Famed investigative reporter Bob Woodward suggested Thursday morning that “excessive rhetoric” from Donald Trump’s opponents was feeding the bombastic billionaire’s increasingly controversial remarks.
Calling Trump’s campaign one that’s “off the rails,” the Washington Post editor also condemned “hyperbolic, ungenerous rhetoric” from Hillary Clinton’s allies.
“I think it’s got to be said this is not just about Trump,” Woodward said in an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “A lot of the people who really are opposed to Trump, I think, are engaged in some excessive rhetoric also.”
He went on to cite a Wednesday column by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who wrote Trump’s children “should be ashamed” of their father for his remark about “Second Amendment people” and called the GOP nominee “a disgusting human being.”
Friedman’s opinion of Trump as “disgusting” is a “reasonable opinion,” Woodward said, but said he couldn’t recall another time in 40 years of covering politics when someone violated the “zone of protection” generally respected for candidates’ children.
“That makes no sense. So, the excess is feeding both sides on this,” he said.
