Hear two GOP supporters face off about Trump ahead of RNC
Jul 17, 2016 4:00 PM EST
PBS NewsHour PBS NewsHour
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/hear-two-gop-delegates-face-off-trump-ahead-rnc
Transcript Audio
In a lead up to the Republican National Convention on Monday, Special Correspondent Jeff Greenfield in Cleveland, Ohio, tells a tale of two GOP members who embody the gap between Trump's most ardent supporters and detractors.
JEFF GREENFIELD, PBS NEWSHOUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT:
Carl Paladino is a millionaire real estate and business entrepreneur from upstate New York. He was the Republican candidate for Governor in 2010 and an early Trump supporter.
CARL PALADINO, HONORARY CO-CHAIR NEW YORK DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN:
He's bringing salvation. I think America right now is in a big transition, and no question, this is the second American Revolution that we're witnessing today.
GREENFIELD:
New Hampshire's Gordon Humphrey served two terms in the US Senate, where he was known as a staunch conservative. A Kasich supporter, he was part of the failed "Never Trump" movement that tried to "unbind" pledged delegates from having to vote for Trump on the convention's first ballot.
GORDON HUMPHREY, FMR. U.S. SENATOR:
I am utterly concerned and even frightened for our country. I think Donald Trump is burdened by a pretty sick psyche. He seems to me a man who operates without a conscience; he has no sense of guilt, shame, embarrassment, remorse, regret, // This man should not be president, much less Commander-in-Chief.
JEFF GREENFIELD:
Humphrey believes the Republican establishment – including the Party Chairman and Senate Majority Leader — bear heavy responsibility for the Trump's rise.
This impending train wreck for my party and our nation could have been averted if Reince Priebus, for example, Mitch McConnell, and others of their stature had stood up and said, 'This is not going to work. This man is unfit.' If they had encouraged others who are qualified, including those who were running, to persist.
Paladino also points to the GOP establishment as a source of Trump's success—but for very different reasons.
PALADINO:
"The rank and file, and I'll describe them as basically the middle class, blue collar, white collar, working men, they've been festering with a lot of anger. They gave Congress a Republican majority in that last congressional race, and unfortunately they didn't use it as a bully pulpit, as an opposition government."
For Humphrey, Trump's language and demeanor demonstrates his unfitness for the Oval Office.
HUMPHREY:
He's a demagogue; he's gotten where he is on the basis of appeals to fear, insecurity, envy, a bit of bigotry, xenophobia. These are all the basest human emotions to which Trump has been appealing. That part is exceedingly unhealthy.
DONALD TRUMP:
"She's crooked Hillary!"
No, says Paladino—the blunt talk is just what Trump voters love—that he doesn't talk like a politician.
We became familiar with, 'Oh,well, you know, you can't do that, that's going to insult somebody. Don't you say 'Merry Christmas,' because you're going to insult somebody, you can't do that. You have to be polite, you have to be politically correct.' That stuff is out, man.
As for the future? Here too, the views could not be more different.
One likes to think of Donald Trump as the result of a perfect storm, the convergence of factors that can happen only once in a century. I'm not so sure that's the case. This may be a new phenomenon, this conjunction of circus clowns as candidates and greedy media as promoters.
The Republican Party is us, we won. Ok? We won the majority in all those states we came out and our, our candidate, our primary candidate is Donald Trump.
While these comments may not be typical of the Republicans gathering here in Cleveland, they do reflect, even if in a heightened state, a quality that unites Trumps most fervent supporters, and opponents, a passionate, intense sense of anger.
In a previous version of this report, Carl Paladino was incorrectly identified as a delegate to the Republican National Convention. He is honorary co-chair of the Donald Trump New York Campaign. The video and transcript have been updated to reflect the correction.
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