Andrea Mitchell skewers Donald Trump
Andrea Mitchell appeared on Meet the Press with Chuck Todd. She did not mince her words as she laid into Donald Trumps ignorance and lack of seriousness. Donald Trump gave the Washington Post editorial board an interview recently. The lack of seriousness and ineptitude was palpable.
Here is the text / transcript.
Chuck Todd: Obviously, a bizarre week, Andrea, in so many ways. But I want to go, because what I think could have been the story of the week was this unbelievable editorial board interview that Donald Trump did with The Washington Post. Let me play a longer excerpt of it and get you to respond.
(Tape) Mail Voice: If you could substantially reduce the risk of harm to ground troops, would you use a battlefield nuclear weapon to take out ISIS?
(Tape) Donald Trump: I don’t want to use, I don’t want to start the process of nuclear. Remember the one thing that everybody has said, I’m a counterpuncher. Rubio hit me. Bush hit me. When I said low energy, he’s a low-energy individual, he hit me first. I spent, by the way, he spent 18 million dollars’ worth of negative ads on me. That’s putting his money–
(Tape) Male Voice: This is about ISIS. You would not use a tactical nuclear weapon against ISIS?
(Tape) Donald Trump: By the way, could I do one thing? This is a very good looking group of people here. Could I just go around so I know who the hell I’m talking to?
(Tape) Male Voice: Sure.
Chuck Todd: By the way, just so folks know, when we excerpted this, so then everybody around the room, introduced themselves, subject got changed.
Andrea Mitchell: Exactly. And he cannot stick to a subject. It is remarkable. And when he doesn’t know something, he just changes the subject, and makes it all about himself.
Chuck Todd: On national security, it’s very noticeable, especially to your ears and mine.
Andrea Mitchell: Absolutely. And this was a week where he could have gone after President Obama, arguably. There’s a lot happening, and the president has some vulnerabilities, so does Hillary Clinton. But instead, he’s all over the lot. And then, The New York Times, DavidSanger and Maggie Haberman do an interview with him, a 90-minute interview, and it’s in today’s paper and online.
And the transcript, if you read the transcript online, he would cancel defense treaties with Japan and South Korea against North Korea. He doesn’t mind, he would be okay if Japan and South Korea go nuclear. American policy for decades since World War II has been trying to keep nukes out of that arena. He would stop importing oil from Saudi Arabia if they don’t pay more for their defense. We need oil. We are not energy independent. We rely on oil still for our daily needs. He is completely all over the lot. On Iran, he complains that Iran isn’t buying our planes. It had to be pointed out to him that Iran is still under sanctions and cannot buy American planes. He thinks North Korea and Iran are the biggest trading partners, when North Korea’s biggest trading partner is China. He is completely uneducated about any part of the world.