Donald Trump directed his fire at Meghan McCain on Saturday, criticizing her ability to perform on television and advising Fox News to find better talent.
“Meghan McCain was terrible,” Trump said in a Twitter message on Saturday morning. “Angry and obnoxious, she will never make it on T.V. Fox News can do so much better!”
It followed a Friday edition of “The Five,” during which McCain criticized Trump while sitting as a guest host. “My concern with Donald Trump is this,” said McCain, whose father ran for the presidency in 2008. “I have real life experience on the campaign trail. I dedicated almost two years of my life in my twenties. This is the glory time, this is the fun time. He can answer any interview question he wants. It’s going to get a lot harder, a lot more intense, and I question his capacity to stand up to the heat under fire.”
McCain was responding to criticism Trump had for radio host Hugh Hewitt following an interview on Thursday. Hewitt had asked Trump about Iran’s Quds Forces, which Trump took to be the Kurds. Trump stated that he misheard. Hewitt eventually said, “I’m looking for the next commander in chief, to know who Hassan Nasrallah is, and Zawahiri, and al-Julani, and al-Baghdadi. Do you know the players without a scorecard?”
Trump responded that he did not. He later called Hewitt a “third-rate radio announcer” and said he was asking “gotcha” questions.
Aside from McCain, the other hosts of “The Five” defended Trump. Geraldo Rivera said that Hewitt’s line of questioning was unnecessary. “Who’s the president of Pakistan? What form of government do they have in Kazakhstan? How many countries are there in South America? Those are fine questions for a quiz show, and he’ll have a briefing when the time comes,” Rivera said.
Greg Gutfeld knocked the significance of the event. “He misheard. That’s a big story. That’s a huge story. And I’m glad we opened with it,” Gutfeld said to laughter.
McCain, the lone critic, interjected again, “To me it looks rookie. That’s all I’m saying … He might be the nominee going up against the previous secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. If he’s going up against her in a debate, some of these optics are going to be really lethal to the Republican Party.”
Trump is expected to go up against Hewitt again on September 16th when he serves as a moderator for the next Republican debate, which will be aired on CNN.
