Why politicians are aggressive towards journalists and other critics

This is from a piece which discusses liars generally and how and why they become aggressive when you question them about things they don’t like.

#9: Counterattack. The fact is, just as most of us are uncomfortable telling lies, most are uncomfortable accusing others. This discomfort can be used in the liar’s favor. “You’ll often see politicians respond to accusations with aggression,” says Stan Walters, author of The Truth About Lying: Everyday Techniques for Dealing with Deception. “What they’ll do is drive critics away from the issue, so they’re forced to gather up their resources to fight another scrimmage.”

That’s just it: they come at their accusers with a tonne of aggression so that those accusers are then taken up dealing with the aggression, rather than the issue itself.

“This is my audit, which I plan on publishing at five minutes to midnight.”