GOP Frontrunner Spends 17 Minutes Digging Himself Deeper and Deeper Into a Hole

Donald Trump made the mistake of calling into a right wing conservative radio host’s show Monday morning. It did not go well. Wisconsin hostÂ Charlie Sykes of WTMJÂ began by saying, “let’s see if we can make some news,” and did not disappoint.Â

First up was the now famous anti-Trump ad that shows women reading real anti-women Donald Trump quotes, including calling themÂ â€œbimbo,â€ â€œdog,â€ and â€œfat pig.â€

“The rules aren’t different, but certainly I never thought I would run for office,” Trump offered as a response.Â “Many people, you know, Howard Stern would interview me, and everybody would be having fun and the women would be laughing,” Trump explained, suggesting that made his misogynistic comments OK.Â

â€œWomen are just going to have to see what Iâ€™ve done. Iâ€™ve hired tremendous numbers of women. Women are in the highest executive positions. I pay women in many cases more than I pay men, which is more than most people can say.â€

â€œIâ€™ve been a person thatâ€™s been in the entertainment business and a very big person in business, and Iâ€™ve been quoted over the years by everybody, almost from the time I started business. For whatever reason, I became a celebrity in a sense,â€ Trump insisted.Â Â

He went on to claim he has been “better to women than any of these candidates.”Â

Later, Sykes challenged Trump. “You and I are both grandpas, we are both fathers. Hereâ€™s a question here in Wisconsin: How should fathers and mothers explain this? I mean, is this the way youâ€™d want their sons to behave?”

Trump replied, â€œI thought this was a dead issue until I just spoke to you.”

Sykes sounded surprised: “Really?”

Trump continued, saying, “Iâ€™d rather be talking about trade. Iâ€™d rather be talking about you know the things Iâ€™m best at: security, border security.”

Later in the interview, Sykes accuses Trump of not answering his question, charges that he has been “a liberal Democrat,” and reminds listeners that the latest polls show the GOP frontrunner “losing to Hillary Clinton by double digits.” He then read off a list of conservative pundits Trump has insulted.Â

“Mr. Trump, if you can’t unite conservatives, if you can’t unite Republicans, how do you think you’ll ever unite the country?”

Sykes is well respected in Wisconsin. He had Trump on the defensive the entire time. Trump’s people should never have allowed this interview, and should have pulled him out of it when it was clear it was going poorly. This could cost him his current lead in the Badger State.

Toward the end of the interview Sykes asked Trump if he knew he is a “#NeverTrump” guy.

Trump refused to apologize for going after Ted Cruz’ wife, which prompted Sykes to ask, “Do you ever apologize?,” and note, “Most real men when they screw up they’ll go, ‘You know what, I was a hot head, I shouldn’t have done that.'”

Instead, Trump insisted Cruz owes him a apology, claiming, “I didn’t start it, he started it, if if he didn’t start it, it would never have happened.”

Sykes’ response?

“Just remember, we’re not on the playground, we’re running for President of the United States.”

Listen:

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Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license

Hat tip: The Hill

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