Culture

Trump’s Homeland Security Advisor Defends His ‘Body Slam’ Of CNN: ‘I Think No One Would Perceive That As A Threat’

Since President Trump tweeted old WWE wrestling footage of himself — which was mocked up (probably via Reddit) to show him “body slamming” CNN — on Sunday morning, political talk shows were ongoing as it happened. This allowed for a live reaction from Homeland Security Advisor Thomas Bossett, who was watching the clip for the first time on ABC’s This Week. Well, Bossett’s facial expression while watching the clip was definitely revealing. He maintained a neutral expression for several seconds, but he couldn’t help eventually cracking a smile. So, it’s not surprising to hear that he did not feel the same way as those who struggled to wrap their brains around POTUS proudly tweeting a Gianforte-esque clip of himself.

When grilled by host Martha Raddatz, Bossert seemed unconcerned while stating that “a lot of cable news shows” are “really not always very fair” to Trump, who is simply using social media to air his views to Americans in a “genuine” way. Raddatz asked if Bossert (as the person in charge of homeland security) perceived this as a threat, and here’s what he said:

“I think no one would perceive that as a threat. I hope they don’t. But I do think that he’s beating up in a way on cable platforms that he has a right to respond to. And that he does that regularly so … I think that importantly here, he’s a genuine president expressing himself genuinely. And to be honest, I think that’s why he was elected. He’s the most genuine person and the people that see politicians and then see him find him to be someone that they can understand and relate to.

Raddatz pressed by mentioning Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ recent claim that Trump has “in no way form or fashion has ever promoted or encouraged violence … he’s simply pushing back defending himself.” In response, Bossert thinks that Trump’s responding to the cable news channels that “are beating up on him unfairly.” He also didn’t feel that Trump’s tweet was in any way relevant to how some members of the media (and Raddatz specifically asks about this) have had to hire security guards to protect themselves.

One notable portion of the conversation also included Raddatz acknowledging that the media is growing tired of reporting on itself (“I hate this to be all about us”), but Trump keeps the subject alive (“but he’s making it about us”). It’s a fair point, and on Twitter, Jake Tapper would like to remind everyone that real issues were being discussed before Trump did his thing.

(Via ABC News & CNN)

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