During a White House press conference on Wednesday afternoon, called to discuss the recent negotiated deal the Obama administration has secured with Iran, ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl tried to ask President Obama about GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump.
Karl first wondered how the administration felt about Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s support for the agreement and then said, “if I could just ask you a quick political question.” But before he could go on, Obama cut Karl off, leaving the world “Donald” hanging the air. Watch it:
Recent polls have found Trump leading other GOP presidential contenders, attracting 17 percent of the vote. But pollsters point out that Trump is simply riding a wave of high name recognition — compared to the other GOP candidates — intense media attention and has no chance of actually becoming president. As Andy Smith, the director of the University of New Hampshire’s Survey Center, explained to Politico, “When you’re asking people about who they’re going to vote for in the New Hampshire primary, what you’re asking is, ‘All right, it’s months from the primary now: Who have you seen in the newspaper lately?’ And that would be Donald Trump.”
Indeed, Trump’s unfavorability ratings are high — even among Republicans — and he hasn’t shown any ability to raise money or attract serious political endorsements. As the Washington Post points out, at this time in 2011, former Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) “was pulling 17 percent, even higher than Trump. By November 2011, she was down to 4 percent.”
As for Karl’s question about Assad, Obama characterized the Syrian president as a “politician” who was simply trying to spin the deal “in a way that they think is favorable to what their constituents want to hear.” “That’s what politicians do,” he added.
For a very simple explanation of the Iran deal, watch this: