CNN’s Stelter and Andre Bauer Battle Over Trump’s Puerto Rico Tweets: ‘He Has a Race Problem!’
Andre Bauer said Trump counter-punched. I asked: Is it presidential to counter-punch in the midst of a catastrophe? https://t.co/0Z2z4xv0G3
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 30, 2017
This morning, President Donald Trump decided it was a good idea to take to Twitter and personally attack the San Juan mayor while adding that the Puerto Rican victims of Hurricane Maria were looking for everything to be done for them.
As one would imagine, the president’s tweetstorm has caused widespread outrage and immediately became THE topic of discussion on cable news. During one panel conversation on CNN, things got a bit heated between CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter and political commentator — and Trump supporter — Andre Bauer.
Bauer immediately took the president’s side, stating that he had his house flooded before and he didn’t turn to the federal government for help, instead taking care of it himself. He also said that the San Juan mayor was actually the one who struck Trump first, referencing her criticism of the federal response while slamming the acting DHS secretary saying Puerto Rico was a “good news story.”
Stelter jumped in, noting that the president does indeed have a history of being a “counterpuncher.” At the same time, Stelter wondered aloud if it was “presidential to punch back in the middle of a catastrophe.”
“It’s presidential because Donald Trump did it and he’s the president,” Bauer replied, leading Stelter to call on him to not go down that road and pointing out that Trump isn’t even in Washington today but rather at one of his golf clubs.
After Bauer and Stelter tangled a bit over the optics of the situation, with Bauer claiming that if “you don’t like it work against him in the next election,” Stelter brought up how this looks bad for the president from a racial lens.
“Most Americans actually are opposed to this president, and many Americans think he’s a racist,” the Reliable Sources host declared. “He has a race problem. And when he tweets about Puerto Rico saying ‘they,’ saying they need a handout, he makes his race problem worse.”
Bauer concluded the little back-and-forth by telling Stelter Trump was his president too and that Trump will be the “same tomorrow.”
Watch the clip above, via CNN.
[image via screengrab]
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