Providing a window into his psychology, Donald Trump embraced his image as the equivalent of a heel in professional wrestling during a press conference Tuesday.
The presumptive GOP nominee for president accepted the label of “antagonist” and explained why during an exchange about Trump University with CNN’s Jim Acosta. Trump made reference last week to the ethnicity of U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, the man overseeing a lawsuit against the defunct organization. When challenged by the reporter about the comment and his willingness to “antagonize” the official, Trump talked over Acosta and boasted that he didn’t “care”.
In the context of the exchange, Trump barged ahead most times after Acosta spoke only a few words, making it unclear when the presidential candidate was responding directly to the reporter’s questions and not just sounding off on the judge and the case.
He went on to talk about Tarla Makaeff, one of the named plaintiffs in the suit against Trump University, who Curiel allowed to step back from the case in March because of health issues and the publicity of the matter. Trump argued that Makaeff was “a disaster” to the prosecution because she wrote and videotaped positive reviews of Trump University. But Makaeff’s legal representation wrote in a court filing that she simply didn’t want to offend her Trump University “mentors”, and she recorded the written assessment at a time she “believed she would still get the information and mentoring she was promised by Trump.”
The New York businessman has expressed frustration in light of developments in the Trump University legal proceedings. In response to a request from The Washington Post, Judge Curiel ordered the release of the idle company’s internal documents Friday, citing increased public interest in Trump given his rise to the Republican presidential nomination. That same day, Trump held a rally in the city of Curiel’s court, San Diego, where he ripped the judge as “a hater of Donald Trump.”
He also made the remark then that prompted Acosta’s question Tuesday. In an aside as he described the particulars of the lawsuit, Trump said, “The judge, who happens to be, we believe, Mexican, which is great. I think that’s fine. You know what? I think the Mexicans are going to end up loving Donald Trump when I give all these jobs, okay?”
Curiel was born in East Chicago, Ind., to immigrant parents from Mexico.
He ordered the Trump University trial to begin in late November.
