It seems a little early for Donald Trump to start pivoting to "general election" mode, but apparently somebody's gotten through to him that he needs to turn the knob down a little if he intends to sell himself to people who do not base their lives around obsessive hatred of immigrants and Muslims. So it's switcheroo time!
Donald Trump, who issued a December press release "calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States," said Wednesday such a ban "hasn't been called for yet" and it was "only a suggestion."
Yes, while his previous statements were very clear about "calling for" the complete ban, now he says it was just a suggestion and that he wasn't "calling for" it at all. That is the way Donald rolls. Donald does not constrain himself to the plane of reality that you and I inhabit, but switches between them at will.
Which is especially surprising because as of this very Monday, it wasn't a suggestion at all. He was asked about his ban and how it would relate to the newly elected—and Muslim—mayor of London, Sadiq Khan: Trump merely averred that "there will always be exceptions" to his ban. And just as Trump was cooking his latest waffle, the fabulously wealthy T. Boone Pickens, a new Trump backer, was defending Trump's Muslim ban to reporters.
"Cut them off so we can figure out who they are coming in," Pickens told reporters at the conference.
It's all right to throw your own supporters under your golden bus, Donald, but I don't know that you should be making T. Boone Pickens look like a chump.
Any wagers on how long it'll take Donald Trump to re-switch his position? Softening his grossly repulsive rhetoric against all Muslims, anywhere, probably won't sit well with his base, but then again his base probably knows by now not to put too much faith in anything Donald Trump says during any given interview.
Now if he says he's no longer committed to deporting 11 million people, that will be news.
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