Latest / INSIGHT TODAY / 'Trump is acting exactly the same way as Maduro' Jorge Ramos reacts to media ban

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'Trump is acting exactly the same way as Maduro' Jorge Ramos reacts to media ban · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: As President Trump pushes his ban on MSNOW and two
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: other media outlets, here's a reminder of what he said
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: just last year in front of a joint session of
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Congress and how that compares to what he said just
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: in the past few days. And I have stopped all
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  Speaker 1: government censorship and brought back free speech in America.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: It's back.
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  Speaker 1: It's sick. I mean, there's something wrong with a country
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  Speaker 1: that can allow people to write purposely negative stories.
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  Speaker 2: Now, if they want to write them, that's fine.
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  Speaker 3: But I don't have to let them into the people's house.
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  Speaker 1: My next guest knows a little something about Trump's relentless
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  Speaker 1: attacks on the press. In 2015, Jorge Ramos, then an
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  Speaker 1: anchor for Univision, was kicked out of Trump's news conference
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  Speaker 1: after pressing Trump on his calls for mass deportations.
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  Speaker 2: Excuse me.
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  Speaker 1: Sit down.
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  Speaker 2: You weren't called. Sit down. Sit down. Sit down. Go ahead. No,
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  Speaker 2: you don't. You haven't been called. Go back to Univision.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Go ahead. Go ahead.
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: Go ahead.
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  Speaker 2: Sit down please. You weren't called.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Jorge Ramos joins me now. He spent three decades as
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  Speaker 1: the face of Univision News and is now an independent
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  Speaker 1: journalist and author of 15 books. His accolades include 10
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  Speaker 1: Emmy Awards and the Walter Cronkite Award for political journalism.
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  Speaker 1: He is also my friend and mentor, and I am
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  Speaker 1: so grateful that he is here.
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  Speaker 2: Jorge, draw a.
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  Speaker 1: Line for me from that moment you were kicked out
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  Speaker 1: of that press conference by Donald Trump in 2015 to
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  Speaker 1: where the press finds itself today, 11 years later.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, what happened is that he had called Mexican immigrants
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  Speaker 4: criminals and rapists. And I'm a Mexican immigrant and he
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  Speaker 4: was lying. So I went all the way to Iowa
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  Speaker 4: to confront him. He wanted me just to wait in line,
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  Speaker 4: just to be called. If I had been waiting, I
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  Speaker 4: would be waiting up until now. So there was a pause.
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  Speaker 4: I stood up and I started asking questions. And he
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  Speaker 4: just didn't like the questions. He just didn't want to answer.
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  Speaker 4: He called his bodyguard. And then he sent me, he
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  Speaker 4: ejected me from that press conference. Back then we said, Alicia,
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  Speaker 4: and we had a conversation. Back then we said that
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  Speaker 4: he was a threat. to freedom of the press, and
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  Speaker 4: he was a threat to democracy. But nobody paid attention
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  Speaker 4: to us. They thought, no, no, no, you don't understand
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  Speaker 4: who Donald Trump is. This is not the way things
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  Speaker 4: work here. And actually, 11 years later, now we understand
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  Speaker 4: exactly what's happening.
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  Speaker 2: And we were right.
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  Speaker 4: There is an anecdote of what happened afterwards that links
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  Speaker 4: perfectly with what's happening right now and with the idea
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  Speaker 4: of solidarity, Alicia. After I was ejected from the press conference,
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  Speaker 4: two reporters, Tom Yamas and Casey Hunt, defended me. They
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: confronted Donald Trump at that press conference, Alicia. This hasn't
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  Speaker 4: been very well known. And then they forced Donald Trump
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  Speaker 4: to allow me back to the press conference and ask
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  Speaker 4: him questions.
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  Speaker 2: I asked him questions for about 10 minutes.
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  Speaker 4: So thanks to that solidarity of Tom and Casey, I
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  Speaker 4: was able to go back. That's exactly what I'm seeing
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  Speaker 4: right now. As a collective, the press has to respond
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  Speaker 4: to what Donald Trump is doing.
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  Speaker 1: An important lesson 11 years later. I will never forget
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  Speaker 1: that day. I remember your producer, Dax Tahara, calling me,
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  Speaker 1: explaining what had happened. Dax was flustered. I was flustered
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  Speaker 1: hearing the news. You were unflappable. And I have to
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  Speaker 1: imagine that that is because your tussle with Trump was
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  Speaker 1: not your first with a would-be strongman. You have gone toe-to-toe.
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  Speaker 1: with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, with Nicolas Maduro. You were knocked
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: to the ground by a bodyguard for Castro after having
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  Speaker 1: the audacity to say many people believe that this is
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  Speaker 1: the time for you to call for an election when
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  Speaker 1: a leader seeks to marginalize a fair and free press.
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  Speaker 1: What does that tell you, Jorge, about the state of
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  Speaker 1: a nation's democracy?
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  Speaker 2: Well, that's precisely the problem. You were mentioning Nicolás Maduro.
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  Speaker 4: Nicolás Maduro ejected me from Palacio de Miraflores, their White House,
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  Speaker 4: because I just wanted to ask difficult questions, and he
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  Speaker 4: just didn't like it.
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  Speaker 2: And now what we're seeing right here in the United States.
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  Speaker 4: And that's really, really worrisome, is that Donald Trump is
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  Speaker 4: acting exactly the same way as Nicolás Maduro.
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  Speaker 2: At the end, I think.
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  Speaker 4: As journalists, we have two responsibilities. The first one is
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  Speaker 4: to report reality as it is, not as we wish
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  Speaker 4: it would be. But the second and most important social
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  Speaker 4: responsibility is to question and to challenge those who are
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  Speaker 4: in power. So I do understand that now talking about
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  Speaker 4: Donald Trump, that many people think that we shouldn't cover politics.
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  Speaker 4: his presence at the United Nations, or that we should
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  Speaker 4: pull out all correspondents from White House events. At the end,
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  Speaker 4: that would be very difficult, especially with conservative outlets. But
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  Speaker 4: at the end, I think our strength, Alicia, is in
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  Speaker 4: the questions. So those journalists who are left at the
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  Speaker 4: White House, they have the responsibility to ask tough questions,
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  Speaker 4: ask difficult questions, because they are our representatives.
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  Speaker 2: So our strength, I believe, is in the questions.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I'm currently executive producing a documentary about you.
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  Speaker 1: And so I've been thinking a lot about all of
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  Speaker 1: the lessons you taught me during our time together. And
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  Speaker 1: you taught me you should always approach an interview with
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  Speaker 1: a person in power as though you will never get
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  Speaker 1: the opportunity to interview them again. And you should never
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  Speaker 1: be afraid to lead with.
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  Speaker 3: Your most difficult question.
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  Speaker 1: What is the single question the press should be asking
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  Speaker 1: right now of the president of the United States?
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  Speaker 2: Why are you censoring us? Why are you so afraid?
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  Speaker 4: I think Donald Trump is really afraid right now and
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  Speaker 4: frustrated because of the ongoing war in Iran, because of
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  Speaker 4: high inflation, because, for instance, in the Latino community, Alicia,
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  Speaker 4: many people feel completely betrayed because of the people dying
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  Speaker 4: in custody, because of the separation of families, because of deportations.
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  Speaker 4: And quite frankly, I think Donald Trump is afraid of
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  Speaker 4: the prospect of being impeached if Republicans lose the House term.
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  Speaker 4: in the next elections. So I think the question is,
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  Speaker 4: why are you so afraid? I think that's the question
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  Speaker 4: with him. I would start with him, not asking him
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  Speaker 4: about the weather.
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  Speaker 1: I look forward to that sit-down interview. The incomparable Jorge Ramos. Jorge,
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  Speaker 1: thank you so much for your time.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks so much, Alicia.
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: Hey, it's me, Rachel Maddow. If you like the story
• 6:41
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• 6:43
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• 6:46
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• 6:51
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• 6:54
  Speaker 3: your tablet or your computer. Plus, you can join conversations
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: with me and the other hosts and with other folks
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: who care about the news as much as you do.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: MSNOW membership. During September, you can sign up for just
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: 40 bucks a year, which is like just over three
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: bucks a month. Just click on the MSNOW logo right
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: here or go to ms.now slash membership. Hope to see
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  Speaker 3: you there.