CNN anchor Anderson Cooper was flabbergasted Wednesday by a surrogate’s defense of Donald Trump, calling his explanation for the former president’s bombastic statements literal “bulls---.”
On AC360, former California Lieutenant Gov. Abel Maldonado, a Republican, said that Trump’s recent comments calling for the military to “handle” Democrats were simply his way of expressing his inner New Yorker. “He’s a fighter,” Maldonado added.
The conversation began when Cooper brought up Trump’s former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, who, alongside other military leaders, have begun to warn of the dangers of re-electing the former president. Milley has called Trump a “fascist to his core.”
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Maldonado, for his part, insisted that Milley and the others disparaging Trump were only doing so after falling out of his good graces.
“A lot of these people, Anderson, when they’re working for him, he’s a good guy. President Trump’s good when they’re working for him,” he said.
After a fair amount of cross-talk, Maldonado continued: “They went to work for him for a reason, obviously, at the pleasure of the president. They went to work to help America, to help President Trump, and all of a sudden they have a disagreement. They move on. And then he’s a “fascist.’”
Cooper replied, “Well, I don’t think we can ever know why they work for them because I think a lot of military people would say they went to work for an administration because they felt they could perhaps temper that administration’s policies.”
Reporter Carl Bernstein, who was also on the panel, at one point directly asked Maldonado whether Trump is a “fascist.”
Maldonado gave an emphatic “no.” But when asked if Trump says “fascistic things,” Maldonado’s response wasn’t as clear.
“I mean, look. He’s a New Yorker. He’s a fighter. He’s a leader,” he said, with Bernstein replying that “New Yorkers who fight don’t usually invoke fascism.”
On that point, Cooper jumped in. “By the way, you’re from California,” he said. “The kids in the Central Park Five—they were actually New Yorkers. So, the idea that Donald Trump is a New Yorker and this is what New Yorkers say, is just bulls---.”
“I’m from California and we look at New York as you know, they’re fighters. They’re strong. They tell it like it is. They’ll say it out loud,” he said with a grin.
“But that’s a comic book,” Cooper responded. “Again, there’s 8 million people in the city.”
Later, Cooper asked the Trump surrogate if there was anything he’s done that “concerns” him.
Maldonado didn’t directly answer, which led Cooper to ask again: “Is there anything that Trump that you think Trump should not do or has done badly?”
“Well, Anderson, I mean, when it comes to inflation, he lowered inflation. When it comes to the border, he sealed the border. When it comes to crime, he lowered crime,” he responded, in effect making his answer self-evident.
“On the main issues, no,” Maldonado said for good measure.
