During an interview with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker after the first GOP presidential debate, CBS This Morning’s Norah O’Donnell repeatedly badgered the Republican over Donald Trump’s performance during Thursday night’s debate.
Rather than ask Walker about his own performance during the debate the CBS host chose to read off some of Trump’s sexist comments about women and wondered if that was “appropriate language for someone who is a Republican candidate or quite frankly for anyone?”
After O’Donnell described the debate as “fiery” the CBS host quickly pressed Walker on Trump's divisive comments about women:
Megyn Kelly asked Donald Trump about his past comments about women when Donald Trump has called women slobs and fat pigs. After she asked that question last night, Donald Trump tweeted about Megyn Kelly, calling her that nasty, totally overrated, and angry, and he even retweeted someone who called her a bimbo.
The Wisconsin governor objected to Trump’s anti-women comments as not the “kind of language” he would use and attempted to turn the discussion to his actual campaign:
To me, I think even those I disagree with, I'm going to be respectful. I hope people thought a few years ago I had 100,000 protesters occupy my state capitol saying some pretty nasty things about me at the time. We didn't back down, but we also didn't go to their level. We didn't respond in kind, and I think you want to know more than you want to on the debate stage.
Rather than accept Walker’s rejection of Trump’s language, the CBS host continued to press the governor over Trump’s comments and demanded that he “denounce” his opponent:
You know that your own party did a full dissection of what happened in the last presidential campaign about how the Republican Party does among women and how they do among minorities. If you have the leading candidate in the Republican Party saying those things about women, when it was the largest gender gap in history in the last presidential election, can you denounce those comments here today, or is it just part of a freewheeling debate?
As the interview wrapped up, Walker once again rejected O’Donnell’s biased question and stressed that Trump’s divisive language was not reflective of the entire Republican Party:
They know that one candidate speaks for the entire party in the same sense that one candidate on the Democrat side speaks for the entire party. What I can tell people is the language I use is one that's respectful of all the people in America, and it's one that I'll continue doing.
See relevant transcript below.
CBS This Morning
August 8, 2015
NORAH O’DONNELL: Governor, it was a fiery debate last night, and sometimes not a lot of opportunity for follow-up. The moderators from Fox asked you guys some pretty tough questions. Megyn Kelly asked Donald Trump about his past comments about women when Donald Trump has called women slobs and fat pigs. After she asked that question last night, Donald Trump tweeted about Megyn Kelly, calling her that nasty, totally overrated, and angry, and he even retweeted someone who called her a bimbo. Is this appropriate language for someone who is a Republican candidate or quite frankly for anyone?
SCOTT WALKER: Well, certainly I think Donald Trump can speak for himself. I'll tell you, I'm not going to use that kind of language. To me, I think even those I disagree with, I'm going to be respectful. I hope people thought a few years ago I had 100,000 protesters occupy my state capitol saying some pretty nasty things about me at the time. We didn't back down, but we also didn't go to their level. We didn't respond in kind, and I think you want to know more than you want to on the debate stage. They want to know what you do in the real –
O’DONNELL: But governor, you know that your own party did a full dissection of what happened in the last presidential campaign about how the Republican Party does among women and how they do among minorities. If you have the leading candidate in the Republican Party saying those things about women, when it was the largest gender gap in history in the last presidential election, can you denounce those comments here today, or is it just part of a freewheeling debate?
WALKER: No, I think in the end, voters are smart. Voters across America, men, women, no matter where you're at age wise, they can see the difference between one candidate and another. They know that one candidate speaks for the entire party in the same sense that one candidate on the Democrat side speaks for the entire party. What I can tell people is the language I use is one that's respectful of all the people in America, and it's one that I'll continue doing. Maybe it's not as flashy as some of the other candidates out there.
But in the end I think people want to be respectful, they want someone who’s a fighter and they've definitely seen I'm capable of fighting the good fights to fight and win for hardworking people out there. But they also want someone who can be respectful. And I’ve said that's how I'm going to be. I think you lead not just by denouncing others. You lead in your own actions and your words and deeds and that's what I'll do, if I’m not just the candidate, that's what I'll do if I'm elected as president.
