The late, great writer and reporter Michael Kelly was a guest on my radio show almost weekly from its debut in July of 2000 through his death outside of Baghdad in April 2003. So was Christopher Hitchens — more than 70 times in fact — until his death in late 2011. Kelly always emphasized that journalism was a “craft,” not a profession and Hitchens that it was very much a moral crusade. I think it is both, and more. It is part of a functioning, free democratic Republic, and its practitioners must not be intimidated.

The very best journalists — those who go to the front lines of combat like Kelly and Hitchens, John Fisher Burns, Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Dexter Filkins, Robert Kaplan, David Kirkpatrick, Thomas Ricks and scores of others routinely ask tough questions of the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines they cover, from the privates to the generals. These journalists set a standard for desk jockeys like me who cover politics and public policy but who have never been remotely in harm’s way. I think we who work from the comfort of studios owe it to the public generally, and specifically to men and women deployed at the tips of various spears around the world, to ask would-be presidents how they will conduct themselves as Commander-in-Chief.

In the weeks since the first GOP presidential debate I have conducted 30 interviews with would-be nominees. Some have been prickly. (John Kasich as my home state governor seems particularly entitled to mock me and my questions, which is fine by me. He is a Steelers fan after all.) In my view all 30 have been fair.

Some disagree about my Thursday interview with Donald Trump, the fourth I conducted with him in the past month. Other earlier interviews from the spring have also caused other candidates some discomfort, such as my asking Governor Bush about the aging-out of the Ohio Class submarine and the dynastic implications of another Bush-Clinton race. (Bush didn’t know the particulars of the submarine issue, admitted as much and promised to study up. Fair enough.) Dr. Ben Carson wasn’t happy with my NATO questions though he has been back and will return again next week.

Read the article “I Didn’t Ask Trump ‘Gotcha Questions’” on politico.com.