In one of Donald Trump’s many gristly interview responses to the Washington Post editorial board, he punted the nuclear football into outer space. Post CEO Fred Ryan asked the Republican presidential front-runner if he would “use a battlefield nuclear weapon to take out ISIS” — a relevant question, given that Trump evaded a similar inquiry in December and has talked generally about “bombing the sh*t out of” ISIS-controlled land.
Trump answered by comparing his foreign policy to his campaign tactics.
“I don’t want to use, I don’t want to start the process of nuclear. Remember the one thing that everybody has said, I’m a counter-puncher. Rubio hit me. Bush hit me. When I said low energy, he’s a low-energy individual, he hit me first. I spent, by the way he spent 18 million dollars’ worth of negative ads on me.”
Before being able to crow further about the ineffectiveness of Bush’s campaign spending, Ryan tried to reel Trump in.
“This is about ISIS. You would not use a tactical nuclear weapon against ISIS?” he pressed. But before he could finish speaking, Trump interjected.
“By the way, could I do one thing?” he asked. “This is a very good-looking group of people. Could I just go around, so I know who the hell I’m talking to?”
Fred Hiatt, the Post’s editorial page editor, acquiesced, and the newspaper staff said their names one by one. When they finished their introductions — 57 minutes into the Q & A — Hiatt allowed the interview to proceed to a different topic.
A devil’s advocate could argue that Trump answered Ryan’s original question by saying “I don’t want to start the process of nuclear.” But “I don’t” doesn’t equal “I won’t,” a classic invitation to a journalist to keep digging for more details about his position. Additionally, “the process of nuclear” sounds like an atomic juice cleanse more than it does a military term. These kinds of statements invite follow-ups from questioners.
But the process of journalism proceeded to a query about Trump’s divisiveness.
He began his response to that one by citing a poll.
The Post’s editorial board interview is here.
