‘Get Out Of Here’: Don Jr’s Response to Reporter Asking Questions About Trump As ‘Divisive Figure’

In a video that is now going viral, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s eldest son blasted a television reporter at the Republican National Convention, when he was asked about his father being a “divisive figure” as president. Calling the network “clowns”, Donald Trump Jr asked the reporter to “get out of here” and said his channel propagated “lies and nonsense”.

Trump, whose popularity and winnability have surged after he survived an assassination attempt on July 14 during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania’s Butler, named JD Vance as his running mate and vice-president nominee at the Republican event where he entered with a bandaged ear to a raucous ovation.

The reporter, who was purportedly from MSNBC, asked Donald Trump Jr what the second term would look like for his father, especially given he was a “divisive figure” as president during his first term. To this, the son said: “I don’t think he was a divisive figure at all; the media created the divisiveness around him.”

In the video posted on X, Don Jr, as he is known, is heard alleging that the American media “lied” about Trump’s Russia collusion. “They called him a traitor, went after him in every which way is possible,” he added.

He went on to say if the media starts playing an “honest role”, it would start talking about all the “good” that the former president did in his first term. “If the media actually starts playing an honest role or talks about the things that he did, the prosperity he brought, the peace deals that he signed around the world rather than the disaster we’re living right now, you’d do everyone in the country a big favour,” he said.

The reporter, who claimed he closely covers the “family separation crisis” — a likely result of Trump’s immigration policy during his first term — countered Don Jr by talking about the impact on 5,000 children “deliberately separated from their families”. To this, the son took a swipe at former US president Barack Obama, asking: “You mean the Obama administration?”

The reporter then said: “You know they didn’t do that, Sir,” to which Don Jr responded: “Right.”

Don Jr then seemed to go off on a rant, identifying the reporter’s TV channel, when he was asked if there will be a “second family separation policy”. “It’s MSNBC, so I expect nothing less from you clowns. Even today, even 48 hours later, you couldn’t wait, couldn’t wait with your lies and your nonsense, so just get out of here,” Don Jr said.

The assassination attempt on Trump, in which a spectator was killed and two others critically injured, has practically reshaped the November 5 presidential election despite Joe Biden condemning “political violence” and America’s increasingly polarised and divisive politics. The attack also underscores the country’s deeply fractured political landscape ahead of the polls.

At the convention event, however, Trump – officially nominated to be the party’s 2024 standard-bearer – was uncharacteristically subdued as he sat alongside Vance amid chants of ‘Fight, fight, fight’.

Biden has portrayed Trump as a threat to US democracy, but in an NBC interview broadcast opposite the convention, he said he made a mistake by saying his election rival should be put in the “bullseye” last week. He also, however, pointed out that Trump has frequently employed violent rhetoric on the campaign trail.

According to public opinion polls, at present the race between the two leaders remains close despite Trump Trump leading in several swing states that will likely decide the election.

(With agency inputs)