Fox News on Trump selecting his own resort for G-7: “The master marketer at work”

Harris Faulkner: “You know, he is the exception to some of the rules, I would imagine”

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

From the October 17 edition of Fox News' Outnumbered

MELISSA FRANCIS (FOX BUSINESS CO-ANCHOR): So acting chief of staff for President Trump, Mick Mulvaney, just announcing that the 2020 G-7 will be held at the Trump National Doral resort in Miami, in June. That won't cause any controversy. What do you think? So, you're laughing hysterically.

JOSH HOLMES (FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL): I am. A lovely location.

FRANCIS: It is beautiful, it's near the airport in Miami. Do you think that maybe having the G-7 at his own resort might — he might get a little incoming from the Democrats on that one?

HOLMES: Honestly, I think President Trump does this because he knows his critics will go absolutely crazy.

FRANCIS: He's trolling them, and trying to drive them bananas. And also —

HOLMES: There's no question.

FRANCIS: — say Doral 6,000 times.

HOLMES: No question. I mean one, look, the facility is definitely equipped to handle this event. And so, you know, it should've been qualified no matter what. But —

FRANCIS: "But" — yes —

HOLMES: I think the selection, he knows everybody's going to go absolutely crazy. Right? And he loves that. I mean, he changes the national discussion all the time with this kind of thing. I think that's a perfect example.

LISA BOOTHE (FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR): I hear it's a beautiful property.

FRANCIS: Harris, the master marketer at work? He's a marketer.

HARRIS FAULKNER (FOX NEWS ANCHOR): He is. I wonder, though, because you talk about some pushback that he might get. So that boundary of running a business and being president. Do you think there's a problem at all?

HOLMES: Yeah — no, look, I think the optics issues — this president has never been concerned about what your conventional wisdom reaction would be to these kind of things. He just isn't, right? Would I be concerned, yeah. I wouldn't want that.

FAULKNER: What would your concern be?

HOLMES: Just the optics of having your name on the door and having and some kind of an official business is tough. I mean, it's just a really difficult thing to do. But his point, which I think is a pretty good one, is let's just blow through all of this media hand wringing, because that's what we get no matter what.

FAULKNER: You know, he is the exception to some of the rules, I would imagine. I don't know, I didn't write them. But he's got his name on a lot of stuff.

HOLMES: He does.

FAULKNER: I mean, if you look around the world — Turkey is one place, as an example. Licensing to put his name on things.

Correction (10/17/19): The transcript for this video originally attributed the comment “I hear it's a beautiful property” to Johanna Maska. In fact, Lisa Boothe spoke the line in question.