According to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Trump’s inability to name a single priority in a second term is interviewer Sean Hannity’s fault for not having guided him “back on the subject."
As I wrote last week, Hannity’s question was the softest of softballs.
HANNITY: Let’s talk about a second term. … What’s at stake in this election as you compare and contrast, and what is one of your top priority items for a second term?
TRUMP: Well, one of the things that will be really great - You know, the word "experience" is still good. I always say talent is more important than experience. I’ve always said that, but the word experience is a very important word. It’s a very important meaning. I never did this before. I never slept over in Washington. I was in Washington, I think, 17 times. All of a sudden, I’m president of the United States. You know the story. I’m riding down Pennsylvania Avenue with our First Lady and I say, “This is great.”
But I didn’t know very many people in Washington, it wasn’t my thing. I was from Manhattan, from New York. Now, I know everybody, and I have great people in the administration. You make some mistakes. Like you know, an idiot like Bolton, all he wanted to do is drop bombs on everybody. You don’t have to drop bums on everybody. You don’t have to kill people.
Hannity responded by changing the subject.
It was the kind of question any candidate worth his or her salt, even the furthest down ballot, should be ready to answer and usually is. But not the guy in the highest office in our land.
Apparently, Grassley thinks it's Hannity's job not just to ask softballs but to help help Trump answer them, too. It speaks volumes about what Grassley really thinks of Trump, but I digress.
From USA Today:
Grassley told Capitol Hill reporters on Monday that all he wants is for Trump to be reelected.
"I would blame Fox more than I blame the president, because the president, it's easy for him to digress here and there, but Hannity -- you assume Fox wants him to get reelected."
…
When asked about Trump's answer, Grassley said, "Okay, so he says what's your plans for the next four years? So the President starts to answer it. And then digresses a little bit. Hannity should have got him back on the subject. So it's pretty simple: I just want the president to be re-elected."
USA Today noted that Grassley’s comments echoed a tweet over the weekend that also blasted Fox for not helping Trump more.
Does FOXNews want Trump Re-elected?Watched Hannity/Trump interview/KEY QUESTION”What goals in next term?Trump starts answer/gets off point and Hannity helps digress and that’s end of the most important Q to get FOUR MORE YEARS OF DRAINING THE SWAMP &Justices
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) June 27, 2020
You can watch Trump’s incoherent reply to a simple question below, from his June 25, 2020 appearance on the Hannity show.
Asked what his top priorities for a second term are, Trump can't name a single thing pic.twitter.com/fF6xXaDAy0
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 26, 2020