Right-Wing Media Turn On Fellow Conservative Pundit For Asking Trump A Foreign Policy Question

Written by Nick Fernandez

Published

Right-wing media rushed to attack fellow conservative pundit Hugh Hewitt after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump “stumbled” in response to the radio host's questions about foreign policy during a recent interview.

Donald Trump “Stumbled” When Radio Host Hugh Hewitt Asked Him About Foreign Policy

Hugh Hewitt Asked Trump About Terrorism During Radio Interview. Conservative radio host and CNN debate moderator Hugh Hewitt questioned Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump about foreign policy on the September 3 edition of his show. Following the interview, Trump lashed out at Hewitt, claiming he had asked a “gotcha question” that was “ridiculous.” As reported by CNN:

Donald Trump stumbled when asked about the heads of major terrorist organizations on Thursday and then lashed out at what he called a “gotcha question.”

Trump, the front-runner for the GOP nomination, blasted conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt in an interview and said it is “ridiculous” to be questioned about who leads Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Nusra and ISIS.

“I think it's ridiculous. I'll have, I'm a delegator. I find great people. I find absolutely great people, and I'll find them in our armed services, and I find absolutely great people,” Trump said.

Trump sought to downplay the importance of knowing who controls the terror groups. He suggested that those leaders -- some of whom have led their groups for years -- would likely no longer be in power by the time he would reach the White House.

“As far as the individual players, of course I don't know them. I've never met them. I haven't been, you know, in a position to meet them. 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,” Trump told Hewitt.

During the interview, Hewitt said he didn't mean to be asking Trump “gotcha questions” - but the front-running Republican candidate was having none of it. [CNN, 9/3/15]

Conservative Media Rush To Defend Trump By Attacking Hewitt

Fox's Geraldo Rivera: Hewitt Asked Trump "Gotcha Questions." On the September 4 edition of Fox News' Fox and Friends, network senior correspondent Geraldo Rivera ran defense for Trump after he failed to answer Hewitt's questions, parroting the presidential candidate's own assertion that Hewitt was posing a “gotcha question”:

CLAYTON MORRIS: Okay, our viewers this morning weighed in and said they're on Trump's side on this. They think it was a 'gotcha question.'

GERLADO RIVERA: 99.9 percent of the people watching this program or any morning show, or I would venture to say--or anything other than a class about the Middle East, would not be able to answer most of those questions. The Quds Forces. I mean, how many people in this studio knew what the Quds Forces were before this Hugh Hewitt? This reminds me...

ANNA KOOIMAN: Isn't he held to a different standard though, Geraldo? If they're running for President of the United States -- Carly Fiorina got asked the same question, she answered it.

RIVERA: Well, at what point and after what kind of briefing? If you give me thirty seconds, I can give you the formula for a nuclear weapon as construed in World War II. I think the--the point is this: Karen Hughes, remember Karen Hughes? She represented George W. Bush press but, in 1999 when George W. Bush was asked similar kinds of 'gotcha questions,' she said 'running for president is not being a contestant on celebrity Jeopardy.' These are gotcha questions, these are briefing - -al-Zawahiri, you know al-Zam -- you know these are all things that you learn and you are briefed on. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 9/4/15] 

Limbaugh: Hewitt's Questions Were “Designed To Further The Narrative That Republicans Are Just Not Bright.”  During the September 4 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show, host Rush Limbaugh jumped to defend Trump after his appearance on Hewitt's show, claiming that the questions posed to Trump were just “designed to further the narrative that Republicans are just not bright”:

LIMBAUGH: This was even done to Reagan, folks. Reagan was running for president, he and the other candidates were asked if they knew the names of various obscure heads of state -- these questions are never ever asked of Democrats, by the way. Make note of this. The question that Trump got, Democrats will never get those questions in the normal ebb and flow of things. Hillary will never get them. Clinton will never get them, never did. It's just they are questions that are designed to further the narrative that Republicans are just not bright, they're just not hip, they're just, and when it works on one of them, then every other Republican is going to get the same treatment. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 9/4/15]

Laura Ingraham: “Meet The New Katie Couric!” In a September 3 tweet, fellow conservative radio host Laura Ingraham mocked Hewitt, referring to him as “the new Katie Couric”:

[Twitter.com, 9/4/15]

Jim Hoft: “Anti-Trump Talker Hugh Hewitt Grills Trump On Islamist Terror Leaders.” In a September 3 post, Jim Host from The Gateway Pundit complained that Hewitt “grilled” Trump “on international terror leaders,” asking the radio host "[w]hose side are you on?":

Conservative talker and Trump-basher Hugh Hewitt invited him on his radio show today and then grilled him on international terror leaders including the heads of Hezbollah, ISIS, and Al-Qaeda.

[...]

Did Obama EVER have to answer a question like this. Think, Hugh, Think! Whose side are you on? [Gateway Pundit, 9/3/15]