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Continetti: Trump Fans Quite Enjoyed Times Interview

Washington Free Beacon editor in chief Matthew Continetti thinks Donald Trump's backers will enjoy the new New York Times interview with the president.

The interview has attracted controversy, notably for Trump stating his displeasure with Attorney General Jeff Sessions' choice to recuse himself from the Russia investigation.

However, as part of a panel on MSNBC's "Meet the Press Daily," Continetti argued that the article was likely to go over well with Trump backers.

"How does this play with conservatives?" host Katy Tur asked Continetti of the article.

"Well, I think, actually, Trump's base and his fans quite enjoyed this interview," Continetti said.

Tur pointed out that this may not necessarily reveal anything about conservatives.

"They're not really conservatives. They're more Trump voters. They're Trumpians," she said.

"There is another segment of conservatives who don't like Donald Trump, and they would find the same thing for this interview. They would have plenty of ammunition not to like him," Continetti said.

"Trump's people, though, who in many cases view themselves as conservatives, they saw the president kind of—they do exactly what they like him to do, which is just mouth off on a variety of issues and kind of give his impression about the world and even crack some jokes," he said. "So I don't think this interview is going to, no offense to the New York Times, it's not going to affect the world course of history here."

And, Continetti argued, conventional Republicans in D.C. were unlikely to see the interview as particularly interesting one way or the other.

"I think Orrin Hatch's comment that you played reflects the views of many Republicans, professionally in Washington D.C., which is they just don't really pay attention to what Donald Trump tells the press," he said.

"I don't think Republicans are going to wake up, you know, tomorrow morning thinking about this New York Times interview," Continetti said.