Donald Trump humiliates himself on conservative radio: “That is a gotcha question! This is ridiculous!”
"Hewitt wanted to conclude the interview by asking Trump a few questions of the sort he can expect in the upcoming debate, and Trump was amenable — at least, that is, until he realized that he didn’t know how to answer any of the questions, because he fundamentally didn’t know what they were about. For example, Hewitt asked him if he was familiar with General Soleimani, and Trump replied like any panicked student would, saying “Yes, but go ahead, give me a little, go ahead, tell me.”
Hewitt told him he runs the Quds Forces — the Iranian equivalent of the Navy SEALs — and Trump started talking about the Kurds. “No, not the Kurds, the Quds Forces, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Quds Forces,” Hewitt said.
“I thought you said Kurds,” Trump replied, and tried to start talking about them again. Hewitt insisted he talk about the Quds, and an audibly annoyed Trump started speaking generally about “what’s happening with Iran.”
Hewitt allowed him to do so, but shortly thereafter asked him another specific question about the Middle East. “I’m looking for the next commander-in-chief, to know who Hassan Nasrallah is, and Zawahiri, and al-Julani, and al-Baghdadi. Do you know the players without a scorecard, yet, Donald Trump?” he asked.
Trump’s reply was a magisterial defense of the virtues of his ignorance, worthy of quoting it in its entirety:
No, you know, I’ll tell you honestly, I think by the time we get to office, they’ll all be changed. They’ll be all gone. I knew you were going to ask me things like this, and there’s no reason, because number one, I’ll find, I will hopefully find General Douglas MacArthur in the pack. I will find whoever it is that I’ll find, and we’ll, but they’re all changing, Hugh. If, if they’re still there, which is unlikely in many cases, but if they’re still there, I will know them better than I know you.
Hewitt, taken aback, said “I don’t believe in gotcha questions — and I’m not trying to quiz you on who the worst guy in the world is.”
Trump was on a roll though, and replied that that was “a gotcha question, though. I mean, you know, when you’re asking me about who’s running this, this this, that’s not, that is not — I will be so good at the military, your head will spin.”
As if that weren’t enough empty bluster, Trump argued that he doesn’t know who these figures are because he doesn’t have personal relationships with them."
