CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked New York Times correspondent and CNN analyst Maggie Haberman for the “strategy” behind ex-President Donald Trump’s decision to do an interview for Mike Tyson’s podcast.
According to Politico, Trump is in talks to appear on Tyson’s Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson podcast.
On Friday night’s edition of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, a bemused Cooper asked Haberman if she had any clue what the strategy is, and Haberman — apparently amused at the prospect — noted their prior relationship and Trump’s support of Tyson after his rape conviction:
COOPER: And according to Politico, the former president is in talks to a sit down interview on a podcast that Mike Tyson has. Do you know much about the strategy behind that?
HABERMAN: So there’s a couple of things, Anderson. Number one, Mike Tyson is a very old associate of his. He was actually an advisor of sorts to Tyson at one point in the late 1980s. He was a huge defender of Tyson’s when Tyson was convicted on a rape charge and said it was a travesty.
So it’s not entirely surprising. It’s also a reminder that Trump has this unique niche that he tries to appeal to just in terms of cultural aspects of the country.
He has been a public figure, he has been a celebrity. He has also been sort of a sports figure. And he has been — or at least, connected to the world of wrestling, connected the world of boxing. And I think that his campaign has long seen that as an advantage that it can press, especially as it tries to appeal to men, you know, men is obviously a very broad category. It’s often you know, cut up into different groups among men, but that is his base of support.
And so they’re going to try to maximize his vote there and it is not surprising that he is talking about it. It does seem that it’s a potential recipe for things getting a little complicated in an interview, but we’ll see.
Watch above via Anderson Cooper 360.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]