Peggy Noonan, a writer for the Wall Street Journal, recently shared her thoughts after meeting President Trump for the first time, having deliberately avoided him for eight years. In a conversation with Bari Weiss, she expressed concern that getting to know Trump might influence her perspective as a journalist.
Noonan explained, “I never met Trump until two or three weeks ago.” During the buildup to the 2016 election, she received multiple invitations from his team, but she always declined, worried that his engaging personality would cloud her judgment. “I didn’t want to see him up close,” she said, reflecting on her choice to observe him from a distance.
When she finally met Trump at an editorial board meeting, her instincts initially told her to stay away. However, she thought it would be unfair not to attend after frequently criticizing him in her writing. “I have been writing about him for eight years,” she noted, adding that they had exchanged sharp words over that time.
Noonan vividly described the moment of her meeting. As they awaited Trump’s arrival, she revealed to a colleague that she had never actually met him, which elicited a surprised reaction. When Trump entered the room, he immediately recognized her and said, “You are wonderful. You are the most remarkable woman.”
She went on to say that his off-the-record remarks during the meeting were often humorous and candid, leading her to realize her original instinct to keep a distance may have been misguided. She admitted, “If you had met him in 2015, you would have loved him and not seen him.”
Reflecting on the current political climate following Trump’s presidency, Noonan suggested that many Americans are feeling a pushback against the established order, noting, “more than half the country, I think, is just in a major pushback against the establishment.” Her perspective indicates a recognition of the deep sentiments among voters who are yearning for change after years of frustration with politics as usual.
