Toxic algae bloom Donald Trump appeared on Meet the Press on Sunday, where he took a break from an unbroken string of self-compliments to defend Roger Ailes, who recently “resigned” from Fox News in the midst of being investigated for sexual harassment. Trump called Ailes a “great guy” and hinted that maybe the fired CEO might now board the Trump Train.
“Well, I don’t want to comment,” Trump said of Ailes, before immediately commenting. “But he’s been a friend of mine for a long time.” He added too that the women who are now “complaining” used to like Ailes just fine:
“And when they write books that are fairly recently released, and they say wonderful things about him. And now all of a sudden they’re saying these horrible things about him. It’s very sad. Because he’s a very good person. I’ve always found him to be just a very, very good person. And by the way, a very, very talented person. Look what he’s done. So I feel very badly. But a lot of people are thinking he’s going to run my campaign.”
What? Who are those people? Wouldn’t Trump presumably be one of those people who knows who’s going to be working for his campaign?
Politico also pointed out that Trump continued to pontificate on the Ailes situation on Showtime’s “The Circus,” a political show that also aired Sunday:
“Roger is — I mean, what he’s done on television, is in the history of television, he’s gotta be placed in the top three, or four or five. And that includes the founding of the major networks. So, it’s too bad. I’m sure it was friendly. I know Rupert [Murdoch, the CEO of News Corp.]. He’s a great guy.”
Ailes stepping down was decidedly not “friendly,” although it did come with a $40 million golden parachute and a guaranteed job until 2018 as a “consultant.” It’s worth noting though that Donald Trump — a man who didn’t seem to know what Brexit was until well into June— has found time to get completely up to date on Roger Ailes and his alleged handsiness, surely an important concern for any Commander in Chief hopeful.
Here’s the full and fairly jovial interview, wherein Trump also vowed to take his revenge on Ted Cruz and reiterated that yes, he really does want to ban Muslims from entering the United States. Fun!
Screenshot via NBC/Meet the Press