How to watch Kristen Welker interview Donald Trump on 'Meet the Press.' She needs to nail it

How to watch Kristen Welker’s inaugural show as host of “Meet the Press” — interviewing Donald Trump, no less?

Very, very carefully.

It’s not a stretch to say that this is the most important political interview of the year. So far, at least. Which may be setting a low bar, but it’s not nothing.

It is, in fact, a huge opportunity for Welker to hit the ground running. Her mere presence elevates the show over the Chuck Todd version, in which he too often treated meaningful follow-up questions like some bizarre third rail of journalism.

Todd’s last show was Sept. 10; he handed off to Welker, who takes the reins officially on Sunday, Sept. 17. As she proved as moderator of one of the 2020 presidential debates — even drawing praise from Trump, who complains about the media the way Phoenix residents complain about the weather in August — Welker can be really good.

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She also goes into the interview with some advantages that should prevent this from becoming the disaster that Kaitlan Collins’ “town hall” with Trump in May was — Trump pep rally, more like. Former CNN CEO Chris Licht (the town hall is one of the reasons for the “former” description) allowed the room to fill up with Trump supporters, who are not exactly known for their decorum in public settings.

Collins is a serious journalist, but Trump simply drowned her out in a sea of lies and misinformation, as the MAGA carnival barkers in the crowd cheered him on. It was ugly and something worse than useless. Just ask Licht.

Welker won’t have to put up with a crowd. The interview will be pre-taped, without an audience. This gives Welker a chance to hear herself think as she presumably pushes back on Trump’s lies — and she has to push back, or what’s the point? And the pre-recording will give NBC the chance to fact-check Trump’s lies before the show airs and place them in context.

NBC will also post its fact-checking on its website after the interview.

Just a quick note to acknowledge that somehow it has become not just acceptable, but essential to go into an interview with this former president having to account for the deluge of lies he will tell. This is not progress, on any front. It’s bizarro world and we’re living in the middle of it. And we can’t ignore it.

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This will be Trump's first broadcast-network interview since leaving office

Trump hasn’t been on “Meet the Press” since 2019. He hasn’t sat for a broadcast-network interview since he left office. Mostly he’s bloviated on Truth Social, his social-media platform, and cuddled up to conservative media pals, whose idea of pushback is to praise him a little less lavishly every now and then.

Don’t expect that from Welker. In the 2020 debate, she kept things moving — not always calling Trump out on the biggest whoppers, but not letting him double down on them, either. It was a smart strategy, and it worked.

Of course there is a school of thought that giving Trump any attention is a mistake. We know what he’s going to say — the 2020 election was stolen from him, Joe Biden is old and doddering, Trump alone is the hero that can save America. The usual.

What makes this so intriguing is what Welker does with all that, without the constraints that a real-time interview would place on her. Trump can fill a single answer with so many lies and misstatements that NBC could spend the whole show fact-checking it. It’s going to be a matter of picking your spots, deciding what needs calling out most urgently and what you can let slide.

Which is, in truth, a miserable way to have to conduct an interview, but here we are.

What to focus on? Trump’s reelection campaign? Or his many indictments? His good polling numbers? Or his embrace of false narratives? The mind reels.

Whatever the case, it’s a heck of a way for Welker to begin her “Meet the Press” tenure. It’s good for a legitimate journalist working for a legitimate news organization to get Trump on the record. Thus, it’s an important interview — for Welker, obviously, but for everyone else, as well.

How to watch Kristen Welker host ‘Meet the Press’

7 a.m. Arizona time Sunday, Sept. 17 on Channel 12 (KPNX).

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. X, formerly known as Twitter: @goodyk.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Why Kristen Welker's Donald Trump interview is most vital of the year