Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump spent Tuesday morning battling various networks in a series of politically charged interviews in which he was questioned on whether he understood the implications of his plan to ban all Muslim immigrants and tourists from entering the country. All interviews were charged, but the one with CNN's Chris Cuomo was more notably so.
ABC "Good Morning America" host George Stephanopoulos questioned if Trump had any "second thoughts" about the idea, to which Trump responded: "Something has to be done. What I'm doing is calling very simply for Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on."
"Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life," he added.
Trump's interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski covered much of what was said in previous interviews. But Trump was noticeably more talkative than before, eventually prompting Scarborough to cut the interview and go to commercial, according to Politico.
"All right, Donald. Donald, Donald, Donald, Donald - you're not going to keep talking. We will go to break if you keep talking. We're going to ask you questions," Scarborough said, as Trump continued to talk over him. "All right, go to break everybody. Go to break, go to break, go to break, go to break right now. We'll be right back with more 'Morning Joe.'"
Though it happened before the MSNBC interview, Trump's discussion with Chris Cuomo on CNN's "New Day" was the most heated since he arguably most directly challenged Trump's Muslim ban, arguing that it is the antithesis of American values and freedoms, according to Mediaite.
Cuomo opened by noting that Trump's proposal has provoked condemnation from both sides of the political spectrum, to which Trump said the attacks in San Bernardino and Paris are proof that Muslims are trying to destroy America, and "we have no choice but to do exactly what I said until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on."
As the interview continued, Cuomo accused Trump of acting out of fear and picking a fight with all of Islam, while Trump continued to boast about his poll numbers, non-PC image and how it will prevent another 9/11 type of attack, according to Business Insider.
"This isn't about being politically correct. This isn't about being politically correct," said Cuomo. "I don't see the point of scaring people with the possible when the reality is we haven't had another World Trade Center [attack]. ... We haven't had those kinds of attacks. The security network has held up. And one of the reasons is our unity as a people."
Cuomo concluded by noting that "people who are in the business of keeping us safe" say that Trump's plans are unhelpful if not "stupid."
