CNN’s Gergen: Hewitt Trump Interview Had ‘Gotcha Questions’

CNN Senior Political Analyst David Gergen argued that talk radio host Hugh Hewitt’s interview with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump did have “gotcha questions” on Thursday’s broadcast of “AC360.”

Gergen said, “I think you should know basically a lot about the middle east and the dynamics of the middle east, Hezbollah being in Lebanon, and Hamas being in Gaza, for example, you do need to know that, but I must say traditionally, Anderson, that when reporters have asked candidates, you know, who’s the head of this African government or that African government, what’s the difference between Tajikistan and Pakistan, you know, those are regarded as gotcha questions. that’s an old trick, and those are gotcha questions. I think far more relevant at this point, for a man who’s leading the pack in the Republican Party who’s has never spent a day in public office, is to come forward with thoughtful views, and well thought out views on national security and where he would go, what is his strategy post-the Iran agreement? what strategy would he propose for the Middle East? And secondly, Anderson, we need to know who’s coming with him, it’s not just who goes to the White House, who is coming with you?”

“It’s absolutely true that it’s a roll of the dice for the country, to elect somebody to the presidency who’s never held public office in a day in his or her life and we have, you know, Ben Carson and Donald Trump now leading the Republican field, and neither one of them has spent time in public life, and they should be held up to scrutiny, and we should expect certain standards, but I don’t think that necessarily, when you have a roll call, as Hugh Hewitt had of terrorist leaders in the Middle East, I — I doubt many foreign policy experts don’t know all those names. I don’t think — I don’t think that’s the standard. I do think that’s a gotcha. It’s trying to reveal gaps in his knowledge, but what we want to know is are you going to be surrounded by people who don’t have these off-the-wall ideas who can bring you in and help you sort of see what reality is — what realistically is possible, what you can do, what your options are? That’s when you want somebody who’s going to have his finger very close to the button, and who’s going to be answering that phone call at 3:00 in the morning. You want somebody who is surrounded by good people, and becomes more thoughtful than he’s been so far,” Gergen added.

(h/t Mediaite)

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