Donald Trump claims that Univision anchor Jorge Ramos was “ranting and raving like a madman” when he kicked him out of his Dubuque, Iowa, press conference Monday evening.
Without being called upon, Ramos started peppering the Republican presidential candidate with questions about his controversial immigration plan when an annoyed Trump told him to sit down and go back to Univision. When Ramos continued talking, Trump’s security team escorted the journalist from the media availability.
Donald Trump is obviously not enamored with the Spanish language television network ever since it decided to pull the plug on broadcasting the July 12 Miss USA Pageant. Trump’s attorneys subsequently filed a $500 million lawsuit against the channel for breach of contract.
After a short time, Ramos was allowed to re-enter the venue and then engaged the candidate in an extensive back-and-forth conversation about the illegal immigration issue.
Back in June, Trump uploaded to his Instagram account a photo (since deleted) of a handwritten letter dated June 25 (after Univision nixed the pageant broadcast) from Jorge Ramos requesting an interview .
Deadline Hollywood reported that the influential Ramos — who has interviewed top politicians from President Obama on down — previously characterized Trump’s controversial remarks about the border situation as “full of ethnic prejudices” and “without any basis in reality.” Ramos is a vocal advocate of immigration reform that generally amounts to amnesty and open borders. Ramos has also described Trump as “the loudest voice of intolerance, hatred, and division” in the U.S., according to CNN.
In phone interview with Today Show host Matt Lauer the following morning, the real estate mogul and ex-reality TV star offered this assessment of the Jorge Ramos dust-up.
“[Ramos] was totally out of line last night. I was…being asked a question from another reporter. I could have gotten to [Ramos] very quickly, but he stood up and started ranting and raving like a madman, and frankly he was out of line…most newspaper reports said I handled it very well. He was totally, absolutely out of line…this man gets up and stars ranting and raving and screaming and honestly very disrespectful to the other reporters.”
When questioned by Lauer about his post-GOP debate Twitter feud with Megyn Kelly , Trump insisted he doesn’t have “a schoolyard crush” on the host of The Kelly File . “Trust me, Matt; there is no crush.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPr1Dx4LpIs
Reaffirming his respect for FNC CEO Roger Aisle in the Lauer interview, Trump declared that his not a member of the Megyn Kelly fan club, however.
“I personally am not a fan; I don’t think she does a good job. I don’t think she’s a very good professional, and I think frankly the show is better without her. But that’s up to [Fox News]; they can do whatever they want…I don’t care…”
Trump also observed that the support he’s receiving from the so-called silent majority is propelling him to the top position in all the polls as things stand now.
. @realDonaldTrump widens lead in new national GOP poll. #KellyFile pic.twitter.com/BbAh05D0ub
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) August 28, 2015
On June 19, Jorge Ramos disclosed that his daughter had gone to work for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, but that won’t affect his duties.”I will continue to report with complete independence and ask the tough questions, the same way I have done for the last 30 years.”
On his website , Jorge Ramos champions the American dream, but adds that “I’ve never ceased to be Mexican. I have two passports, and I vote in elections in both countries. I’m deeply proud of this privileged duality. The best thing about America is its embrace of diversity. The worst thing about America, of course, is the racist and xenophobic attitudes that tend to emerge now and then…”
Setting aside whether you like or hate the billionaire businessman, it appeared to some observers that in round 2 of the Donald Trump-Jorge Ramos encounter on Monday night in Iowa, Ramos seemed more interested in making a speech rather than giving Trump a chance to actually answer questions about his immigration plan, although perceptions differ.
Do you think that Donald Trump will eventually agree to a sit-down interview with Jorge Ramos on Univision?
[Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images News]