Trump Calls Out NBC Host in Heated Interview: 'You Gotta Tell the Truth, Chuck!

Whether through sound bites or live audio, "The Donald" has been making the rounds on all the news talk shows this morning in response to GOP presidential candidates Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman electing to skip the debate that Donald Trump will moderate on December 27. It's been a war of words to say the least.

(Related: Trump calls Ron Paul a "joke")

During his second NBC interview of the morning, Trump got heated with "Daily Rundown" host Chuck Todd, at one point saying, "I didn't call you, you called me." That was in response to Todd saying that Trump wanted to come on to the show to respond to a poll, which Trump said was "false."

But Trump wasn't done there. He told Todd how he could improve his ratings, made a curious comment about Jon Huntsman's religion, and took some shots at former President George W. Bush after his top advisor Karl Rove also laughed at the idea of Trump holding any sway in the GOP.

"Karl Rove gave us George Bush and George Bush crashed and burned and because of that we have Obama," Trump told Todd. "The Republicans need to get rid of Karl Rove and they need fresh blood because Karl Rove is going to lead them into doom."

You can watch it all below:

By the way, Rove told "Fox and Friends" Monday that the RNC Chair should encourage all Republicans to skip the debate, which is moderated by a man who Rove believes still may run for President as an independent:

And to think, Paul's campaign was worried an event hosted by Trump may turn into a "circus-like atmosphere."

As reported by The Blaze over the weekend, Paul and Huntsman both announced that they planned to skip Newsmax’s December 27th debate hosted by, as Paul puts it, “reality television personality” Donald Trump. On CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday morning, Paul followed up on his campaign's statement that the event was "beneath the office of the Presidency:"

"Yeah, I don’t quite understand it. I don’t understand the marching to his office. I mean I didn’t know that he had an ability to lay on hands, you know, and anoint people."

Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman announced Saturday that he too would skip Trump’s event, telling reporters in South Carolina “I’m not going to journey to New York City to meet with Don Trump," and telling Fox News Monday morning “I’m not going to kiss his ring and I’m not going to kiss any other part of his anatomy.” 

Within a few hours of Paul's appearance, Trump quickly chirped back through the New York Daily News:

"'Few people take Ron Paul seriously and many of his views and presentation make him a clown-like candidate,' Trump said in a statement to the Daily News.

'I am glad he and Jon Huntsman, who has inconsequential poll numbers or a chance of winning, will not be attending the debate and wasting the time of the viewers,' Trump said."

Less than 24 hours later, Trump appeared on NBC's Today Show immediately taking questions about Paul's comment, as well as comments from influential conservative Washington Post columnist George Will: