'Self-immolating' Trump should drop out after 'disastrous' interview: critics

Donald Trump’s highly-combative performance at what is being called a “disastrous” on-stage interview with the National Association of Black Journalists went so poorly there are calls from the left for him to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.

Trump arrived on stage late, blamed the organization’s equipment rather than, as HuffPost’s Philip Lewis reported, negotiations backstage “that NABJ not do the live fact checking.” The event, slated to last one full hour, ended when the campaign pulled the plug after just 34 minutes.

“The questions were Rude and Nasty, often in the form of a statement, but we CRUSHED IT!” Trump claimed on his social media platform.

But many others disagreed.

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“Trump should drop out of the race,” announced libertarian organizer Joshua Reed Eakle, president of Project Liberal, which includes on its board of directors former GOP Congressman Joe Walsh . He also referred to Trump’s performance as “the behavior of a toddler.”

“This was a train wreck that derailed into the ocean where it was attacked by a shark and electrocuted before being hit by an asteroid,” mocked gun violence prevention activist and Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts, referring to some of the ex-president’s recent remarks.

Journalist Aaron Rupar, founder of Public Notice, described Trump as “angrily self-immolating.”

Human Rights Campaign national press secretary Brandon Wolf added, “Donald Trump is breathtakingly racist, utterly unhinged, and completely unfit for public service. He should drop out.”

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“Donald Trump is mentally unfit to be President, and every single editorial board across America tomorrow should have an op-ed calling for him to drop out,” declared Democratic pollster and strategist Matt McDermott, who also appeared to call Trump’s performance, “completely deranged + unhinged.”

The Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson asked, “When will @JDVance call for @realdonaldtrumpto be replaced at the top of the ticket? It’s clear Trump’s age, dementia, and collapsing physical and mental condition have rendered him unable to carry out the campaign, much less the Presidency.”

“This is Trump’s ‘Biden debate’ moment,” declared MeidasTouch Network cofounder Brett Meiselas. “There should be loud calls for him to drop out after this. His poll numbers are about to plummet. This is an utter disaster.”

Actor and activist George Takei wrote, “Major papers should call on Trump to drop out of the race following that interview with the National Association of Black Journalists.”

“Looking forward to the editorials calling for @realDonaldTrump to get out of the race following today’s performance,” remarked Biden White House communications director Ben LaBolt.

Rupar posted a “supercut” of the interview:

Trump self-immolates at NABJ: a supercutwww.youtube.com