I saw this recently. Astonishing and cringe-inducing. Surely the magnitude of the cognitive dissonance that must have arisen in Lauer’s head during this interview was overwhelming.
Or maybe not? Guys like this (both Lauer and O’Reilly; many others of course) seem to possess some sort of capacity for managing the cognitive and emotional repercussions of their own sordid behavior. Maybe it involves rationalization; maybe compartmentalization; maybe both; or maybe some other mechanism(s) entirely.
Or maybe they’re simply sociopaths.