Before and after he launched a barrage of attacks against Fox News, Donald Trump Monday night sat down with Fox News host Laura Ingraham who asked him about a wide range of issues. From his damning remarks Friday saying people won't have to vote again if they vote for him in November, to asking if he will leave office after four years if elected, to asking why not debate Kamala Harris, to asking him to defend choosing U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) as his vice presidential running mate, Trump served up responses that critics say did not quell concerns.
Many made clear they believe the interview did not go well.
"Trump was on Laura Ingram tonight rambling through nonsense answers that even made her cringe," remarked Professor of Political Science James D. Long.
On Trump's defense of his remarks to a conservative Christian group, declaring this will be the last time they will have to vote, the ex-president's response elicited this headline from the often message-massaging New York Times: "Trump Declines to Back Away From 'You Won't Have to Vote Anymore' Line."
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Ingraham told Trump (video below), "They're saying that you said to a crowd of Christians that they won't have to vote in the future."
Trump did not deny his remarks, despite being pilloried for them since they were first reported Friday.
Instead, Trump claimed Christians "don't vote." According to Pew Research, nearly two-thirds (64%) of the country identifies as Christian.
But here was Trump's response, as Media Matters reported:
"I had a tremendous crowd, speaking to Christians. I mean, this was a crowd that liked me a lot. I think I'm in 97% or something. And they're treated very badly by this administration, okay? Catholics are treated unbelievably, they're like persecuted. And if I might say, before I go into the other, Jewish people, if you're Jewish and you vote for Biden or the Democrats or Kamala or whoever's going to run, I guess it's going to be her."
"But, if you voted for her or the Democrats, you should have your head examined because nobody's ever been treated so badly by this -- this administration is destroying Israel, etcetera, etcetera. So, with respect to like a statement like I made, that statement is very simple. I said, 'Vote for me, you're not going to have to do it ever again.' That's true. Because we have to get the vote out. Christians are not known as a big voting group. They don't vote. And I'm explaining that to them. 'You never vote. This time, vote.' I'll straighten out the country, you won't have to vote anymore. I won't need your vote."
Mediaite reported Ingraham "helped the former president navigate current political attacks in a manner that some may not recognize as an acceptable journalistic standard."
She then interrupted his remarks, saying, "Well, you don't meant you have to vote for you because you have four years in office?"
"Look," Trump replied, "look, Christians are known -- do you know who else doesn't vote? Gun owners don't vote."
Veteran journalist and professor of journalism Bill Grueskin responded to Trump's exchange with Ingraham on his Christians "don't vote" comment, saying: "Ingraham keeps throwing life preservers to Trump, and Trump keeps yelling he wants concrete blocks instead."
Ingraham urged Trump to defend his choice of JD Vance, who has been a drag on the ticket and caused even Republican Senators to question his choice.
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Vance's remarks over the past few years, which appear to have escaped any vetting by the Trump campaign, have made headlines since Trump announced his pick.
Chief among them are Vance's "childless cat ladies" comments.
“We’re effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via, via our corporate oligarchs by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made,” Vance said in 2021. “And so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too. And it’s just a basic fact… Kamala Harris. Pete Buttigieg. AOC. The entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children. And how does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?”
Ingraham asked Trump, "what can you say to our viewers tonight to reassure them that this was an excellent pick?"
"Well, first of all," Trump replied, "he's got tremendous support, and he really does, among a certain group of people, people that like families."
CNN's Harry Enten last week reported, "JD Vance is making history as the least liked VP nominee (non-incumbent) since 1980 following his/her party's convention. He's the first to have a net negative favorable rating."
Trump continued, claiming Vance "made a statement having to do with families. That doesn't mean that people that aren't a member of a big and beautiful family with 400 children around and everything else. It doesn't mean that a person doesn't have, he's not against anything, but he loves family, it's very important to him. He grew up in a very interesting family situation, and he feels family is good. And I don't think there's anything wrong in saying that now."
Watch the videos above or at this link.
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