JUNE 16, 2015
Real estate mogul and reality TV star Donald Trump announced today that he is a candidate for the Republican nomination for President. Trump becomes the 12th GOP candidate in an ever-widening field of contenders.
Making his entrance on an escalator in the lavish Trump Tower building on New York City’s Fifth Avenue, Trump spoke for nearly 45 minutes and wasn’t shy about why he should become President.
“We need a leader that wrote ‘The Art of the Deal’…I’m really rich…that’s the kind of thinking you need for this country. It sounds crass, it’s not crass.”
It was pure unadultered Trump.
“There’s been no crowd like this. And I can tell you, some of the candidates, they went in, they didn’t know the air-conditioner didn’t work. They sweated like dogs. They didn’t know the room was too big, because they didn’t have anybody there. How are they gonna beat ISIS? I don’t think it’s gonna happen.”
Sit back and take it all in. On the Chinese…
“Hey, I’m not saying they’re stupid. I like China. I just sold an apartment for $15 million to somebody from China. Am I supposed to dislike them?”
But then he said this.
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best — they’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
Whoa. At that moment, Trump stopped being the rich buffoon and stepped into some uncharted territory by any Presidential candidate for a major party that I can recall. “They’re rapists“?? Quite a statement from someone who wants to represent a party whose White House future may depend on courting Latino voters. “Some, I assume, are good people” isn’t going to cut it.
Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus had better hope that Trump’s xenophobia doesn’t catch on among the wingnut element in the GOP. He could have a major problem on his hands come the first debate if somehow Trump gets into the Top 10 and has a place on that stage.
