To Fox host Greta Van Susteren, Donald Trump’s rhetoric is A-OK because he’s equally insulting to men as he is to women. At least in her own mind, that is.
Former George W. Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer was quite critical of Trump’s un-presidential behavior on the night after the New York primary. “Since he is likely to be the Republican nominee, he needs to unite the party at some point,” Fleischer said. “And I thought he was starting to do it last night. His rhetoric today makes it harder.”
That just happened to remind Van Susteren of something “interesting” that Trump’s daughter said in defense of her father.
VAN SUSTEREN: You know, I read something that his daughter, Ivanka, said which I thought was quite interesting. I was trying to figure out what to do with her, how to take it in. But she said that she knows a lot of women have criticized – a lot of men and women have criticized her father for things that they claim are sexist, derogatory towards women. And what she pointed out is, he does the same thing to men. He’s sort of equal opportunity. It’s not that he’s sort of singling out women, he uses the same language both ways.
She smiled at the brilliance of this insight. Apparently, Van Susteren “forgot” how Trump has spent months singling out her own colleague, Megyn Kelly, for abuse. Who else on Fox has been so targeted? And let's not forget it all started when Kelly confronted Trump about his sexist language toward other women.
Fleischer pointed out that while some of the criticism of Trump has been unfair, he has “about a 70% unfavorable rating across the country” and that many Republicans don’t want to support him. “He’s gonna have to move beyond just revving up what he’s got,” Fleischer warned. “If he can’t get 50% of the Republicans, how will he get 50% of the nation to win in November?”
Van Susteren jumped in with some more Trump praise. She said that when she has traveled the country, “What I hear from so many is that they may not like his language but they like him because they think he’s a straight talker, number one, and that he will get things done.” She thought, “They’re gonna put all that aside – you know, his brashness, his language is that – they’re looking for someone who will deliver.’
Had she missed Fleischer’s point? He reiterated it.
“Well, some are,” Fleischer said pointedly. “But again, Greta, unless he is able to bring new people in to his coalition, unless he’s able to show that he can give policy speeches, that he can tone it down and be a person who can bring people to support him who may not have supported him in the past, he’s gonna get stuck at that level.”
But he’ll never be stuck at that level on Fox where almost all the hosts slobber over him.
Watch this latest example below, from the April 20 On The Record.
http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/greta-van-susteren-questions-juan-williams-intellectual-stage-comments/46493
The “nicknames” (this is what Greta calls Trump’s name calling) that were used for Palin did not settle well with her at that time, but I guess she thinks it’s “A-OK” now!
Now that O’ Malley is out of the race, I’m curious to see who her husband (John Coale) decides to support. Something tells me it’s not going to be Clinton.
Ari’s wrong because The Donald is uniting the Republican Party: The Archie Bunker bigots, assorted misogynists, and Christian anti-Muslim wings.
Ari’s correct The Donald is attracting new blood to the Republican Party. Yep, all those formerly disenfranchised Stormfront addicts who before wasted their votes on David Duke. They now have new hope! 👍