Republican Florida Rep. Byron Donalds accused CNN host John Berman of misleading his viewers regarding Republican nominee Donald Trump’s comments about women during a heated exchange on Thursday. Berman played an edited clip of Trump stating he will protect women “whether they like it or not,” referencing the many women who have fallen victim to rape and murder due to the border crisis.
Donalds called the clip “grossly inaccurate” and taken out of context, explaining that Trump is pledging to protect women from the various tragedies stemming from the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. “John, that is grossly inaccurate what you just played. Play the full clip. Play it in its context,” Donalds said. “He’s talking about the tragedy at our southern border that led to the death of Jocelyn Nungaray. Jocelyn’s mother endorsed Donald Trump because she fully believes that if Donald Trump was president, her daughter would be alive.
“And so what he was talking about, I’m gonna protect women, I’m gonna protect children,’ and he was really telling a joke about how some of the staff said ‘no, no, don’t say you’ll protect women because they’ll take it out of context.’ Obviously, what CNN is doing right now is taking it out of context,” Donalds continued. That led Berman to respond: “No, no, no, you have the exact right context here, congressman. Congressman, you just explained the exact right context was with Donald Trump’s story was telling people how people close to him, his advisers, were telling him not to use that type of language [and] to say ‘I’m going to be your protector.’”
The CNN host highlighted former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s criticism of the Trump campaign for focusing on male voters and failing to convey a message that resonates with women in response to his ‘bro-centric’ Madison Square Garden rally last Saturday, an opinion in which several social media uses including many women vehemently disagreed.
“John, you need to stop,” Donalds said. Berman replied, “So you’re telling me there’s no concern from Nikki Haley or as clearly as Donald Trump said, from people close to him in his campaign, about the type of language that he’s using.” Donalds then mentioned 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley, and 37-year-old Rachel Morin, all of whom tragically lost their lives at the hands of illegal immigrants during the Biden-Harris administration.
“Donald Trump is going to protect women in our country. He is going to protect children in our country,” the congressman said. “Under Kamala Harris, we have lost 350,000 children in the United States. We’ve lost them, John, talk about that. What I will tell you is once again, you’re gonna clip 5 seconds out of an hour speech and not provide context. This is why the American people frankly are frustrated with media because you guys play games, you take things out of context, you don’t explain them clearly, and you want to get caught up in some antics.”
WATCH:
“The heart of what Donald Trump said, very clearly is, he’s gonna protect the women of our country because Kamala Harris and Joe Biden have refused to protect the women of our country, and a president should protect women and all Americans and that’s what he’s gonna do,” Donalds continued. During a rally in Wisconsin on Wednesday, the former president stated that his advisers thought women would not appreciate his promise to protect them. Despite this, he declared at the rally that he would protect women regardless if he is reelected, the Daily Caller reported.
Disclaimer: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.