Alex Burns of the New York Times thinks that Howard Kurtz of Fox News was soft on Donald Trump in a recent interview. Kurtz isn’t buying it:
Sorry to ruin the narrative, @alexburnsNYT, but I challenged Trump on Iraq opposition by citing and knocking down each of his explanations
— HowardKurtz (@HowardKurtz) September 25, 2016
Let’s go to the tape and see who’s right:
KURTZ: Let me move on. You said in many interviews, including with me, that you opposed the Iraq war before it began. Now, I’ve looked at the forums that you’ve cited Esquire Magazine, Neil Cavuto’s show and don’t see any clear evidence of that. And of course, you had the sort of a lukewarm comment to Howard Stern and I guess so to be….
TRUMP: Well, that was long before the war started and I can tell you that was long before the war started with Howard that’s the first time the word Iraq was ever mentioned to me….
KURTZ: But why not say…
[crosstalk]
KURTZ: Why not say you’re a private business…
[crosstalk]
TRUMP: And then I spoke to Neil Cavuto…Sean Hannity…blah blah blah.
KURTZ: Right, but why not say I was a private — I was a private businessman. I had no responsibility to take a public position before the war and I criticized the invasion after it began?
TRUMP: Sean Hannity…Neil Cavuto…blah blah blah.
KURTZ: All right.
I guess you can form your own opinion, but it sounds to me like Kurtz asked about Iraq in a decidedly milquetoasty way, Trump delivered his usual lies, and Kurtz then did his best to play campaign manager and suggest that Trump try a whole new way of misleading the public. Journalism!
