Donald Trump, the Republican presidential frontrunner, pulled a quintessentially Trump move yesterday, booting reporter Jorge Ramos from a press conference after the Univision news anchor attempted to ask a pointed question about immigration:
“Sit down. You haven’t been called… Sit down,” Trump said. “Go back to Univision,” he added, before a security guard forcibly removed Ramos from the room.
Trump, who has thrived on conflict with his follow GOP nominees as well as right-leaning media outlets like Fox News, later re-admitted Ramos and spend the rest of the conference sparring with him.
This ten-minute video shows it all:
As the main anchor for Univision, the Spanish-language channel that touts itself as ”the most powerful name in Hispanic news in the US,” Ramos is often compared to the legendary Walter Cronkite—a trusted voice beloved by the viewers who tune in to watch him every night. In 2012, Washington Monthly declared him the guardian of the Latino vote in that year’s presidential election.
Trump has reveled in feuding with his fellow Republicans, and the tussle with Ramos underscores his eagerness to antagonize Hispanics if it plays well with his anti-immigration supporters. He started his campaign, after all, by characterizing Mexican immigrants as criminals, and swiftly lost his business partnerships with the many companies whose leaders were offended. Univision was the first to cut ties, canceling its broadcasts of the Trump-owned Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants.
And yet, ”they love me,” Trump insisted yesterday, in his exchange with Ramos. ”Do you know how many Latinos work for me? Do you know how many Hispanics are working for me? They love me.” In fact, polls suggest that Hispanics despise him, but no matter: Part of Trump’s appeal is specifically that he spews a lot of nonsense.