Fox News’ Howard Kurtz elicited some wild comments from former President Donald Trump during an interview that aired on Sunday’s MediaBuzz.
From immigration to Putin, “fake news” to the “rigged election,” Kurtz covered a great deal of ground during his sit-down with Trump. The former president didn’t back down from anything Kurtz threw at him.
Here are the five wildest comments from Trump’s bizarre interview.
1. Trump doubles down on rhetoric about migrants “poisoning the blood” of America
Kurtz asked Trump, “Why do you use words like ‘vermin’ and ‘poisoning of the blood?’ The press, as you know, immediately reacts to that by saying, ‘Well, that’s the kind of language that Hitler and Mussolini use.'”
“That’s what they say. I didn’t know that, but that’s what they say,” Trump claimed about his incomplete knowledge of WWII history. Trump then addressed why he continues to use that language when referring to undocumented migrants.
Because our country is being poisoned. Look, we can be nice about a it, we can talk about, oh, I want to be politically correct, but we have people coming in from prisons and jails, long-term murderers, people with sentences that the rest are of their lives they’re going to spend in some jail in some country that many people have never even a heard of. They’re all being released into our country. These are murderers, these are people at the highest level of crime, and then you have mental institutions and insane asylums. I always say the difference is one is silence of the lambs. It’s a mental institution on steroids, okay?
2. Trump waffles on questions about Putin
Trump remained as uncommitted as ever when it came to blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin for the death of Alexei Navalny in a Siberian prison camp.
“Do you believe Vladimir Putin has some responsibility for the death of Alexei Navalny?” Kurtz asked Trump.
I don’t know, but perhaps. Possibly, I could say probably. I don’t know. He’s a young man, so, statistically he’d be alive for a long time. If you go by the insurance numbers, he’d be alive for another 40 years. So something happened that was unusual.
3. Trump ramps up his feud with Jimmy Kimmel
“What’s up with you and Jimmy Kimmel?” Kurtz asked about the feud that made it all the way to the Oscars’ stage. “Because during the Academy Awards you posted, ‘Has there ever been a worst host than Jimmy Kimmel at the Oscars? Less than an average person trying too hard.’ He read that on the air and took a crack at you. ”
“And what else did I say? I said some other pretty good things,” Trump responded.
“Were you getting even?” Kurtz asked.
“George Sloppadopoulos. George Sloppadopoulos,” Trump said, for no apparent reason.
Now, look, Jimmy Kimmel is, he hits me, I guess, every night. His ratings are terrible. He’s not a talented guy. I hear he hits me all the time, so is I figured I’d hit him because I thought he was a lousy host. I put it out on Truth, which is on fire, by the way. TruthSocial is doing great. I never expected he was going to be reading it. Just prior to the movie of the year, which is the big one, right? That’s the big one. I think they get the man, the woman, now the move of the year. He reads my Truth on air…and now the big story is that they all a begged him not to do it, don’t do it, and he probably, stupidly, you know, he had to act in a short period of time, like minutes, right? He had minutes because he’s on air. He sees this thing and he wants to go out there, and he wants to, I guess, confront me. And he ends up reading my Truth. I said, “This guy’s even dumber than I thought.” The thing went viral. It’s been all over the world now, and all he had to do was keep his mouth shut.
4. Trump doesn’t back down when asked about threats against network broadcast licenses
“After the Iowa caucuses, two networks didn’t carry your speech. I was very critical at the time,” Kurtz said. “But you said, ‘CNN and NBC should have their licenses, or whatever they have, taken away.’ Sounded like you were threatening to go after television outlets whose reporting you don’t like.”
Trump answered, that it was “incredible” to cover a candidate for months “as negatively as possible,” then “don’t cover his speech” when he wins a primary.
I guess it was “Fake Tapper” or somebody turned it off, he said, “Turn it off.” I think, actually, MSNBC did do it — “MSDNC” — but they did do it. But I think it was CNN that didn’t cover it. Jake Tapper, who I used to know and actually sort of liked him, actually, but he hurts himself very badly when he does a thing like that. And he hurts the ratings, too. You look at CNN ratings, they’re so bad. So, you cover, though — I mean, think of it — you’re covering someone for a year, and this is the culmination, this is the big moment, and people want to watch it, and you say, “I’m not going to put his speech on.” How can you do that?
5. Trump re-ups his “rigged” election claims and all but dares Fox to cut them out.
Kurtz asked Trump, “What fundamental thing would you say that people don’t understand about your appeal?”
Somehow, Trump circled back to his claims of a “rigged” 2020 election, and said Fox could cut his answer out of the interview if they wanted. It was an obvious reference to the $787.5 million settlement Fox was forced to make last year over false reports of election fraud.
“So, you know, we ended up winning,” Trump said about his 2016 victory, adding, “we did much better in 2020. You know, I did millions and millions of votes more in 2020. I did much better. And you can cut this if you want, but the election was rigged. You know, Fox may want to cut that one out, that’s OK.”
Kurtz interjected, “Well, I would jut say, that hasn’t been proven in court.”
“Well, it was so rigged, it was so crazy, but we’re going to do it again,” Trump claimed.
Watch the clips above via Fox News.
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