MICHAEL NUTTER: Jake, I think the only problem here is that he caused this problem himself, he raised the issue himself, and then put together, “he's Mexican, I'm building a wall.” I mean, I saw your interview, he said it like 95 times. Right? So he put himself in this position to raise all these questions about his mindset, about his view, then doubles down, or maybe triples down, with throwing -- when you asked about possibly a Muslim judge -- 



JAKE TAPPER (HOST): That was [CBS'] John Dickerson, but yeah. 



NUTTER: The other interview. Yeah, maybe that too. I mean, you know, where is this going? He caused this problem himself. Dug his hole. Is now getting buried by his own party. And is trying to claw his way back out. 



[...]

MARY KATHERINE HAM: He will not talk about it until the moment he wants to talk about it again. This is the essence of Donald Trump and he tells you who he is every day, he's a guy who is very self-interested and interested in serving Donald Trump in that given moment and he will say what it takes to do that. That's why he didn't say before that -- he didn't point out the heritage before because now it served his purposes for whatever that fleeting moment was when he said something about his heritage and now it does not serve his purposes anymore, so he's like, “never mind, I'm not going to talk about this anymore.” As soon as he feels like it does, he will talk about it again. And the fact is that it's inescapable that he said the man could not do his job because of his ethnicity. That's the problem. It's very clear. He made it very clear. And so everybody has to respond to that.

[...]

BILL PRESS: I don't want to give him a pass for not saying it two years ago. He said it now. And as far as I'm concerned, if [House Speaker] Paul Ryan [(R-WI)] says it's racism -- he called it that, I didn't -- if [Sen.] Lindsey Graham [(R-SC)] says it's racism, that's good enough for me. But I think there are two things to point out. One is this case has nothing to do with immigration or the wall or anything. It's about his, allegedly, defrauding students at Trump University. And if you read the case, it's a pretty strong case I think against Donald Trump. And you know, it just goes on and on. 



HAM: One more thing, he has -- if he wants facts of this case out and wants to make those arguments, guess who has the biggest platform to do it? He can do that. The argument he made was this one.

[...]

GLORIA BORGER: Two things in Trump's statement that are of interest to me. Number one, he tried to walk it back. OK? There is a line. “I do not feel that one's heritage makes them incapable of being impartial.” So he clearly is listening to the people on the Hill who have twisted themselves into pretzels to endorse him. And now we're trying to find a way not to back off of it. So that's number one. Because he's trying to back off. But number two, he is a Republican presidential nominee. And what we are talking about here is a civil fraud case, in which he is involved as a businessman. His personal business issues are not the equivalent, to me at least, to his presidential campaign. And yet it remains front and center, which gives you a large hint into the way Donald Trump is thinking. Because his business life is so important to him that he's kind of putting it front and center in a presidential contest. And that doesn't make his supporters in Congress feel really comfortable at all. 

TAPPER: John King?

JOHN KING: You pressed him repeatedly. A, asking smart follow-up questions, but, B, impressing him, isn't that the definition of racism? That was his opportunity to think about what he had said and take it back. In this statement, as Gloria just said, he says, “I do not feel that one's heritage makes them incapable of being impartial.” He repeatedly said in the interview with you that he believes this judge's heritage made him incapable of being impartial. So will the real Donald Trump please stand up? That's the issue here. Because this is going to be -- he may not want to talk about it again. This will be in Democratic campaign ads from now to November. 

Previously: 

Watch CNN's Jake Tapper Grill Trump Over His Racist Attacks On Federal Judge

Meet The Press Panel Guests: Trump's Remarks On Judge “Blatantly Racist,” A “Racist Bullhorn” 

Wash. Post: Following Trump's Logic, Only “A White Male Republican” Could Judge Him Fairly

These Are The Right-Wing Media Figures Spinning Trump's Bogus Legal Argument Against Trump U. Judge