let s talk the big picture here. ross is a private citizen. he can support anyone he wants. but there s a lot of places you can workout, right? people can choose not to workout at equinox. i m not sure what i m going to do about it. that is a right as you have, as a person of color and a gay person. it feels different. you talk about that. he is a private citizen but inviting someone into your home and making millions of dollars for someone who has been oppressive to certain groups of americans, that s a whole different story. you know, for me, i draw the line between supporting a politician whose views i don t agree with, versus actively fund-raising and trying to get them re-elected. to me, that s more assertive. that s more reflective that
white house officials behind scenes think president trump s visits to dayton and el paso were not successful. i want to talk about this now with frank bruni and michael d antonio. michael is the author of the truth about trump. rick wilson, the author of everything trump touches dies. he s on the screen. he s not in the studio with us. i m going to start with you because you re not in the studio. let s do that. the president s trip was a disaster. his own aides are conceding that. you saw the video. he s there after a mass shooting. he s bragging about his crowd size several months earlier. i mean, there are no words for this, rick. i say this a lot. there is no better version of donald trump. there is no there is no thoughtful donald trump. there is no empathetic donald trump. what you see is exactly what you get. when he reads from a teleprompter, that s the lie. when he talks like he did there, that s who he is. this is a man with no empathy,
they just did it because they work there, they know him, i don t know why, i didn t pry but they said it wasn t even a second thought. he did issue a statement here. he says i ve known trump for 40 years and while we agree on some issues we strongly disagree on some others. i have been and continue to be an out spoken and i have and will continue to support leaders on both sides of the aisle to address these challenges. so listen, first of all the president has made openly racist statements, a lot of them. he s trying to carve out racism as just another issue here. and listen, when people say that s an opinion, that s not an opinion. the evidence is there. the president has made racist statements. it s not an opinion. its a fact. but go on. yeah, i think it s troubling. and, you know, just it is much more important i would say than just another issue.
as you know, we left ohio and the love, the respect for the office of the presidency, it was i wish you could have been in there to see it. i wish you could have been in there. and it was no different here. we went to the hospital, just came from the hospital. we were there a lot longer than we were anticipated to be. it was supposed to be just a fairly quick we met with numerous people. we met with also the doctors, the nurses, the medical staff. they have done an incredible job. both places just incredible. and the enthusiasm, the love, the respect it s what we have come to expect of this president. it s all about him. one official at the el paso hospital tells cnn that eight of the patients did not want to meet with trump. and many on staff who interacted with him found he was lacking in empathy for the victims. all about him. and the importance of the size of the crowd. it s been that way since day one. as we know.
bragging about. in a border city filled with immigrants and their children. his message that night, undocumented immigrants are criminals. despite the fact that many are seeking asylum in the u.s. to escape deadly violence in their home countries. we are cutting loose dangerous criminals into our country. murders. murders. murders. killings. murders. but yesterday it was all about the size of the crowd at his february rally. not about the shooting victims. and as we showed you last night, he also talked about how enamored people at the hospitals in el paso and dayton were with him. as you know, we left ohio and the love, the respect for the office of the presidency, it was i wish you could have been in there to see it. i wish you could have been in there. and it was no different here. we went to the hospital, just came from the hospital. we were there a lot longer than