In
an awkward exchange, Trump finds out his radio interviewer is a
‘#NeverTrump guy’
The
worst-kept secret in Wisconsin’s primary is that its most
influential conservative radio hosts are hostile to Donald Trump.
28
March, 2016
Trump
was apparently the last person to learn that secret.
Fourteen
minutes into his talk with Milwaukee-area host Charlie Sykes, after
excruciating exchanges about the candidate’s donations to Democrats
and insults of women, Sykes asked a rudimentary question.
“Mr.
Trump, before you called into my show, did you know that I’m a
#NeverTrump guy?” asked Sykes.
“That
I didn’t know,” said Trump.
“I
thought it was interesting,” Sykes said. “People were wondering,
‘Does Donald Trump know what Charlie Sykes has said about him in
the past?’ ”
“No,
I didn’t know that, but I assume you’re also an intelligent guy,”
said Trump. “I know you’re an intelligent guy.”
[Why
some Republicans are feeling shame]
Trump
pivoted immediately, arguing for reform of an “obsolete” NATO.
But the interview was emblematic of Trump’s oddly slow start to his
Wisconsin campaign — scattered and unfocused, with an increasingly
nervous conservative movement demanding accountability that it blames
the mainstream media for not getting earlier.
Sykes,
who has been widely quoted about his #NeverTrump views and his
endorsement of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) since the race moved to
Wisconsin, hardly ambushed Trump. After congratulating the candidate
for the birth of a new grandson, Sykes asked him to close the book on
the interminable story of his threat to bring Heidi Cruz into a fight
over reputation and looks.
“Wouldn’t
it be a good way to start off your Wisconsin campaign by saying that
wives should be off-limits and that you apologize for mocking her
looks?” asked Sykes.
“I
think it’s true, Charlie, actually,” said Trump, apparently
agreeing that wives were off limits, albeit in a confusing way.
Later, he said he did not know Cruz’s wife but assumed she was
“incredible.” Given several chances, he just couldn’t clean up
the story.
An
even stranger moment occurred when Sykes switched topics, to Trump’s
old liberal views and donations to Democrats. “As a businessman, I
never even thought about all the things you’ve talked about,”
said Trump. Over several minutes he never mentioned the one fact that
could appeal to Sykes’s listeners — that he had donated close to
$300,000 to help Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) beat back a recall
campaign.
On
the right, Sykes — already well-respected — was feted as a hero.
Trump, reported the conservative Federalist website, “fell apart
live on-air when asked tough questions about his record on the
issues.” The front-runner was “destroyed” by Sykes, according
to RedState’s editor-in-chief Leon Wolf. “Finally someone who
isn’t afraid to hold The Donald accountable for what he says,”
assessed the Right Scoop.
Trump
had hardly been hiding from the media. Just 24 hours before his Sykes
call-in, he took six questions from ABC News’s Jonathan Karl about
the Heidi Cruz spat. But there’s growing resentment on the right
that Trump has received exponentially more free media than Cruz, that
the GOP delegate chase is covered as Trump’s to lose and that even
Fox News mangled the Heidi Cruz story, with Sean Hannity and Geraldo
Rivera mistakenly blaming Sen. Cruz for starting the fight.
Lots here on Donald Trump as narcissistic fascist - from Webster Tarpley HERE
One
of Donald Trump’s top campaign strategists, former communications
director Stephanie Cegielski, has resigned from his campaign in
protest of Trump’s ridiculous statement that “only he can solve”
the bombing in Pakistan (whatever that might mean). She has penned a
devastating open letter to his supporters, explaining to us why she
originally supported Trump, and how his excess and dishonesty turned
her against him. She issues a stark warning to Trump supporters that
the supposed “authenticity” of Trump is nothing but smoke and
mirrors, a soap opera character – and that at the end of the day,
Donald Trump only cares about himself. A brutal denunciation of Trump
as both a candidate and a person, it might be the most complete
evisceration of the orange-haired rabble-rouser yet written.
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