19:38

The Donald Trump press conference simultaneously represents the best and the worst about American politics, writes Guardian political reporter Ben Jacobs:

While Hillary Clinton, for example, hasn’t even gaggled with reporters this year, Trump makes himself comparatively accessible to the press and even gives unscripted answers to questions at times.

The problem is often the reporters. Trump has luxuriated in debating process not policy throughout the campaign, and reporters constantly offer him questions on the horserace.

There is nothing inherently wrong with asking about process. In fact, these are questions that politicians should answer and often dodge by putting on holier-than-thou airs. They claim they are serious people trying have a conversation about ideas with the American people. This is nonsense and it is a form of nonsense that Trump, to his credit, does not engage in.

Trump: Not in for nonsense. Photograph: Matt Rourke/AP

The problem is that reporters never press him about policy. Trump is a political neophyte with little policy expertise and often dismisses questions on policy with evasions “I can’t comment.”

There is a need to probe these issues further. Not to test Trump’s knowledge of terms and trivia, but his judgment. It’s not important that he know what “the nuclear triad” is, but whether he thinks it is necessary for the United States to spent large sums of money on bombers, submarines and missile silos equipped with nuclear warheads.

Part of this is the novelty of Trump. Many in the media still don’t treat him with the seriousness that he deserves and it makes better television for him to call Ted Cruz a Canadian than discuss whether the US should continue as a member of NAFTA. But Trump is a real candidate who needs to be treated as such, and the media’s fundamental role is to be an advocate for voters and ensure that the American electorate has all the necessary information to make an informed decision in the voting booth.

The press though has often failed on this count. The sad result is that while we know quite a bit about candidate Trump’s thinking, we still know far too little about what policies President Trump might implement.