Friday on Fox News Chanel’s “The Real Story,” while discussing National Review’s new issue, which criticizes Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, National Review senior editor Jonah Goldberg took a jab at Trump for his Twitter responses.
Partial transcript as follows:
GOLDBERG: “I’m one of the senior editors behind the editorial. The other group is diverse conservatives. One of the reasons we wanted as diverse a group as possible is to show we couldn’t get everyone to agree on what they wanted before. The one thing is Donald Trump may be great man. He may be great businessman, but he’s not a conservative and not someone conservatives should rally around.”
CARLSON: “That’s why it’s important to rally these people on the conservative side to do this?”
GOLDBERG: At National Review we basically have one job, which is so say what we believe to be true, even when politically unpopular. There seems to be this argument that because Donald Trump is popular with a broad swath of Republicans, that makes him a conservative. That all conservatives should fall in line and march and step. We disagree with that. If we’re going to say so, when should we say to. When it might have the most impact. That’s right around the time people will vote. Maybe it won’t work.”
CARLSON: “I want to ask you about that impact. You expected Trump to come firing and he did. Here’s what he said.”
[start clip]
TRUMP: “The National Review is a dying paper. It’s got circulations way down. Not very many people read it anymore. People don’t even think about the National Review. I guess they want to get a little publicity. Pretty much of a dead paper.
[end clip]
CARLSON: “A dead paper. I have to tell you, there’s been other editorials that have come out this morning against what you guys did. You’re being called quote, pouty, self-important advocacy journalism. How do you respond?”
GOLDBERG: “We’re an opinion magazine. We’ve been an opinion magazine for 60 years. It’s to state our opinions and back them up with facts and evidence and argument and reason. That’s what we have done. It’s hardly a shocker. Nothing Trump can do or so that a lot of the outlets won’t support and cheer. Lastly Donald Trump used to say wonderful things about National Review not too long ago. Secondly , he clearly cares what people like Rich Lowry and Jonah Goldberg say. He’s constantly up until 3:00 in the morning Tweeting like a little girl, whining about us. And third of all we’re not paper. We’re a magazine. We have millions of viewers every month.”
CARLSON: “If we’re going to say little kids are whining, let’s include girls and boys just to be fair.
GOLDBERG: “Fair Enough.”
CARLSON: “What is the Impact of all of this Jonah?”
GOLDBERG: “Who knows. A lot of people are saying it’s too late and they may be right. He has a lot of momentum behind him. People have factored in fact that a lot of conservative journalists don’t think Donald Trump is a conservative and don’t care. We thought we had to put down a marker and help to find and guide the conservative movement. If people think that’s self-important or all those other things, that’s small price to pay.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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