Word Ninja

LA mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt is making waves. You’d have to be living under a rock not to have heard about his ongoing feud with Mayor Karen Bass, whom he accuses of contributing to the destruction of his home.

Pratt, no stranger to the camera, has leveraged his experience as a reality TV villain into a media asset. That was on full display when CBS asked how he felt about being compared to NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Rather than taking the bait — showing either admiration or contempt for Mamdani — Pratt pivoted to policy, and did so cleverly by playing on the word “free.” He contrasted the socialist idea of giving people free things with what he wants for LA: “free from urine, feces, stabbings, and attacks.”

If you want to become a word ninja too, here’s how to control an interview:

#1 — Block. You can’t ignore questions — you have to show you heard them. But when a question has a faulty premise, is hostile, or is off-topic, you don’t have to dwell on it. Being a word ninja starts with the mental decision not to take the bait. Remember: an interview is not a Q&A session. It’s an opportunity to play off questions so that you control the narrative.

#2 — Bridge. Once you’ve decided not to take the bait, the true art of the interview is making it sound like you’re answering the question even when you’re saying what you want to say. Acknowledge the question briefly — just enough to show you heard it — then move immediately to your message.

#3 — Word Play. One bridging technique is to play off a single word in the question. As Spencer Pratt demonstrated, he used the word “free” to draw a contrast between his policies and Mamdani’s. One caution: don’t play off a word that puts you in a bad position. If you’re called a derogatory name, for instance, that’s not the word you want to use.