At the start of the interview, Tapper asked Navarro about comments made by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti that, when it came to natural disasters like the wildfires raging in California, that Republican states tended to get better response from the federal government than Democratic ones. Here’s how Navarro responded (bolding is mine):
“Well, that’s offensive.
“If you look at what President Trump did, for example, for the city and state of New York, it was an incredible transfer of resources up there, ships, PPE. Everything that New York wanted, they got.
“So, please, Mr. Garcetti, take care of Los Angeles better than you are doing.
“I would — if — one of the things I’d like to do before we get started, though, is, I would really like to congratulate President Trump on being nominated for the Peace Prize, the Nobel Peace Prize, because this last week, if you look at the signal, rather than the noise, he brokered a second deal with Bahrain.”
Amazing.
Navarro, quite clearly, wanted to make sure that he got in that mention of Trump being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize right at the top of the interview — no matter what. Probably because he knew that Trump would definitely be watching the very beginning of the interview and would definitely see his trade guy singing his praises.
And Navarro, because he’s done his homework, knows that Trump has long been fixated on the Nobel committee — and the fact that he hasn’t won a Peace Prize yet.
And on Sunday night, during an indoor campaign rally in Nevada, Trump himself made sure his audience knew about the nomination. “They nominated your president twice last week, for two different subjects, for a Nobel prize — but the fake news media didn’t cover it,” he said.
Navarro then is giving Trump exactly what he wants. He’s going out of his way not just to praise Trump but doing it in a way that he can go back to Trump and say: They were trying to ignore this giant honor of yours but I wouldn’t let them!
Navarro’s appearance with Tapper on Sunday serves as a shot across the bow on the two Mikes: You guys now have competition for the suck-up title.