While delegates were being counted on Monday during the Republican National Convention, MSNBC sent Jacob Soboroff to the floor to interview Donald Trump Jr. about what his father’s second term would look during Katy Tur Reports. The pair battled over whether Trump was “divisive” before Trump Jr. ultimately told Soboroff to “get out of here” as he spread some fake news over immigration.
Soboroff wondered, “What is that change going to look like, Don? What, practically, your father as president, I think you would even say was a divisive figure, what's it going to look like in a second term?”
Democracy is about arguments, debates, and disagreements. Every politician is divisive to some extent, including President Joe Biden. What makes democracy worth defending is that we can debate our differences like adults without shooting each other, which is why what happened on Saturday with the attempt on Donald Trump’s life is not just an attack on him, but on democracy.
As for Trump Jr., he replied, “I don't think he was a divisive figure at all. I think the media created divisiveness around him. They lied about Russia-Russia collusion, they said he was a traitor, they went after him in every which way as possible. If the media actually starts being an honest broker, talking about the things he did, the prosperity he brought, the peace deals that he signed around the world, rather than the disaster we're living right now, I think you'd do everyone in the country a big favor.”
Moving on, Soboroff asked, “I know immigration is important to him. I covered the family separation crisis closely, will we continue to see policies like separating 5,000 children deliberately from their parents?”
That set up the following exchange between the two men:
TRUMP JR.: You mean the Obama Administration.
SOBOROFF: You know they didn't do that, sir.
TRUMP JR.: Sure.
SOBOROFF: Will there be a second family separation policy?
TRUMP JR.: It’s MSDNC, so I expect nothing less from you clowns, even today, even 48 hours later, you couldn't wait. You couldn't wait with your lies and with your nonsense, so just get out of here.
Trump Jr. is correct, as MSNBC itself noted in 2018. Furthermore, immigration is not just important to Trump, it is important to Soboroff. He’s a key figure in a current defamation lawsuit against MSNBC for alleging Dr. Mahendra Amin performed unnecessary hysterectomies on female migrants. He’s attacked Democrats from the left on the issue of border security, he wrote a book lamenting Trump’s immigration policies, whom he accused of “torturing human beings” on multiple occasions. He also claimed Trump was attempting to “terrorize millions of people” by being “xenophobic.”
Here is the transcript for the July 15 show:
MSNBC Katy Tur Reports
7/15/2024
3:18 PM ET
JACOB SOBOROFF: What is that change going to look like, Don? What, practically, your father as president, I think you would even say was a divisive figure, what's it going to look like in a second term?
DONALD TRUMP JR. I don't think he was a divisive figure at all. I think the media created divisiveness around him. They lied about Russia-Russia collusion, they said he was a traitor, they went after him in every which way as possible. If the media actually starts being an honest broker, talking about the things he did, the prosperity he brought, the peace deals that he signed around the world, rather than the disaster we're living right now, I think you'd do everyone in the country a big favor.
SOBOROFF: I know immigration is important to him. I covered the family separation crisis closely, will we continue to see policies like separating 5,000 children deliberately from their parents?
TRUMP JR.: You mean the Obama Administration.
SOBOROFF: You know they didn't do that, sir.
TRUMP JR.: Sure.
SOBOROFF: Will there be a second family separation policy?
TRUMP JR.: It’s MSDNC, so I expect nothing less from you clowns, even today, even 48 hours later, you couldn't wait. You couldn't wait with your lies and with your nonsense, so just get out of here.
SOBOROFF: The nomination continues here in the Florida delegation, we're about to hear from Eric and Don Jr.
