According to Donald Trump supporter David Wohl, when Trump talks about wanting to punch a protester in the face, it’s all part of his effort to protect and unify the country. Or something.
You may never hear me say this again but hats off to Breitbart’s Ben Shapiro (yes, that Ben Shapiro) for criticizing his own boss and calling out Trump’s thuggishness and that of his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski. Host Megyn Kelly wasn’t too shabby either in this discussion about Lewandowski’s alleged roughing up of Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields, which he has denied. (You can read more about this here.)
Shapiro said he doesn’t speak for management but that he understands Breitbart CEO Larry Solov has called for Lewandowski to apologize. But, Shapiro added, “I personally feel that’s wildly insufficient, they should be calling for Lewandowski to be fired." Shapiro continued, “If this had been Robby Mook [Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager] dragging Michelle Fields down to the ground, there’s no question they’d be calling for [him] to be fired. It’s ridiculous”
Shapiro went on to call Lewandowski a “thug” and Trump a “thug” for backing Lewandowski. “It’s beyond disgusting,” he said.
Kelly played a clip from an audio of the incident which Politico has obtained. In it, Fields talks with Washington Post reporter Ben Terris about being grabbed roughly and almost thrown to the ground. Terris identifies Lewandowski as the one who did it.
But Kelly’s other guest, attorney and Trump supporter David Wohl, suggested that Fields made up her story. It “doesn’t look good to me,” Wohl argued. “No one apparently saw it other than this one Washington Post reporter. There were 100 cameras and none of them caught anything?” He also attacked Fields’ credibility because she had not gone to the police.
Kelly tried to get Wohl to explain the audio. “Were they acting when they had that exchange on tape?” she asked.
According to Wohl, even the audio was a setup to take down Trump. “I think Michelle Fields clearly did not see who grabbed her, if anyone actually did grab her,” he first said, and “she deferred to her friend, the Washington Post reporter who then said, yes, it was Lewandowski.”
But later, Wohl argued that it didn’t even happen. “Look, Megyn, Donald Trump is under attack on multiple levels …and this is a way to get at him and my feeling is that reporter knew that and the reality is, if it was a real, legitimate assault or battery, you file a police report, you don’t tweet it out in and then 36 hours later, tweet out pictures of bruises you say Lewandowski caused. I’m just not buying it.”
If you ask me, Kelly wasn’t buying it. And you have to ask why she didn’t lay into Wohl the way she has with liberals she didn’t agree with. But she did say pointedly that Trump has been criticized for engaging in “rhetoric that could gin up that kind of anger.” She then played a very damning mashup video of Trump to illustrate her point.
TRUMP: If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of ‘em, would you? Seriously. OK? Just knock the hell – I promise you I will pay for the legal fees. …They won’t be so much ‘cause the courts agree with us, too.
…I love the old days. You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They’d be carried out on a stretcher folks.
…(Referring to a protester who was removed) I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell ya.
Then came Wohl’s jaw-dropping defense.
WOHL: What he’s saying, essentially, is if you see somebody preparing to assault me with a tomato, knock the crap out of ‘em. That may be a little bit harsh for some but in essence, Megyn, he’s saying that you know what? Protect me, we’re all one, we’re unified, people together and if someone’s going to hit any of us or assault me, then take him out. It’s a little bit harsh but you know what? People appreciate it and people love him for it. That’s the reality.
Kelly said, “I gotta leave it at that guys. Thank you.” She looked like she wanted to say more.
Shapiro shook his head.
Kelly returned to the subject in a special post-debate show later last night, which I will post about later. Watch this one below, from the March 10 The Kelly File.
’Cause nothing says “unified” better than assault and battery . . .
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