White House defends Trump’s shot at Schwarzenegger as a ‘lighthearted moment’ in a ‘beautiful’ prayer breakfast speech
WASHINGTON — President Trump faced criticism for using his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday to mock the ratings on his old reality show, “The Apprentice,” but White House press secretary Sean Spicer says it’s wrong for people to “hone in” on those comments. Spicer discussed the speech in his daily briefing on Thursday when Yahoo News asked him why the president felt the prayer breakfast was an appropriate venue to discuss television ratings. The press secretary noted that Trump was introduced by the show’s producer, Mark Burnett, at the breakfast.
“Look, Mark Burnett, the creator of ‘The Apprentice,’ who is a longtime supporter of the prayer breakfast but also has a personal relationship, was there. He meant it as a lighthearted moment, and I think if you look at the totality of his remarks, they were absolutely beautiful. And I think to hone in on that — it was a lighthearted moment he was trying to have with a big supporter of the national prayer breakfast and a personal friend,” Spicer said.
Trump hosted “The Apprentice” in both its original and “Celebrity” versions for its first 14 seasons, from 2004 until early 2015. He retired from the show to run for president but remains an executive producer. Actor and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger replaced Trump as the host this year. Trump brought up the show early in his remarks at the prayer breakfast as he thanked Burnett for the introduction.
“We had tremendous success on ‘The Apprentice.’ And when I ran for president I had to leave the show. That’s when I knew for sure I was doing it, and they hired a big, big movie star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to take my place. And we know how that turned out. The ratings went right down the tubes. It’s been a total disaster. And Mark will never, ever bet against Trump again. And I want to just pray for Arnold if we can, for those ratings, OK?” Trump said.
Some observers, including Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume, thought Trump’s boasting about his ratings was inappropriate for the religious event.
“Good grief,” Hume wrote on Twitter.
Schwarzenegger also fired back at Trump with a tweet of his own, where he wrote, “The National Prayer Breakfast?” Schwarzenegger’s tweet included a brief video message to Trump that implied people are uneasy about the president’s performance.
“Why don’t we switch jobs? You take over TV because you’re such an expert in ratings and then I take over your job, and then people can finally sleep comfortably again,” Schwarzenegger said.
Ratings for “The Apprentice” have gone down since Trump stopped hosting the show. According to the Los Angeles Times, the show was watched by 3.7 million viewers on Monday while Trump’s final episode in February 2015 was viewed by 6 million people.
The bulk of Trump’s speech at the prayer breakfast was not about his old show. Trump discussed how grateful he is to have people pray for him and how he is inspired by military families. He also talked about how moved he was to attend a memorial service on Wednesday for a Navy SEAL who was killed during a raid in Yemen last weekend.
“We will never forget the men and women who wear the uniform. Believe me,” Trump said. “From generation to generation their vigilance has kept our liberty alive. Our freedom is won by their sacrifice, and our security has been earned with their sweat and blood and tears. God has blessed this land to give us such incredible heroes and patriots. They are very, very special, and we are going to take care of them.”
Trump also talked about his experience being “raised in a churched home” and the importance of spirituality.
“Our soldiers understand that what matters is not party or ideology or creed but the bonds of loyalty that link us all together as one. America is a nation of believers. In towns all across our land it’s plain to see what we easily forget — so easily we forget this — that the quality of our lives is not defined by our material success but by our spiritual success,” Trump said. “I will tell you that and I tell you that from somebody that has had material success and knows tremendous numbers of people with great material success — the most material success. Many of those people are very, very miserable unhappy people.”
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