Did Donald Trump use 60 Minutes as a source for the debate?
Donald Trump regularly attacks news reports as untrustworthy, but some viewers are convinced he relied on 60 Minutes Sunday night in order to prepare for the debate Monday night. The candidate appeared to cite something he’d seen on the broadcast about America’s nuclear program.
#Trump watched 60 Minutes on Sunday to prepare for #DebateNight
— Liz D'Imperio (@lzdimperio) September 27, 2016
Ah, so Trump saw that segment on @60Minutes last night. #debatenight
— Erin (@likewantneed) September 27, 2016
The viewers are referring to a series of exchanges from one Russia-fueled debate moment. After Secretary Clinton commented that Donald Trump finds Russian leader Vladimir Putin “praiseworthy,” Trump qualified his praise of Putin’s leadership by comparing the state of Russian and U.S nuclear programs, the subject of a 60 Minutes report Sunday night.
“Russia has been expanding their — they have a much newer capability than we do. We have not been updating from the new standpoint,” Trump said. “I looked the other night. I was seeing B-52s, they’re old enough that your father, your grandfather could be flying them. We are not keeping up with other countries.”
Donald watches 60 minutes guys… just be aware he knows the bombers are old because he watched 60 minutes
— Kevin Wilson (@Head_Held_High) September 27, 2016
The particular segment, “The New Cold War,” opens with video of one
of the B-52 bombers in America’s nuclear arsenal.
If the Republican candidate was watching 60
Minutes’ 49th season premiere Sunday night, he also may have seen
an interview with the King of Jordan – a leader who got some glowing reviews
from viewers unimpressed with both Trump and Clinton:
Just watched this segment...knee jerk reaction without any research is "This is the kind of leader we need...can we get him on the ballot?"
Posted by Christopher Berrang on Sunday, September 25, 2016
@michaeljruiz @60Minutes @ScottPelley @CBSNews we need to do some serious re thinking, our leaders are clueless..the king knows!
— Tyler (@tlange92) September 26, 2016
And then there was this wistful tweet during the debate:
I would have loved to hear Andy Rooney's take on all this if he were still around. Miss that man. #DebateNight @60Minutes
— Newfdog (@LandseerDog) September 27, 2016
Rooney’s take? Perhaps it would have sounded like something he said on the broadcast during the 2004 presidential election: “I think that people who can’t decide which one of these two ought to be president even before they watched the debates, aren’t undecided. They’re stupid. I think you’ll all agree with me on that.”