double down here. So, how long are you planning for with this ramp up [for the production of Javelins]?”

Actually, considering the business Taiclet is in, the longer the war, the more profitable. You would have thought even smart 12-year-olds knew that, no?