Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. 

By Britt Nelson

Two interviews concerning Republican Donald Trump this week stand out from all the media hype over the presidential election: One with CNN’s Dana Bash interviewing Trump on the sidewalk in front of the new Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, and the other between Fox News’ Megyn Kelly and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich during her news show ‘The Kelly File.’

Bash — along with the rest of mainstream media — jumped on Trump Wednesday for attending the grand opening of his hotel built from the historic Washington Post Office Pavilion while he was on the campaign trail. Immediately following the hotel opening Trump was in North Carolina and then in Florida on the same day holding full capacity political rallies in these two crucial swing states.

Trump jumped on Bash for asking if he was just seeking free publicity for his presidential campaign by holding the hotel’s grand opening less than two weeks from the Nov. 8 national general election. The hotel’s opening is ahead of schedule and under budget primarily due to Trump’s children managing the construction and renovation of the building at 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, first built in 1899, while their father ran for president. This hotel is only a few blocks away from the White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

The new Trump International Hotel is no Motel 6. From day one this hotel is ‘5-star’ in every way. In early 2012, the Trump Organization was chosen as the redeveloper by the U.S. Government Services Agency after decade’s worth of attempts to convert the large, 300-foot-tall historic structure into a hotel, according to Wikipedia. Trump’s kids rose to the challenge and got the job done.

“I did yesterday eight stops and three major speeches, and I’ve been doing this for weeks straight. I left there for an hour and a half. I’m going to North Carolina right now, then I’m going to Florida, I’m going up to New Hampshire. For you to ask me that question is actually very insulting, because Hillary Clinton does one stop and then she goes home and sleeps, and yet you’ll ask me that question. I think it’s a very rude question, to be honest with you. And what I do is I want to back my children. My children worked very hard, Ivanka in particular. And at the opening of the hotel, I want to back my children. It’s very important to me,” Trump said to Bash during her sidewalk interview. “So we had a ribbon cutting, which was very quick, and I stopped in D.C. But the real key to this is, I want the American people to understand that this is under budget, ahead of schedule, and we need that for the United States.”

Bash ended the interview with a respectful “thank you Mr. Trump” for taking the time to talk with her.

Speaking on social media about the Bash-Trump interview, assistant district attorney in Palatka, Florida, Alex Sharp, commented, “Trump takes an hour off to open his new hotel, media goes crazy. Hillary takes a week off to prepare for an hour-and-a-half debate no one says a word.”

Meanwhile, another interview became quite contentious and heated this one between Megyn Kelly and Newt Gingrich. Kelly brought up the unsubstantiated accusations of sexual misconduct from years ago made against Trump by a series of women that has been heavily covered by mainstream media. Gingrich then flat out accused Kelly of media bias against Trump. Here’s a sample from the 6-minute televised interview. This interview is one of the craziest of Campaign 2016. Like an ad for a used car, it must be seen to be appreciated.

“I’m sick and tired of people like you using inflammatory language that is not true,” Gingrich told Kelly in response to her calling Trump a “sexual predator.”

“Do you want me to go back to the tapes of your show recently,” he fumed. “You are fascinated with sex and you don’t care about public policy … That is exactly the bias people are sick of.”

At times Kelly became defensive to Gingrich’s comments.

“I’m not fascinated by sex, but I am fascinated by the protection of women,” Kelly fired back “and what we’re getting in the Oval Office.”

The interview went downhill from there with Gingrich bringing up former President Bill Clinton’s admitted sexual misconduct with women in the While House while he was president and Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton was First Lady.

“We on ‘The Kelly File’ have covered that story as well, sir,” Kelly responded.

Gingrich fired back with “I want to hear you say the words. Say Bill Clinton is a sexual predator. I dare you.”

“Mr. Speaker, we have covered that … But he is not on the ticket,” Kelly said in concluding the interview with Gingrich.

However, the political play of the week goes to WikiLeaks for releasing hacked emails that appear to show that President Obama lied when he told a reporter that he first learned about Clinton’s private email system at the same time as everyone else when the story first broke on national news reports. Some of these newly released emails appear to show Clinton and President Obama were communicating with each other by using Clinton’s highly criticized and FBI-investigated private server she kept in her home.

What all this means is will Americans see their future president such as Clinton having to avoid self-incrimination by pleading the 5th Amendment like many of her former and current staff members have done in response to under-oath questioning from federal and court authorities? If Trump wins the presidency, he says Clinton’s email scandal will come under further investigation by a special prosecutor.

Trump’s accomplishment of opening this grand historic hotel on time while running for president of the United States is not to be under estimated.

 

About the Author

Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.