Trump Calls NBC News Anchor and Fellow GOP’er Lester Holt ‘A Democrat’

I mean, they are all Democrats. But I certainly don’t think you want Candy Crowley again.

‘She was wrong, ‘ interjected Doocy.

TRUMP: I really don’t think that you want that.

“I really don’t think you want that”, Trump said. And it was unfair. If elected president, how would we know you wouldn’t change your mind on this issue? Bobby Knight would go after the refs and that’s what they’re doing with Lester Holt which is, I think, very, very unfair. “I think there’s a lot of pressure on him”, Trump appeared to warn the moderator. I think Lester’s a very good person, a very good man. They went after Matt Lauer, and I’ve never seen anything like it…. And I had tough questions. But the polls all had her taking a drubbing….

TRUMP: – it was – I did well.

Trump says there’s pressure on NBC’s Holt ahead of Monday’s debate at Hofstra University.

As Washington Post reports, Crowley was subject to days and days of rage and abuse from Romney’s surrogates and supporters, despite her being correct the whole time.

Romney directed the comment to Obama, who responded, ‘Please proceed, governor.’ Romney said it took Obama 14 days to call Benghazi an act of terror – prompting Obama to tell him to ‘get the transcript’.

Mr. Trump was referring to Ms. Crowley, the former CNN reporter who moderated the second debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney in 2012.

Next week’s presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton could determine the outcome of the election.

“It’s Bobby Knight-type pressure with the refs, OK?”

But the careful observer will note an important difference here.

Fact checkers have been particularly critical of Trump: of the more than 250 Trump statements reviewed by Politifact, 180 were found to be either mostly false, false or “Pants on Fire”, the site’s worst rating. By contrast, Trump is telegraphing that his supporters will hammer the moderators if they do challenge his well documented falsehoods in real time.

But, he said, moderators should provide the candidates “every opportunity to call out each other’s inconsistencies and dubious statements”. And a lot of people are watching to see whether or not he succumbs to that pressure, ‘ Trump said. Trump spoke Thursday in a telephone interview on “Fox and Friends”.

Debate veterans say it’s best for the questioners to stay on the sidelines – and let the two candidates do the sparring themselves. It’s hard to imagine that any self-respecting journalist would willingly submit to Trump’s directive.