Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:19 pm
Meet The Press’s Chuck Todd did something that no other Sunday show host did. He obliterated Trump and his surrogate for defending unwanted sexual advances.
Video:
Transcript via Meet The Press:
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CHUCK TODD:
But why is that– Why is this idea– Why is it not running– Wait, let ask you this, Mr. Mayor, why is the idea of not running, “Well, he wasn’t running for President, so it’s okay to be a misogynist.”
RUDY GIULIANI:
I’m not saying–
CHUCK TODD:
–He wasn’t running for President, so it’s okay to make unwanted sexual advances?
RUDY GIULIANI:
Chuck, Chuck, I’m not saying it was the right thing to do. I’m saying that, for example, when I was the Mayor of New York and I went on the Howard Stern’s show, I made sure that we didn’t fool around, we didn’t tell jokes, we didn’t say that things, you know, would shock people. On that show, a lot of things are said that aren’t true, you just say them because they’re funny.
I’m a good friend of Howard Stern’s and I really like him a lot, but every time I was on his show, my people, my mayor’s people, handled it so that we never talked about things like that. It’s not right to say it, whether you’re a politician or not, now–
CHUCK TODD:
It’s not saying it, Mr. Mayor, it’s doing it. He’s bragging about making unwanted sexual advances.
RUDY GIULIANI:
It’s wrong. It is wrong.
CHUCK TODD:
You’re saying that the words are wrong. How about the actions?
RUDY GIULIANI:
Well, the actions would be even worse if they were actions. Talk and action are two different things. So you want to–
CHUCK TODD:
Wait a minute, New York Times, “Temple Taggart was 21-year-old beauty contestant when, she said, Mr. Trump kissed her on the lips, without invitation, at a pageant event. It was an unwanted advance she has turned it over in her head for years. Watching him relive his sexual aggressions on this video, she said in an interview on Saturday, ‘made me feel a lot better,’ she said. It was like, ‘Thank you, now no one can say I made this up.'” You were just implying this stuff was made up.
Chuck Todd cut to the very heart of the issue. The tape isn’t about language or words. On the tape, Trump can be heard bragging about making unwanted sexual advances towards women and committing sexual assault.
Trump has a long history of engaging in this type of behavior. Trump and his surrogates can’t bring up baseless conspiracy theories about Bill and Hillary Clinton while Trump is on tape bragging about sexual assault.
Chuck Todd didn’t just call them out. In true classic Meet The Press fashion, he confronted Giuliani with evidence, and at one point left the Trump surrogate speechless.
Viewers got a glimpse of a Meet The Press that hasn’t been seen since Tim Russert died, as Chuck Todd took apart Trump and his campaign for trying to defend the indefensible.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
