Trump returns to Iowa, spars with Univision anchor
DUBUQUE, Iowa — Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump opened another offensive in his war with the media, tangling with Univision anchor and reporter Jorge Ramos in a press conference before a rally here Tuesday night.
Ramos had interrupted Trump as the candidate tried to call on another reporter, and continued to try to press a question on immigration even as the New York real estate magnate repeatedly ordered him to “sit down” and wait his turn. At one point, Trump signaled to his security to have Ramos removed.
“Go back to Univision,” Trump said as Ramos was walked out of the room.
When pressed by other reporters about why he’d had Ramos thrown out, Trump said the anchor had been out of order and rude. “He was very emotional,” he said, initially denying he knew who Ramos was.
But, Trump added, he was willing to take his questions. And so a few minutes later, Ramos was allowed back into the room, where the reporter and presidential candidate repeatedly tangled over Trump’s immigration policy.
Ramos, one of the country’s most prominent Latino journalists, whose reporting is often tinged with advocacy, told Trump his proposal to build a wall along the country’s southern border and deport 11 million illegal immigrants was simply “empty promises.”
“How are you going to deport 11 million people?” Ramos asked.
“Very humanely,” Trump replied.
The candidate then accused Ramos of trying to gin up the ratings — bringing up the fact that Trump is currently suing Univision for $500 million after the network dropped coverage of the Trump-backed Miss America pageant in protest of his immigration stance.
Even as Trump was visibly frustrated with Ramos — “I can’t take this!” he said at one point — the candidate could not stop bickering with the Univision anchor, even as his staffers repeatedly tried to cut off the back-and-forth. “Last question, last question!” one aide shouted.
Afterward, Trump addressed a rally of nearly 3,000 people in this eastern Iowa town — entering the stage to the soundtrack of “You’re the Best” by Joe Esposito and delivering a soliloquy on his own merits as a reality television star.
At one point, the GOP frontrunner glanced back toward the more than a dozen cameras that were on site to carry his remarks live. The media, he said, were not “nice people.”
