Trump. Pence. '60 Minutes.' Iraq. Dumpster fire.

Rss@dailykos.com (joan Mccarter) · Monday, July 18, 2016, 12:36 pm

In their first joint appearance, the Republican presidential ticket didn't exactly shine. (You can't really count Donald Trump's introduction of Mike Pence, since Trump chose not to actually appear on stage with the guy he spent so much time and many phone calls trying to renege on.) As weird as the initial press conference was, it was nothing compared to the 60 Minutes debacle that followed on Sunday. To reporter Lesley Stahl's credit, she made it all the way through the interview, but it was touch and go.

It all began with the attack in Nice, France, and Stahl trying to nail Trump down on what he means when he says he'll "declare war" on ISIS. "Do you want to send American troops in there?" she asked. "Is that what you mean?" After several attempts to get at the idea of what "war" means to Trump, she got this out of him.

Donald Trump: Now look, we are going to get rid of ISIS, big league. And we're going to get rid of 'em fast. And we're going to use surrounding states. We're going to use NATO, probably. And we're going to declare war. It is war. When the World Trade Center comes tumbling down, with thousands of people being killed, people are still—I have friends that are still—

And that launched the exchange that everyone is still shaking their heads over on Monday. Stahl took that opening: "But we did go to war, if you remember. We went to Iraq."

Donald Trump: Yeah, you went to Iraq, but that was handled so badly. And that was a war-- by the way, that was a war that we shouldn't have entered because Iraq did not knock down--excuse me

Lesley Stahl: Your running mate--

Donald Trump: Iraq did not--

Lesley Stahl: --voted for it.

Donald Trump: I don't care.

And here's where it gets ... Trumpish.

http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/ytI9QhFlpEg/-Trump-Pence-60-Minutes-Iraq-Dumpster-fire