Critics were very busy in the wake of Donald Trump’s midweek visit to Mexico and his followup policy speech on immigration. Among those critics was Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Tim Kaine, who claimed that the Republican nominee “choked” during his joint press conference with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
Donald Trump Jr. had a reply to Mr. Kaine’s greater suggestion that his father had retreated on his intent to secure the border, build a wall and enforce immigration law.
“That has no credence. Anyone who knows anything about a deal or negotiation you build a relationship first. You don’t go with the hardest line aspect of a thing on day one. We’ve been very clear. We’ve never backed away,” Mr. Trump the younger told Fox News co-anchor Martha MacCallum in an interview Thursday.
“You don’t start a negotiation when you’re building a relationship with someone. You build a relationship first,” the son said, citing both Hillary Clinton and Mr. Kaine for their lack of practical business experience. “If they’d ever done anything in business, if they’d ever experienced the real world instead of just being politicians talking in theory without any actual practice, maybe they would know that.
“But because they don’t, because they’ve never built anything, because they’ve never actually created a job, they sit there in sound bites,” he said. “Hillary Clinton will regurgitate sound bites that someone much wittier than her will write for her. That’s the way they’ve conducted their entire lives.
“My father has done these things, he’s created those jobs,” he said. “He’s done it in the real world where real people’s lives, their families, their families’ livelihoods and well-beings depend on him. Trust me. He knows how to set up a negotiation.”
See the exchange here.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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