On September 16th, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, the next GOP debate will be moderated by Jake Tapper, with additional questions from Hugh Hewitt. I’m incredibly excited for this particular debate, and find Jake Tapper to be the picture of journalistic integrity. Do I always agree with him? No. Do I believe he’s fair 99% of the time? Yes. I’m also ready to hear a few hardball questions from Hugh Hewitt and his vast pool of foreign conflict knowledge. We had a bit of a preview of such questions on Thursday, and while Carly Fiorina used the opportunity to flash her foreign policy knowledge, Donald Trump – when asked the same questions – chose to complain and label them as “gotcha questions.”

Hugh repeated the sentiments of many Americans, that in today’s world we want the next Commander-in-Chief to have a firm grasp on foreign issues. He brought up names such as Hassan Nasrallah, Zawahiri, al-Julani, and al-Baghdadi, and he asked Donald Trump if he was familiar with such dangerous terrorists leaders. When asked directly about General Soleimani, Major General of the Quds, Donald confused the special forces unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards with a Sunni population, the Kurds.

HH: Are you familiar with General Soleimani?

DT: Yes, but go ahead, give me a little, go ahead, tell me.

HH: He runs the Quds Forces.

DT: Yes, okay, right.

HH: Do you expect his behavior…

DT: The Kurds, by the way, have been horribly mistreated by …

HH: No, not the Kurds, the Quds Forces, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Quds Forces.

DT: Yes, yes.

HH: …is the bad guys.

DT: Right.

HH: Do you expect his behavior to change as a result…

DT: Oh, I thought you said Kurds, Kurds.

HH: No, Quds.

DT: Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you said Kurds, because I think the Kurds have been poorly treated by us, Hugh. Go ahead.

I know “Quds” and “Kurds” sound mildly similar, however, “General Soleimani” sounds nothing like “an ethnic group in the Middle East” to anyone paying attention to the foreign conflict issues currently plaguing this world. After desperately fumbling his way through the issue, in an almost sympathy inducing manner, Trump became rather defensive.

HH: All right, well, let me expand it, because you know, it’s not gotcha. I’m trying not to do that. But I wanted to see if you…

DT: Well, it sounded like gotcha. You’re asking me names that, I think it’s somewhat ridiculous, but that’s okay. Go ahead, let’s go.

Apparently the large, missile laden, impenetrable guarded wall surrounding Trump’s ego not only aims its weapons at questions regarding his sexist remarks, but also any question that exposes his lack of experience. He even went so far as to elude to the idea that when he takes office, it will be so long from now that such terrorist leaders will be irrelevant:

“No, you know, I’ll tell you honestly, I think by the time we get to office, they’ll all be changed. They’ll be all gone.”

Yeah, okay. I mean, Hassan Nasrallah has only been in power since 1992, and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has only been leading terrorist organizations since 2003, but hey, let’s go with your theory, Donald… they’ll be all gone. At one point he even said, “I will be so good at the military, your head will spin.” Now, as the daughter of a 30 year Army veteran, who spent the majority of his career in Military Intelligence, I’ve always been interested in foreign issues, because throughout most of my life – beginning in 1989 during the Panama Canal war when I was two – it had the potential to impact my Dad. I knew of the name “Manuel Noriega” before I spoke full sentences. The comfort level I experience when Trump opens his mouth on foreign policy, well, it causes this Army Brat to feel unprecedented levels of distress.

You can find the full transcript of the interview with Donald Trump here, or listen to the interview below:

When asked the same questions, Carly Fiorina answered the “gotcha” questions with class.

CF: Okay. . . Of course (laughs). There’s no doubt. There’s no doubt. Look, we know that the general of the Quds force has been a powerful tool of the Iranian regime to sow conflict. We also know that the Quds forces are responsible for the deaths and woundings of American soldiers. We also know that the Quds forces have been in Syria and a whole bunch of other countries in the Middle East. The Iranian deal – which sadly, has just been approved by Congress – starts a massive flow of money, and that money is going to be used not only to build up an Iranian nuclear weapon – which they have been hell-bent on getting for thirty years – that money is also going to go to the Quds forces, going to go Hezbollah. It’s going to go to all of Iran’s proxies which is why I’ve said to you on other occasions, Hugh, that we have to stop the money flow. And even if Congress had succeeded in stopping this deal – which we now know they have not – the reality is that China and Russia and European money are already flowing to Quds forces among proxies. And that’s why I’ve said I’d cut off the money flow by letting the Supreme Leader know that, hey, there’s a new deal, and we’re going to make it as hard as possible for you to move money around the global financial system so that we cut off the money flow from the Iranian regime to whomever, including the Quds force.

When asked about particular names, Carly admitted to some confusion, but quickly showed us all why she deserves to be on the debate stage in September.

CF: Well, I have to be very honest with you and say that sometimes I can get confused a bit between the name and group because they sound a bit alike sometimes, so I have to pause and think sometimes. But, I certainly know all those names both of the individual leaders and of the terrorist groups. I certainly understand where these terrorists are in play. I certainly understand that one of the most dangerous things that is going on right now is competition among these leaders and among their terrorist groups. So on the one hand, we see organizations like Boko-Haram pledging allegiance to ISIS – in other words – joining forces and conducting horrific acts on behalf of ISIS. But on the other hand, we see competition among these groups, so Al-Qaeda and ISIS are competing now. Al-Nusra is competing. That’s also dangerous because the way these terrorist groups compete is by one-upping each other in the horrific nature of the violence that they conduct.

HH: Now, you see, I don’t think it’s disqualifying or in any way indictment that people get confused about the names, but I think it’s important to know the difference between Hezbollah and Hamas and where they operate and what kind of threats they pose to Israel. Do you know that difference between Hamas and Hezbollah?

CF: Yes. I do. And of course, Hamas is focused in Palestinian territories. Hezbollah focuses in Beirut and other places, but the truth is, both of them are proxies of Iran. Both of them threaten Israel. Both of them are going to be benefiting from the agreement which Obama and Kerry have struck with Iran.

You can find the full transcript of the interview with Carly Fiorina here, or listen to the interview below:

The general consensus on Twitter pointed to the fact that while Carly wasn’t perfect, she answered the questions with poise and confidence. She knew the subject well, and she is aware that the American people want answers, not defensive attacks. However, it sounds as though Donald Trump gave his worst interview yet. He fumbled, he mumbled, and much of the interview simply didn’t make sense. Hugh Hewitt was beyond professional, and showed absolutely zero bias with either candidate.

Trump: Asking about terror leaders is a 'gotcha question' http://t.co/eNADU8VhVg (via @JDiamond1)

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) September 4, 2015

Great contrast. Carly Fiorina has knowledgable answers for all the same ?'s that Trump claimed were "gotcha" ?'s: http://t.co/iFPpUZeves

— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) September 3, 2015

.@hughhewitt producer says Trump's team spitting fire over "gotcha" FP Qs. Threatening to never do show again.

Read: http://t.co/9inFLwwSx8

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) September 3, 2015

To be honest, I thought Hugh Hewitt went quite easy on Donald. Hewitt is not someone you agree to be interviewed by and expect questions about your family, hotels, and love for China. Hugh is serious about what he does, and he asks serious questions. However, expecting Trump to know the difference between Hezbollah and Hamas, before we hand him over the nuclear launch codes, doesn’t seem like a hardball question to me.

So, is Donald ready for the September 16th debate? Donald may want to brush up on subjects that don’t include immigrants and big walls, because I have a feeling his childish attacks against those who ask difficult questions won’t cut it with Jake Tapper and Hugh Hewitt. In addition, being the Commander-In-Chief of the American Military is a responsibility – one involving life and death decisions that impact our family members – and requires someone who knows the difference between “Kurds” and “Quds.”

I have a feeling we will be hearing more on the Hugh Hewitt interview, as of this morning, Donald has already said that Hugh Hewitt is a “third-rate radio announcer.” Let the games begin. Again.