Donald Trump was back on Fox News and once again treated like a respectable pundit despite a discredited record of birtherism and lies. That’s bad enough. But he had the audacity to make personal attacks on conservative pundit George Will – and host Greta Van Susteren didn’t seem to mind, much less point out the irony of Trump criticizing anyone else’s track record or credibility.
This particular go-round between Trump and Will had to do with Will saying that winning the White House is a lost cause and that Republicans should concentrate on winning the Senate and retaining the House. However, Will has lit into Trump’s policy and his character in the past. Plus, now that he’s stopped pretending he might run for president, Trump is working to elect Romney. So given Trump’s oversized ego, it’s hard not to think that this was personal for him.
And funny, Van Susteren seemed to forget how much she doesn’t like incivility and name calling. In a friendly tone, she brought up the subject by asking Trump, “What moronic statement” did George Will make?” In fact, Trump said far worse about Will before arriving on her show, On The Record. Trump had previously, on Fox & Friends, called Will “an overrated fool” and a “hack” who “looks smart with the little glasses and the hair slicked to the side.”
Trump now said about Will, “This is not the smartest guy out there, there’s no question about it.” He went on to complain about Will’s “many, many wrong predictions.”
Maybe so, but can a wrong prediction beat a wrong accusation that the President of the United States lied about his citizenship and covered it up? Sadly, on Fox it can and it does.
“Something makes me think you don’t like George Will,” Van Susteren said cheerily. She went on to offer Trump an opening to boast about purchasing a new hotel.
Solution:
Puff up and squeal as long as possible, it helps the blood to trickle out of his ears.
Except for his love of baseball, I have rarely found myself in agreement with Mr. Will. However I’ve always respected him as a true journalist. He’s a dying breed with the right of today. Someone who can give an opposing point of view that I may not agree with, but felt I learned from him compared to the cartoon characters we get from Fox News and right wing talk radio of today.