Far-right radio host Michael Savage told Donald Trump that Hispanics will support his presidential campaign because “the Hispanic culture is a macho culture. Men don't like reporting to a woman.” Trump did not refute Savage's characterization, and later told him “I appreciate your support, you've been so amazing.”
During his January 11 program, Savage remarked to Trump that “the reason Hispanics are going to vote for you -- and I'll say it, I'm not going to ask you -- is because, to be honest, and it's very clear, the Hispanic culture is a macho culture. Men don't like reporting to a woman. It's just the way the culture is. And they'd rather have a man than a woman as president.” Savage then asked Trump, who did not refute or respond to Savage's characterization of Hispanics, about his polling with Hispanics:
SAVAGE: I'm asking you the questions about the audiences that we normally don't think would vote for you. On this show, Donald, last week I said the reason Hispanics are going to vote for you -- and I'll say it, I'm not going to ask you -- is because, to be honest, and it's very clear, the Hispanic culture is a macho culture. Men don't like reporting to a woman. It's just the way the culture is. And they'd rather have a man than a woman as president. What are your poll numbers amongst Hispanics?
TRUMP: Well we're doing well. In Nevada we just came in and we were at 34 or something like that, number one, the state of Nevada, which is very heavily Hispanic. And you know I have thousands of people that work for me that are Hispanic. And tens of thousands over the years that have been Hispanic and from Mexico and different places and they're phenomenal people. And, you know, they frankly, you know they don't want people coming into the country illegally and taking their jobs.
Trump later added that he's the one who “came up with” getting rid of “anchor babies” from the country, claiming that “people come over, they have a baby, now we have to take care of the baby for the next 90 years. It's ridiculous.” The Associated Press noted that it's “extraordinarily rare for immigrants to come to the U.S. just so they can have babies and get citizenship. In most cases, they come to the U.S. for economic reasons and better hospitals, and end up staying and raising families.”
Numerous polls have shown that Trump is actually extremely unpopular with Hispanics. A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll found “Trump's favorability rating is just 18 percent among Hispanics and blacks alike, vs. 44 percent among whites.”
Savage praised Trump for starting the debate on immigration and said “frankly, the entire Democrat machine lives off the illegal alien vote. Without the illegal alien vote, I don't think they'd be where they are today.”
Trump heavily praised Savage during the interview, stating at the beginning that it was “always an honor” to be on his program and ending the interview by saying, “I appreciate your support, you've been so amazing and I really do, thank you very much for it.”
Savage is one of the country's most extreme radio personalities. The Cumulus Media-syndicated talker has called autism “a fraud, a racket,” said PTSD and depression sufferers are “losers,” advised people not to get flu shots because you can't trust the government, theorized liberals have been driven insane because of seltzer bubbles, claimed President Obama was intentionally trying “to infect the nation with Ebola,” and once told a caller he was a “sodomite” who should “get AIDS and die.”
Trump has repeatedly appeared on The Savage Nation and said in a prior appearance there would be “common sense” if he appointed Savage to head the National Institutes of Health if he became president.