NOVEMBER 24, 2015
I’m so sorry. I’ve tried to shield you as much as I can from the ridiculousness that’s going on (really effectively) in the Donald J. Trump campaign, but his reactions in the last 10 days after the Paris attacks demand some kind of commentary. The Donald has had some wild weekends before, but this past one was a doozy.
On Saturday, echoing previous statements, Trump called for the surveillance of mosques in the U.S. At a rally in Birmingham, AL where a Black Lives Matter protester was kicked and beaten by white Trump supporters, Trump doubled down: “I want surveillance of certain mosques if that’s OK. We’ve had it before.” Really? When? Anyone? Bueller? (Regarding the beating of the protester, Trump said the next day, “Maybe he should have been roughed up because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing.”)
Then on Sunday, Trump retweeted a posting that stated that blacks are responsible for killing 81% of white homicide victims. The source was a San Francisco-based “Crime Statistics Bureau.” Surprise! It doesn’t exist. After that was revealed, Trump told Bill O’Reilly that the fact that he retweeted it doesn’t mean he endorsed it. Ah, okay.
Trump also said that he would create a database to register and track Muslims in the United States. Besides the fact that such a plan is clearly unconstitutional, it sends the message that a Trump administration would be (and I hate to use the word, but it certainly applies here) fascistic.
What else? Oh yes! Just today, Trump, who bought and fixed up a Virginia golf course, placed a plaque there commemorating the site where, as the inscription says, “Many great American soldiers, both of the North and South, died at this spot. The casualties were so great that the water would turn red and thus became known as ‘The River of Blood.’ ” So sad. So moving. And total bullshit. Never happened.
OK, most of these incidents can be dismissed as narcissistic braggadocio, Trump-style. But his major charge on Saturday was beyond the pale:
“Hey, I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down. And I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering.”
When pressed to prove it, Trump asserted that he saw the whole thing on TV, where the Arab population of Jersey City held “tailgate parties” to celebrate the destruction of the World Trade Center. He saw it on TV? Easy to check. However, no TV station, local or national, corroborates Trump’s story. But, despite the smear of Arab-Americans, he’s sticking to it, oblivious to the concept of facts.
Why am I even writing about this guy? Because he’s ahead in the race for the Republican Presidential nomination. Not just ahead, but way ahead. Double-digit ahead. There was a brief flirtation in Iowa and New Hampshire with Dr. Ben Carson, but after Paris, Carson’s lack of knowledge in the foreign policy arena has now dropped him to third in Iowa.
For those of you, who like me, expected him to collapse under the weight of his, let’s call them misstatements, dream on. It’s 2 days until Thanksgiving, and with the holidays upon us, the GOP race is effectively frozen until after New Year’s Day. From there, it’s just weeks until the Iowa caucuses, and Trump is going to amass delegates. A lot of them. The window for an establishment candidate to emerge is closing. The possibility of Donald Trump as the Republican nominee for President may be terrifying, but, if none of his rivals wake up, it’s becoming increasingly likely.
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