CNN’s Jim Sciutto Tells Joy Behar That Trump ‘Isn’t Interested In Knowing The Facts’ After She Asks ‘Is Trump Just Stupid?’
Co-hosts on ABC’s The View tried to get to the bottom of former President Donald Trump’s mindset and that of his supporters during a conversation with CNN’s Jim Sciutto Thursday.
Sciutto is promoting his new book on the former president called The Return of Great Powers.
“What attracts his followers to him?” asked Joy Behar. “Do they want this country to be run by a dictator, or are they getting misinformation from A.I.?”
“It’s a great question because we all have agency in this, right? You know, people have choices, not just in elections but in who we follow, who we amplify, that kind of thing. And clearly there’s a portion of this country that responds to that. There’s no question,” Sciutto said. He continued:
And I have to tell you, when General John Kelly told me the story of Trump’s praise for Hitler — here’s John Kelly, he’s a retired marine general and served in the military for more than four decades, he’s a Gold Star father and lost his son in combat in Afghanistan — and he told me, he would sit across from the president at the time, praising Hitler, praising Hitler’s generals for being loyal to him, and he would be flabbergasted that he has to remind Trump, the President of the United States, what Hitler did. I mean, he said to me, Kelly said to me, I can’t believe he forgot the Holocaust.
“In your opinion, is Trump just stupid? What is it?” Behar asked.
“I think, not interested in knowing the facts,” Sciutto answered. “And the facts are the most basic history. And that extends not just from Hitler, but to Putin. Putin has every interest in hurting America. So Trump’s imagination that he, through sheer force of personality, can make him his friend or negotiate a better deal just doesn’t line up with the facts. Russia is very invested in bringing us down. I’d love it if someone could change that, but that’s not possible.
“But to your point, why are people attracted to him? I think, one, he gives people license to say to some degree the worst thing on their mind,” Sciutto said, and the co-hosts all agreed.
“Permission,” Sunny Hostin said.
“Permission, permission,” Sciutto repeated. ” And this goes from, well, praising Hitler to making racist comments, et cetera.”
Sciutto added that he didn’t want to disparage everyone who voted for Trump, revealing, “My father — but before he died — voted for Trump. He changed his mind after 2016.”
Watch the clip above via ABC’s The View.
