Trump And CNN’s Chris Cuomo Clash Over Poll Numbers, Possible Exit

Early Tuesday, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump seemed excited to be interviewed on CNN’s “New Day”, and he sent out a tweet encouraging his followers to watch.

I will be interviewed on @CNN New Day at 7:03 A.M. Enjoy!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 6, 2015

However, his Tuesday morning appearance quickly became a battle with CNN anchor Chris Cuomo.

“You were at the top of all the polls. There is a contraction,” Cuomo began. “Carly Fiorina, Carson, depending on the poll, people are catching you. It’s actually making people start to speculate about when you’ll get out of the race, which I find very unusual. Usually a front-runner isn’t discussed in terms of when they’ll get out. But have you given consideration — I read somewhere that you said ‘if I fell behind badly, I’d get out’. Are you thinking about when you would get out of this race?”

Trump’s response:

Not even a thought. Not even 1 percent of a thought. Look, it’s a phony deal that was perpetrated on the public. I was asked a simple question by Chuck Todd at “Meet The Press”. And people, I gave a very honorable and honest answer. I said, sure, if I was doing terribly like some of these people, I wouldn’t stay in. I mean, who would stay in?

But I’m not. I’m leading every single poll. One poll came out yesterday, 30, or the other day, I’m at 35 percent nationally. 35 percent. I was — I’m 20 points ahead of everybody else. Why would I get out? So they asked me a question, and instead of saying like these politicians, I watch these guys down at 0 percent and 1 percent and they ask the same question, would you think about getting out? ‘Oh, I’ll never get out. I’ll never get out.’ And you know they’re going to be out in the next two weeks, OK? But they say that because that’s a politician.

Cuomo attempted to ask how Trump responded to people who called for him to exit the race, while Trump tried to assure the anchor that he still led the polls.

Here’s a video of the exchange.

Trump then retweeted his supporters who criticized the CNN anchor. Here’s a sampling:

“@Karentalk: @CNNPolitics @realDonaldTrump Stop interrupting Trump..Please..He is CORRECT ON EVERYTHING..”

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 6, 2015

“@LindaRicker6: My choice @realDonaldTrump just finished a great interview on CNN. Pathetic questions from Cuomo but Trump cleared the air.”

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 6, 2015

“@Lisa_Steen: seriously Cuomo hates DonaldTrump he was a pathetic interviewer AS USUAL! Please don’t go anywhere Mr Trump AMERICA NEEDS YOU”

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 6, 2015

Trump and Cuomo previously clashed over Trump’s assertion that fellow presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson (who was the first surgeon to separate conjoined twins at the head) was just “an OK doctor.”