CNN is pumping this exchange with Jake Tapper, on the claim that Tapper followed up 23 times, and really pressured Trump. In fact, I think Trump ate Tapper’s lunch here, and turned the interview around — he wound up questioning Tapper, and got Tapper to admit to things he didn’t know. “I didn’t know that,” Tapper said, granting veracity to a Trump claim:
The interview is interesting, though, in that it demonstrates how Trump is running out of steam. If Rubio was flawed and robotic for having gone repeatedly to the same well of phrases, then what Tapper should have been pressing Trump on was not race, but repetitiveness. CNN should be counting not the times they think their reporter demonstrated persistence, but the number of times Trump used their air to repeat his usual ridiculousness (and occasionally repeat him in their banners).
In about two and a half minutes of total speaking time, Trump’s repetitions include the following:
The judge is of Mexican heritage 9 times [including a banner repetition]
Trump has received horrible rulings 10 times
Treated unfairly/case dismissed 11 times [including a banner repetition]
I’m building a wall 9 times
Trump does well with Mexicans 4 times
Mexicans will get jobs 3 times
“Thousands” 6 times
“Let me tell you...”/”I’ll tell you...” 5 times
Great reviews/fantastic 6 times
Tapper basically rebutted none of this — just kept insisting that the judge is a U.S. citizen, which is a race/nationality distinction that Trump doesn’t care about. He falls back on the dog whistle “heritage,” and no damage is done.
What’s amazing is that CNN is trumpeting this interview as a success, when what it demonstrates is that they don’t know how to interview Trump — not even to hold him to the same standard that they used to lambaste other candidates (after Christie) did it for them.
When will reporters hop on Trump for having become a broken record?