Martha Raddatz is a correspondent on ABC-TV’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos”
Like Stephanopoulos, Raddatz is a Trump hater supreme. But, knowing this, Trump’s Vice Presidential running mate, J. D. Vance, agreed to have her interview him this morning (don’t hold your breath waiting for Kamala Harris to subject herself to such an interview or anything close to it).
The interview turned to gangs of illegal immigrants taking over apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado. And here, from ABC’s transcript, is how it went (the bold print was provided by Mark Finkelstein in his article about this interview):
MARTHA RADDATZ: I want to — we played some other comments about migrants, including in Aurora, in Colorado, where Trump said the city had been invaded and conquered by Venezuelan gangs. The Republican mayor of the city said flatly, the city and state have not been taken over or invaded or occupied by migrant gangs.
So do you support Donald Trump making those claims that the Republican mayor says were grossly exaggerated, and have hurt the city’s identity and sense of safety? I understand what you’re saying, that some people left behind, but he’s making these statements that the mayor is flat out disputing.
JD VANCE: Well, Martha, just said the mayor said they were exaggerated.
RADDATZ: Grossly exaggerated.
VANCE: That means that there’s got to be some element of truth here, and of course President Trump was actually in Aurora, Colorado, talking to people on the ground. And what we’re hearing, of course, Martha, is that people are terrified by what has happened with some of these Venezuelan gangs.
RADDATZ: Senator, I’m going to stop you, because I know exactly what happened. I’m going to stop you. The incidents were limited to a handful of apartment complexes. And the mayor said, our dedicated police officers have acted on those concerns. A iihandful of problems.
VANCE: Only, Martha — do you hear yourself? Only a handful of apartment complexes in America were taken over by Venezuelan gangs, and Donald Trump is the problem, and not Kamala Harris’ open border?
Americans are so fed up with what’s going on, and they have every right to be. And I really find this exchange, Martha, sort of interesting, because you seem to be more focused with nitpicking everything that Donald Trump has said, rather than acknowledging that apartment complexes in the United States of America are being taken over by violent gangs.
I worry so much more about that problem than anything else here. We’ve got to get American communities in a safe space again. And unfortunately, when you let people in by the millions, most of whom are unvetted, most of whom you don’t know who they really are, you’re going to have problems like this.
Kamala Harris, 94 executive orders that undid Donald Trump’s successful border policies. We knew this stuff would happen. They bragged about opening the border, and now we have the consequences and we’re living with it. We can do so much better, but frankly, we’re not going to do better, Martha, unless Donald Trump calls this stuff out. I’m glad that he did.
RADDATZ: Okay, let’s just end that with they did not invade or take over the city as Donald Trump said. I want to move on to —
VANCE: Just a few apartment complexes, no big deal.
Hooboy.
Mr. Finkelstein titles his article “JD Vance Vanquishes ABC’s Nitpicking Martha Raddatz On Migrant Gangs In Colorado” I used the term “vanquish” in my title as well, because it fits so perfectly.
Oh, by the way, you’re supposed to believe that Raddatz is a professional, neutral journalist. Do her questions/reactions to Vance’s responses come across as neutral journalism to you?
If so, I know a really good specialist you can see….
