Eric Trump, son of GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, joined Breitbart News Daily on SiriusXM radio with host Stephen K. Bannon and responded to the recent news that his father won’t be participating in Fox News’s GOP debate on Thursday night, saying he’s “proud of [his] father for the stance that he’s taking.”
“Fox and [the] GOP establishment, they’re quite frankly salivating to take him out of the race,” Trump told Bannon. “They’re making politics into a soap opera.”
Fox wants to go on TV and wants to put out silly little press statements to draw more people to the debates so they can sell more commercial space for more time. I mean, they’re almost promoting capitalism and not sincere politics. I’m proud of the way he punched back.
Bannon asked: “Has anybody in the history of media ever sent out a press release to a presidential candidate whose leading – not some marginal guy – but [to] a guy who is leading because the American people at least now mathematically are saying they support him, and they would mock him as Commander-in-Chief? Who does that?”
“It shows that there’s a couple people up at the top that try to control politics…this should be the decision of the American people… not the decision of some network who wants to influence which candidate will be the head of the GOP,” Trump responded.
Trump said that the media is avoiding talking about “real problems” facing the nation – such as veterans and education. He added that “America isn’t respected” the way it was 10 and 20 years ago.
“It’s really the people who are rallying behind him,” Trump explained, saying the American people are sick of pandering, games and political correctness.
Trump said his father “has really started almost a revolution in this country.”
“Even if he did lose, he’s reinvented politics in this country,” Trump, who is 32-years-old said of his father, although clarified that he doesn’t believe his father will lose the election. “He’s gotten my generation excited about politics for the first time.”
Trump said the country’s first Commander-in-Chiefs were business guys who were “practical” and could “drive America forward,” adding that his father doesn’t need the job of being Commander-in-Chief, but is doing this because he “wants to help America.”
Bannon asked Trump about the back and forth criticism between his father and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
“You’re either into that fighter mentality or you’re not,” Trump said of his father’s supporters versus Cruz supporters. “I think Cruz has been pretty nasty,” on many topics, Trump added. “My father will fight back.”
Trump said he learned the lesson of leadership as a young man through his father.
“My father’s a fighter…if he gets punched, he’s going to hit back ten times harder,” Trump told Bannon. He said his father is “a great person…an amazing man” who would “give his shirt off his back for somebody, but don’t cross him.”
“He’s lost the epitome of the American dream,” Trump added about his father.
He said Trump will be holding an event for wounded warriors at the same time the Fox News GOP primary debate is taking place on Thursday night.
Hear the interview: