http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/08/arts/television/letterman-has-no-love-for-damaged-trump.html 2016-10-07 11:40:00 Letterman Has No Love for ‘Damaged’ Trump In an interview, Mr. Letterman gave his thoughts on the Republican presidential nominee and why he considers him “a person to be shunned.” === In his 33 years as a late-night entertainer, Hillary Clinton, now the Democratic presidential nominee, was a frequent guest as well as a comedic target: During her failed presidential bid in 2008, for example, Mr. Letterman, 69, had an especially feisty relationship with Donald J. Trump, who had been a frequent guest and sparring partner Now Mr. Letterman says that Mr. Trump is no longer a laughing matter. In an interview on Wednesday to discuss his involvement in the National Geographic Channel series Q. You featured Donald Trump on your programs many times over the years. What perspective has that given you on his presidential candidacy? A. I’ve known Donald Trump for a long time and I always thought he was exactly what New York City needed to have: the big, blowhard billionaire. “By God, I’m Donald Trump and I date models and I put up buildings, and everything is gold.” Nobody took him seriously, and people loved him when he would come on the show. I would make fun of his hair, I would call him a slumlord, I would make fun of his ties. And he could just take a punch like nothing. He was the perfect guest. So now, he decides he’s running for president. And I kept telling people he will absolutely not get elected. And then David Brooks said he’ll get the nomination and he will be crushed in the general election. And I thought: Yeah, that’s exactly what’s going to happen. I stand by that. The thing about Trumpy was, I think people just were amused enough about him to keep him afloat in the polls, because nobody wanted the circus to pull up and leave town. How did you feel about the Clinton campaign using the “Late Show” video in an anti-Trump ad? It made me a wealthy man. [laughs, then seriously] I was flattered. I was pleased. I felt like I still have a small voice in this. I thought it was good. Slowly but surely, everybody got sucked into this vortex. “Did you hear what Donald Trump said?” And everything downstream got worse and worse. Poor Jimmy Fallon seemed to try a different approach, by not even addressing Trump’s controversies, and it got a negative reaction. How would you handle Trump as a guest now? If I had a show, I would have gone right after him. I would have said something like, “Hey, nice to see you. Now, let me ask you: what gives you the right to make fun of a human who is less fortunate, physically, than you are?” And maybe that’s where it would have ended. Because I don’t know anything about politics. I don’t know anything about trade agreements. I don’t know anything about China devaluing the yuan. But if you see somebody who’s behaving like any other human you’ve known, that means something. They need an appointment with a psychiatrist. They need a diagnosis and they need a prescription.