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Phil McGraw, better known as popular television personality Dr Phil, has officially endorsed Donald Trump for president.
McGraw, who rose to fame in the 1990s thanks to his appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, interviewed the former president earlier this year on his own show and promised to “ask [Trump] some hard questions and get some clear answers.”
The 74-year-old, who lost his licence to practice psychology in 2006, appeared on stage at Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City and backed the Republican just days before the historic election.
Speaking to the crowd of Trump supporters, McGraw said that he was “not here just to stand up for Donald J Trump. Lord knows he doesn’t need me to stand up for him. He’s tough as an old army boot. He’s got lots of enemies, different groups that are scared, and between them, they have impeached him, indicted him, raided him, railroaded him, shot him and sued him. And where is he? He is still standing.”
McGraw said that he doesn’t “ like or agree with everything that Donald J. Trump does or says” but that “no human is perfect” and that rather than striving for “perfection,” we strive for “excellence”.
He used much of his speech to defend Trump supporters who he claimed are being “cancelled, intimidated, marginalised, excluded or even fired or boycotted” and then used his professional opinion to declare that Trump isn’t a “bully”.
He said that Trump couldn’t be a bully because “there has to be an imbalance of power, and when there’s not, it’s just called a debate, and he’s just better at it than anybody else”.
McGraw also attacked the likes of Beyonce, George Clooney, Robert De Niro and Lizzo, who he claimed hadn’t received any backlash from the media for endorsing Kamala Harris but said “watch what happens tomorrow morning when people find out I came here to talk to you”.
He also spread a conspiracy theory that CBS News show 60 Minutes edited their interview with Harris, which Trump had previously spread.
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Responding to the accusations, CBS News said that the claims were “false” and that: “60 Minutes gave an excerpt of our interview to Face the Nation that used a longer section of her answer than that on 60 Minutes. Same question. Same answer.”
The statement continued: “But a different portion of the response. When we edit any interview, whether a politician, an athlete, or movie star, we strive to be clear, accurate and on point. The portion of her answer on 60 Minutes was more succinct, which allows time for other subjects in a wide ranging 21-minute-long segment.”
