By now, seeing Donald Trump go into meltdown on the campaign trail has become a common sight. But it’s going to be awfully hard to top what happened when Trump sat down with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Friday.
The interview first aired on Friday afternoon’s edition of “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” and aired again on “State of the Union” on Sunday morning. Watch here.
At around the 1:50 mark, Tapper asked Trump about his attacks on federal judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is presiding over the Trump University cases. For those who missed it, Trump wants Curiel bounced off the case on the flimsy premise that Curiel’s Mexican descent is an inherent conflict of interest. Just hours earlier, Hillary Clinton joined the growing list of people who rightfully condemned Trump’s attacks as racist.
Trump dissembled, first ranting about Hillary’s emails, then whining about how Curiel had treated him. Trump claimed that since he was “building a wall” at the Mexican border, Curiel’s “bad rulings” against him were a sign of bias.
But Tapper didn’t let him get away with it. He tried to get a straight answer out of the Donald–could any judge of Mexican heritage preside over any case in which Trump is involved? Trump ducked again, saying that he should recuse himself.
This continued for several minutes. Trump ranted about his plans to build a wall, and claimed that since Curiel takes pride in his Mexican heritage, he isn’t qualified to preside over the case. He then ranted about Hillary’s speeches and a number of other topics.
But Tapper wouldn’t give up, trying repeatedly to steer the conversation back to the attacks on Curiel’s Mexican heritage. By The Washington Post’s count, Tapper tried to follow up 23 times. Even when Tapper made clear that he wasn’t interested in arguing the case on-air, Trump wouldn’t let go.
Finally, at the 6:10 mark, Tapper was finally able to pin Trump down.
TAPPER: Is it not — when Hillary Clinton says this is a racist attack, and you reject that — if you’re saying he can’t do his job because of his race, is that not the definition of racism?
TRUMP: No. I don’t think so at all.
But then the meltdown began in earnest. Trump claimed that Curiel’s Mexican heritage has led him to make biased rulings against him, solely because of his vow to build a wall. An exasperated Tapper reminded Trump that Curiel wasn’t born in Mexico, but in Indiana. Trump retorted that Curiel was “of Mexican heritage and he’s proud of it.”
Vox’ Dara Lind saw this meltdown interview as well, and concluded that Trump is treading on extremely dangerous ground, even by his standards. She noted that Curiel is a member of the La Raza Lawyers Association, a professional group of Hispanic lawyers and judges. In effect, Trump is questioning the patriotism of every nonwhite American who takes even the slightest pride in their heritage. As Lind sees it, Trump is effectively saying to every nonwhite American that taking pride in your heritage “indicates you’re not proud of being an American.”
That should send a chill down the spine of any fair-minded American–white and minority alike.
