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  1. M. King Inactive
    M. King
    @MKing

    Wow, this beats out the Herman Cain “Hibikibikistanstan” interview by about a dozen football fields. This man is an absolute disaster “I’m too important to actually know anything myself, I have people for that” is not a particularly strong foreign policy platform.

    • #1
  2. rico Inactive
    rico
    @rico

    Thank you Mr. Hewitt.

    Anyone who listens to this cannot possibly support this man as a commander in chief. Talk about insecure…

    • #2
  3. Trink Coolidge
    Trink
    @Trink

    I can’t bring myself to hit that “Play” arrow.  Can’t. Won’t.  He may be the Republican candidate.

    • #3
  4. Jamie Lockett Member
    Jamie Lockett
    @JamieLockett

    Why is every question to Trump on specifics a “gotcha question”?

    Is it too much to ask that the Republican frontrunner be able to identify some of our biggest enemies?

    • #4
  5. DocJay Inactive
    DocJay
    @DocJay

    I just had lunch with a man(elderly moderate democrat)  who knows the Don well enough to call him a first class horrible person in real life.   He has never said anything so forceful  about any republican politician and he was Dean/Nixon’s hit list 45 years ago.

    • #5
  6. BThompson Inactive
    BThompson
    @BThompson

    This answer won’t change a single mind among his supporters. This is how he’s answered every tough question before. He insults the interviewer, dismisses the relevance/importance of the question, plays the victim card, and then finishes with a giant and ridiculous brag about how he’ll have it all figured out in a day or so. It’s utter silliness, but his supporters don’t care. One can only hope that the polls aren’t really capturing actual primary voters and/or his supporters are people who don’t usually vote in primaries and who won’t come out this time either.

    • #6
  7. Constantinus Magnus Coolidge
    Constantinus Magnus
    @ConstantinusMagnus

    • #7
  8. Pencilvania Inactive
    Pencilvania
    @Pencilvania

    This is not fair.

    Because starting today we all have to hope that Suleimani, Nasrallah, al Baghdadi, al-Zawahiri, al Masri and al Juwayni are not taken out by drones before next fall.  Because if they are, well, if you think Trump is insufferable now . . .

    • #8
  9. Man With the Axe Inactive
    Man With the Axe
    @ManWiththeAxe

    “I’m a delegator. I’ll hire the best people.”

    This reminds me of a kid I met on the first day of grad business school. We were both sitting in the back of accounting class, and he said to me, “I don’t need to learn this. I’ll just hire the best accountants.” Then, in marketing class he leaned over and said to me, “I don’t need to learn this. I’ll just hire the best marketers in the business.” Then, in finance class (and this is a true story, by the way) he  said to me, “I don’t need to learn finance. I’ll just hire the best financial guys in the business.”

    I turned to him at this point and said, “Yeah, but who the hell is going to hire you?”

    • #9
  10. Tommy De Seno Member
    Tommy De Seno
    @TommyDeSeno

    What depth of understanding does a candidate have to have on foreign countries?

    I’ll give you my answer – very little.

    Let me measure your patriotism, your ability to negotiate and the size of the economy and military standing behind you.  The higher those data points, the less you have to know about foreign countries.

    • #10
  11. Frozen Chosen Inactive
    Frozen Chosen
    @FrozenChosen

    But Trump will get it done!

    (Doesn’t matter what it is, BTW)

    • #11
  12. Frozen Chosen Inactive
    Frozen Chosen
    @FrozenChosen

    Tommy De Seno:What depth of understanding does a candidate have to have on foreign countries?

    I’ll give you my answer – very little.

    Let me measure your patriotism, your ability to negotiate and the size of the economy and military standing behind you. The higher those data points, the less you have to know about foreign countries.

    But if you know nothing about foreign countries how will you have the faintest idea that your “experts” are giving you good advice?

    • #12
  13. rico Inactive
    rico
    @rico

    Tommy De Seno: What depth of understanding does a candidate have to have on foreign countries?

    Answer: Quite a bit more than Mr. Trump.

    But that’s only half of it. What did he say in the interview that demonstrated more than a passing interest in our national security?

    Maybe he could serve in someone else’s cabinet. How about Secretary of Defensive?

    • #13
  14. Marion Evans Inactive
    Marion Evans
    @MarionEvans

    Tommy De Seno:What depth of understanding does a candidate have to have on foreign countries?

    I’ll give you my answer – very little.

    Let me measure your patriotism, your ability to negotiate and the size of the economy and military standing behind you. The higher those data points, the less you have to know about foreign countries.

    The more you know about a problem, the better you are at tackling it. Seems obvious, no? It is fine if he never heard of the individuals named, but he should understand the big currents taking place over there. And there is no evidence of that.

    • #14
  15. Xennady Member
    Xennady
    @

    I listened to this interview.

    Yes, I know I’m supposed to conclude that Trump is an idiot. But I also remember long ago that George Bush was mocked because he couldn’t remember who was ruler of Pakistan.

    Later, after 9/11, it turned out that it didn’t matter so much, because the US told that guy to give the US access to Afghanistan or else. Mark Steyn wrote about it, with his usual talent.

    So I agree with Trump. Hewitt was giving him gotcha question, and silly ones at that. The President of the United States, supposedly the sole surviving superpower, shouldn’t be expected to remember the name of every foreign terrorist before he is accepted as a potential president. And, with millions of bureaucrats in the executive branch, he or she better understand that they’re essentially the delegator-in-chief.

    Trump does, or so it seems.

    • #15
  16. Man With the Axe Inactive
    Man With the Axe
    @ManWiththeAxe

    Tommy De Seno:What depth of understanding does a candidate have to have on foreign countries?

    I’ll give you my answer – very little.

    Let me measure your patriotism, your ability to negotiate and the size of the economy and military standing behind you. The higher those data points, the less you have to know about foreign countries.

    I disagree emphatically with this point of view.

    If you are choosing someone to run a company, does it make sense to enquire as to what he knows about the business the company is in?

    Does it matter whether the CEO of Apple knows a bit about computers and smart phones? Or that he has even heard of computers, and that he knows what they do? Is the only thing that matters is that he really believes in making a profit and is a good negotiator? Would you hire a CEO for Apple who had never heard the names, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Jeff Bezos, or Jack Ma? Would you choose a surgeon who says, “I don’t know much about anatomy, but if I get the job after 24 hours I will know more about anatomy then you will ever know.”

    But it’s okay to pick a president of the United States, a job on whose performance depends all of our lives and fortunes, and entrust it to a guy who knows practically nothing about the central responsibility of the job but promises to hire good people.

    • #16
  17. BThompson Inactive
    BThompson
    @BThompson

    Xennady:I listened to this interview.

    Yes, I know I’m supposed to conclude that Trump is an idiot. But I also remember long ago that George Bush was mocked because he couldn’t remember who was ruler of Pakistan.

    Later, after 9/11, it turned out that it didn’t matter so much, because the US told that guy to give the US access to Afghanistan or else. Mark Steyn wrote about it, with his usual talent.

    So I agree with Trump. Hewitt was giving him gotcha question, and silly ones at that. The President of the United States, supposedly the sole surviving superpower, shouldn’t be expected to remember the name of every foreign terrorist before he is accepted as a potential president. And, with millions of bureaucrats in the executive branch, he or she better understand that they’re essentially the delegator-in-chief.

    Trump does, or so it seems.

    See.

    • #17
  18. Xennady Member
    Xennady
    @

    Man With the Axe:  I turned to him at this point and said, “Yeah, but who the hell is going to hire you?”

    You do realize that Trump had a famous reality show based exactly upon this question, right?

    • #18
  19. Katie O Inactive
    Katie O
    @KatieO

    Terrific.

    • #19
  20. Tommy De Seno Member
    Tommy De Seno
    @TommyDeSeno

    Man With the Axe:

    Tommy De Seno:What depth of understanding does a candidate have to have on foreign countries?

    I’ll give you my answer – very little.

    Let me measure your patriotism, your ability to negotiate and the size of the economy and military standing behind you. The higher those data points, the less you have to know about foreign countries.

    I disagree emphatically with this point of view.

    Would you hire a CEO for Apple who had never heard the names, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Jeff Bezos, or Jack Ma?

    You think America is to the Quds what Apple is to Microsoft?

    So to be President, one has to know as much foreign policy as John Bolton?

    What happens when we switch to the economy – also must be Milton Friedman?

    Then he needs advanced degrees in agriculture, business, tax law,  medicine, patents, etc?

    Hewitt’s questions were a touch of gotcha because he has more than a passing interest in foreign policy and wanted to get to what Trump didn’t know, which can work with anyone.

    Am I to slam Hewitt for asking nothing about the macro-economics of Iran?

    • #20
  21. Man With the Axe Inactive
    Man With the Axe
    @ManWiththeAxe

    I could understand forgiving someone’s ignorance who didn’t know the “names of every foreign terrorist,” (actually the heads of extremely dangerous terror groups) when that someone was an ordinary nebbish who made a comment at a dinner party. I find it less forgivable when the commenter is a talking head on TV who professes to know something about the subject (e.g., Al Sharpton, Bill Maher, and their ilk). It is really unforgivable when the person is applying for a job in the State Department. Someone appointed ambassador to Norway or Argentina looks like a fool if at his confirmation hearing he knows little or nothing about the country to which he is to be our chief diplomat.

    But President of the United States? He doesn’t have to know anything except how to negotiate. That might make up for not knowing what’s going on in the world. After all, knowing how to organize a community has been shown to be an important skill that makes up for not knowing squat about how the world works.

    • #21
  22. Mike LaRoche Inactive
    Mike LaRoche
    @MikeLaRoche

    You know who this helps? Mitt Romney.

    • #22
  23. M. King Inactive
    M. King
    @MKing

    Pencilvania:This is not fair.

    Because starting today we all have to hope that Suleimani, Nasrallah, al Baghdadi, al-Zawahiri, al Masri and al Juwayni are not taken out by drones before next fall. Because if they are, well, if you think Trump is insufferable now . . .

    Well considering Sulimani is a legitimate official in the army of our newest ally I doubt the POTUS would drone him for fear of damaging his all mighty legacy.

    P.S. drone should totally be a verb (drone, droned, will drone)

    • #23
  24. Chris Campion Coolidge
    Chris Campion
    @ChrisCampion

    Right, so Trump’s selling point is that he’ll hire the best people?

    What would the second-place finisher in the presidential race say, given the same question?  I’ll hire the second-best people?

    If it’s so easy for Trump to absorb this information, why hasn’t he done so?  Why hasn’t he hired the “best” expert on the Middle East to get him up to speed on these things?

    Why?  Because he’s a self-interested clown.  I’m using very polite words here.  He’s running for President.  You should know *something* about the requirements of the office so the people you surround yourself with – whether you trust them 100% or not – can’t put something past the man in charge.

    Like Hillary with her servers.

    • #24
  25. Concretevol Thatcher
    Concretevol
    @Concretevol

    Tommy De Seno:What depth of understanding does a candidate have to have on foreign countries?

    I’ll give you my answer – very little.

    Let me measure your patriotism, your ability to negotiate and the size of the economy and military standing behind you. The higher those data points, the less you have to know about foreign countries.

    W was patriotic and had some seasoned experts advising him….but it came down to HIM to make the call on the surge.  Trump is an asshat.

    • #25
  26. Concretevol Thatcher
    Concretevol
    @Concretevol

    Mike LaRoche:You know who this helps? Mitt Romney.

    Romney actually looks good in hindsight when you see what’s going on internationally now.  He just wouldn’t play hardball after that first debate when he kicked Obama’s ass.  He was a soft candidate and that killed him.

    • #26
  27. kgrant67 Inactive
    kgrant67
    @kgrant67

    I am not a Trump supporter by a long long shot.  But I do have to admit that knowing the awkaward names of the leaders of these organizations is of much less importance than having a coherant policy that spells out how we will respond to the unknown unknowns which will probably be a greater security threat 24 months out than the knowns or the known unknowns currently in our face.   If Scott Walker responded to these questions with an answer that made him sound like he was totally up to speed on this I would probably figure he has just rehearsed it out. Knowing the names and having a rote anwer to this kind of question does not mean you would have a coherant response to an immediate threat. However, nothing Trump said makes me comfortable that he would have a coherant response regardless of whether I think knowing the specifics Hewiit speaks of is fundamentally important.  Btw, I support Walker for the nomination.

    • #27
  28. James Madison Member
    James Madison
    @JamesMadison

    Not a Trump fan.  But, I must agree with him a little.  Some of these guys may be dead or already dead (al Baghdadi).  Remember, in 2008 Hillary knew Medvedev’s name.  The others did not.  So what?

    al Nussrah, Fatah, Cheetah, Casbah.

    1. At the top, you look at summaries of the situation, look at alternatives, set criteria, hear others apply them, and then listen to their recommendations.  Then you ask questions.  You don’t need to get too far in the weeds.  I know that sounds bad.  But, there is a limit to how many times Dick Cheney or GW Bush can ask about yellow cake or how confident are you George Tenet?  Chief Executives can ask tedious questions if they want to slow things down.  They can rely on others to do delay.  They can accelerate things.  But when a WH briefing occurs, so many people are involved that no President is going into a meeting where he needs to know the capital of Kazakhstan.

    2. The people GW Bush was facing on 9/11 were for the most part not very well understood during the 2000 election.  Many we did not even know.

    3. Trump is “lite,” but his “lite-ness” is on strategy, history and implications.  Not who is aligned with Nussrah at the moment of the name of this guy or that.

    Things change.

    • #28
  29. Tom Riehl Member
    Tom Riehl
    @

    Frozen Chosen:

    Tommy De Seno:What depth of understanding does a candidate have to have on foreign countries?

    I’ll give you my answer – very little.

    Let me measure your patriotism, your ability to negotiate and the size of the economy and military standing behind you. The higher those data points, the less you have to know about foreign countries.

    But if you know nothing about foreign countries how will you have the faintest idea that your “experts” are giving you good advice?

    Very attractive straw man, Frozen, although I’m not trying to pick on you personally.  It was not shown that he knows nothing about foreign countries.  What Hugh showed was that Donald disdains the minutia-based questions designed solely to determine if you’re one of the nomenclatura.  If he doesn’t know a certain general’s name, so what?

    But when he’s in power, and foreign actors misbehave, he’ll have a platoon of specialists to inform him of the relevant players and possible strategies.

    It is becoming quite amusing and informative to witness the lengths to which people will stretch to malign Trump.  Sure, he’s flawed, but every time Kevin Williamson dismisses him, I like Trump more.  The apex was the large, real, poll that showed that nearly 2/3 of the electorate favor serious deportations, even a huge percentage of Hispanics agreed, although I don’t remember the number.

    Keep the entertainment coming, please!  14 more months of silliness to encourage me.

    • #29
  30. livingthehighlife Inactive
    livingthehighlife
    @livingthehighlife

    I read the transcript and had to check twice to make sure it wasn’t a parody.

    • #30
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