Stephen Henderson and Mary Matalin
Stephen Henderson and Mary Matalin
Free Press Editorial Page Editor Stephen Henderson went at it Sunday on “Meet the Press” on NBC with Republican strategist Mary Matalin over Donald Trump, bigotry and the GOP.
The Freep posts a transcript of their exchange at a Rockefeller Center studio in New York City.
Henderson: There's also a substantive credibility problem here. I mean, you have Republicans saying, "Trump is not one of us." And yet, a lot of the things that he's saying are said in coded language by other Republicans. I wrote a column last week about Paul Ryan, for instance, saying, "This is not a party that preys on people's prejudices."
And yet, you can think of lots of examples of Republicans doing exactly that, going back to Ronald Reagan, giving a states' rights speech in Neshoba County, Mississippi, in 1980. This goes on all the time in coded ways. Trump is saying some of these things more explicitly. And that makes them, you know, it makes you uncomfortable too.
Matalin: No, it doesn't make me uncomfortable, it just makes me want to choke you because it's ridiculous and it's the creation of Trump. Because conservatives do not consider themselves bigots or homophobes or misogynists, okay?
What Cruz won at CPAC, and he won overwhelmingly, he is expanding the electorate by bringing like-minded libertarians, young people. Trump is expanding the electorate by getting people who are sick of being called bigots, because they want to secure the border. This is not a race race, okay? Let's not go there.
Stephen Henderson: I think it is. I think there's no question that what he is doing is appealing to race. And Republicans have done that for a long time.
This portion starts at 21:35 on this video.
