Friday, September 4, 2015

Donald Trump Unleashed

Yesterday, I offered a lengthy quotation by Ted Cruz. I wanted to show how he responded to questions asked of him by two environmental activists in New Hampshire. As I have done on other occasions, I did not comment on the exchange.

Today, I reprint a significant portion of the transcript of an interview that Donald Trump did with one Hugh Hewitt. Radio talk show host Hewitt will be one of the questioners at the next Republican presidential candidate debate. He is notably conservative, does not work for the New York Times and does not live on the Upper West Side.

I quote it for everyone’s edification, without commentary:

HH: I would thought that today, this is our sixth interview, I’d turn to some of the commander-in-chief questions. Are you ready for that?

DT: Okay, fine.

HH: Are you familiar with General Soleimani?

DT: Yes, but go ahead, give me a little, go ahead, tell me.

HH: He runs the Quds Forces.

DT: Yes, okay, right.

HH: Do you expect his behavior…

DT: The Kurds, by the way, have been horribly mistreated by …

HH: No, not the Kurds, the Quds Forces, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Quds Forces.

DT: Yes, yes.

HH: …is the bad guys.

DT: Right.

HH: Do you expect his behavior to change as a result…

DT: Oh, I thought you said Kurds, Kurds.

HH: No, Quds.

DT: Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you said Kurds, because I think the Kurds have been poorly treated by us, Hugh. Go ahead.

HH: Agreed. So Soleimani runs the Quds Forces. Do you expect his behavior is going to change as a result of this deal with Iran?

DT: I think that Iran right now is in the driver’s seat to do whatever they want to do. I think what’s happening with Iran is, I think it’s one of the, and I covered it very well. I assume you saw the news conference. I think Iran is, it’s one of the great deals ever made for them. I think it’s one of the most incompetent contracts I’ve even seen. I’m not just talking about defense. I’m not talking about a contract with another country. I’ve never seen more of a one-sided deal, I think, in my life, absolutely.

HH: Well, Soleimani is to terrorism sort of what Trump is to real estate.

DT: Okay.

HH: Many people would say he’s the most dangerous man in the world, and he runs the Quds Forces, which is their Navy SEALs.

DT: Is he the gentleman that was going back and forth with Russia and meeting with Putin? I read something, and that seems to be also where he’s at.

HH: That’s the guy.

DT: He’s going back and forth meeting with other countries, etc., etc.

HH: That’s the guy.

DT: Not good.

HH: And so do you think…

DT: Not good for us. And what it shows is a total lack of respect, I mean, that the other countries would even be entertaining him, and they’re entertaining him big league, big league.

And also:

HH: You know that stuff. You know every developer in Manhattan. You know everything about building buildings. You could build the wall. I have no doubt about that.

DT: Right. By the way, and nobody knows how easy that would be. And I mean, it would be, it would be tall, it would be powerful, we would make it very good looking. It would be as good as a wall’s got to be, and people will not be climbing over that wall, believe me. Go ahead.

HH: You know, I’d buy that, because you’re a builder. But on the front of Islamist terrorism, I’m looking for the next commander-in-chief, to know who Hassan Nasrallah is, and Zawahiri, and al-Julani, and al-Baghdadi. Do you know the players without a scorecard, yet, Donald Trump?

DT: No, you know, I’ll tell you honestly, I think by the time we get to office, they’ll all be changed. They’ll be all gone. I knew you were going to ask me things like this, and there’s no reason, because number one, I’ll find, I will hopefully find General Douglas MacArthur in the pack. I will find whoever it is that I’ll find, and we’ll, but they’re all changing, Hugh. You know, those are like history questions. Do you know this one, do you know that one. I will tell you, I thought you used the word Kurd before. I will tell you that I think the Kurds are the most under-utilized and are being totally mistreated by us. And nobody understands why. But as far as the individual players, of course I don’t know them. I’ve never met them. I haven’t been, you know, in a position to meet them. If, if they’re still there, which is unlikely in many cases, but if they’re still there, I will know them better than I know you.

HH: That’s what I’m getting at, because the Islamist extremism is metastasizing. Nasrallah’s been there a long time, and al-Baghdadi’s running ISIS. And so I wonder if you’re going to throw yourself into the details of this during the campaign the way you did into the U.N. deal, because you knew that stuff cold.

DT: Well, you know, and unfortunately, I said I’d build it for $500 million. They were at $3 billion. And it ended up costing $6 billion, and I told them that would happen. And it was a disgrace. Frankly, that whole U.N. situation was a disgrace. They ended up spending $5-6 billion dollars to renovate a building that I would have done for $500 million, and I told them I would have done it, and it would have been better. Now as far as what you’re talking about now, I will know every detail, and I will have the right plan, not a plan like this where we’re probably going backwards based on everything that I’m hearing, but we’re probably going backwards, zero respect. We have, we are not a respected country, and certainly as it relates to ISIS and what’s going on, and Iran.

HH: Now I don’t believe in gotcha questions. And I’m not trying to quiz you on who the worst guy in the world is.

DT: Well, that is a gotcha question, though. I mean, you know, when you’re asking me about who’s running this, this this, that’s not, that is not, I will be so good at the military, your head will spin. But obviously, I’m not meeting these people. I’m not seeing these people. Now it probably will be a lot of changes, Hugh, as you go along. They’ll be, by the time we get there, which is still a pretty long period of time, you know, you start, let’s say you figure out nominations, and who is going to represent the Republicans in, let’s say, February, March, April, you’ll start to get pretty good ideas, maybe sooner than that, actually. But that will be a whole new group of people. I think what is really important is to pick out, and this is something I’m so good at, to pick out who is going to be the best person to represent us militarily, because we have some great people, militarily. I don’t know that we’re using them.

HH: All right, well, let me expand it, because you know, it’s not gotcha. I’m trying not to do that. But I wanted to see if you…

DT: Well, it sounded like gotcha. You’re asking me names that, I think it’s somewhat ridiculous, but that’s okay. Go ahead, let’s go.

Now we call all look forward to the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

These questions are ridiculous, getting into the minutia of these retards in the Middle East. It's obvious Hewitt does not like him. But the thing is, guys like Hewitt were wrong on Iraq, Syria, Libya, etc, while Trump had the seemingly better positions all along through the years. And he has a big picture plan to deal with the terrorists of the Middle East.

There is a reason President's have cabinets, people who are experts in their fields, down to the little details. The military has entire intelligence departments with tons of people dedicated to this stuff.

Did anyone, except a small handful, who listened or has read the news articles about these questions even know of these people?

"I'm Hugh Hewitt and let me show you how smart I am." This interview seemed to be about the cleverness of Hewitt, "I'll show him!"

Anonymous said...

Who's the Sultan of Brunei's second cousin twice removed's mother's maiden name?

If anyone other than Trump was asked this question, you'd think it ridiculous. Dems never get asked this kind of crap.

As if Hugh Hewitt's voice and cadence weren't annoying enough, now he's a quiz show host.

Do we want a president who's a Trivial Pursuit champion? I don't.

Does Hugh Hewitt know who's in charge of Iran's Basij Militia? They're the ones who brutally crushed the Green Revolution that Obama ignored.

Quds are Iran's "Navy SEALs." What an idiot. Who's the moron?

Add Hewitt to the list of the RNC mafia stooges on talk radio.

Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCD said...

Hewitt: "Do you know the players without a scorecard, yet, Donald Trump?"

What a fool Hugh Hewitt is. He can't compete head-to-head with the big boys in talk radio because he is so obnoxious, so he seeks to attract attention by lowering himself to the gotcha question level. As if a POTUS candidate has to know minutiae like the names of the Islamofascist major league lineup. Good grief. What is this? Is Hewitt going to be the Sabermetrician of the War on Terror? What's next? "Mr. Trump, do you know how many windows there are in the White House?" Or better yet, "Do you know the names of all the cabinet and shadow cabinet members for our closest ally, Great Britain?" Or "In light of the recent devolution/independence election in Scotland, what is your opinion of haggis?" Or "What type of nuclear technology does North Korea use in their atomic weapons?" I could go on with these inane questions, but will spare you.

Trump brought up the use of English as the language of the United States of America yesterday. Jeb Bush gave it to him on a silver platter, with heavy garnish. What a layup for Donald Trump! What other Republican candidate is talking about English? Who in god's name is running the Bush campaign? The guy with all the handlers is getting his ass handed to him by the guy who speaks off the cuff. This is the problem with all these yellow Republican consultants in the first place. Politicos and party insiders just don't get Trump's attraction. He's simple, straight and doesn't play by the DC/NYC media rules. People are finding that refreshing. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, when is another Republican candidate going to figure this out??? What... Trump is too pedestrian, boorish or brash? Look what toeing the line has gotten you! Another strong candidate right now is Ben Carson, and he's the opposite: contemplative, soft-spoken, etc. But he's genuine, and he keeps things simple.

Since we're talking about journalists with impeccable conservative credentials, how about Brit Hume on FoxNews last night talking about Trump: "He's unlike any candidate I've ever seen... You can't take your eyes off the guy... He's the most entertaining candidate I've ever seen... He is absolutely fascinating... He is the most interesting guy around." Hume also said that he went on vacation to Maine and tried to unplug and not watch/read anything, but Trump was everywhere... in conversation, on TV in the restaurants, etc. You'd think a party that wanted to win would get that kind of energy and actually want to use it to win. Oh no... this is the Republican Party, the respectable party. Anyone else sick of voting for respectable losers?

Yep. That's what's going on. Nobody who wears makeup and speaks in front of a microphone daily gets any of this. They're all still upset that Trump took on Megyn Kelly in a "mean" way, or standing up for the honor and virtue of... Rosie O'Donnell. The DC punditry doesn't get this... it complicates their 10 mile x 10 mile view of the world. Trump may be terrible, but Hugh Hewitt is the type of clever jerk I've come to most detest in journalism. The hilarious part is that he's too educated and sophisticated, and made himself stupid as to what animates the Trump support. This just in: Most of this country doesn't care about the Islamist scorecard, they just want them all dead. Most of the political class is all talk and no rock. Trump is an antidote. Once again I say it's like "Network" (1976) all over again. Someone in the journalism ranks will eventually swallow their gargantuan ego and actually begin to acknowledge what's going on here. Right now, I'm just enjoying watching the DC elite squirm. It is truly a delight. And with Hillary coming up with a lie-a-minute on her criminal behavior, we can allow for the entertainment.

Ares Olympus said...

I never did like Hugh Hewitt from the little I've heard from him, and now he's trying to make me feel sympathetic towards Donald Trump?

Congratulations!

If only Trump didn't have to whine after the fact, it would be mission accomplished.

Scullman said...

Hewitt has a radio show that almost nobody listens to, and since he read Lawrence Wright's "The Looming Tower" he now thinks he's an expert on all things Islamic, and never stops talking about the book.

It's a good book, Hugh, but take a breath would ya'?

The worst thing that's happened to him, is Chuck Todd dragging him onto the set of "Meet The Depressed" most Sundays. Now he really thinks who the f*ck he is, and with a role in the next Republican debate, he's gonna' be insufferable.

Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCD said...

Scullman @September 4, 2015 at 1:50 PM:

He already is insufferable.

Ares Olympus said...

I am curious about opinions of "Gotcha journalism." Is the ideal way to learn what a candidate thinks on an issue is to see what he says on the top of his head with whatever confused misinformation he can gleen from his memory?

In toastmasters there is such a process called "Table topics" so you get a chance to think on your feet on a topic you may no NONETHING about.

What most disturbed me about the process is that when I tried to answer things sincerely, with all due consideration for what I don't know, I was probably judged as boring, while one of the few times I was voted to have "won" the tabletopic answers it was because I was in a pissy mood and said things I didn't really believe, but passionately, so it apparently sounded good.

On the other side, it would be nice if candidates (to real-time questions they are unsure about) just said humbly "I don't recognize that name. Why don't you educate me?"

That might even be following the Ben Franklin effect?
-------
The Ben Franklin effect is a proposed psychological phenomenon: A person who has done or completed a favor for someone is more likely to do another favor for that person than they would be if they had received a favor from that person.
-------

Would Hugh Hewitt have respected Trump more if Trump asked for help?

Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCD said...

"Now we call all look forward to the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden."

Joe Biden won the 2008 VP debate against Sarah Palin because she was largely inexperienced on the national stage. Gwen Ifill moderated the debate.

Joe Biden won the 2012 VP debate against Paul Ryan because he did his "Alpha Male" thing against Ryan, who was polite. Martha Raddatz moderated the debate.

Donald Trump will defeat Joe Biden in a debate, because he's media-savvy and he's not going to let Biden show him up. He's also not going to allow some liberal media stooge moderate a debate he's in. No way.

I don't think Trump will win the nomination, but I'm not worried in any way about a Trump-Biden debate. I bet you it will be the most viewed debate in American history... by a long shot (the previous record is Reagan-Carter in 1980 at 80.6 million). If this comes to pass, I'll bet you Trump will be well-prepped. He has 394 days. Plenty of time. If Trump is as committed to winning in politics as he boasts he is in business, he'll be playing for keeps.