Donald Trump's Racism In Historical Context: "Must-See" Video Mash-Up
Donald "Pus Gargle" Trump Blows Chunks.
Just Makes Shit Up. Crowds Cheer
Matt Taibbi: "R.I.P. GOP, How Trump Is Killing The Republican Party"
Matt Taibbi: "R.I.P. GOP, How Trump Is Killing The Republican Party"
Donald Trump's Wikiquote Page
"There Are Two Ways Of Lying..." Denis De Rougemont And Donald Trump
Devious Donald And The Normalization Of Mendacity: "We're Going To Win The Latino Vote"
"There Are Two Ways Of Lying..." Denis De Rougemont And Donald Trump
"You've Been Trumped": A Documentary About Devious Donald's Imperious Takeover Of Scotland
(How Donald Works His Will By Denigrating "Commoners")
Vanity Fair's "Big Hair On Campus." Will Trump "University" Scandle Tumble Trump?
Trump "University" Lawsuit Goes To Trial. Likely Outcome For Trump Bleak To Apocalyptic
http://paxonbothhouses.
The System Is Rigged. And Trump Is The Beneficiary.
He Wins. You Lose... Sucker!
He Wins. You Lose... Sucker!
American Conservatives And Aggressive Ignorance
Trump's latest bigotry is pure fantasy. But it works. | The Star-Ledger Editorial Board
11/23/2015
Wager, anyone? Donald Trump isn't likely to apologize for his lie or hallucination about those imaginary cheerleaders in Jersey City celebrating the Twin Towers coming down.
It hardly matters anymore, for a few reasons that should be clear by now: First of all, bigots don't capitulate. Second, the more he ratchets up the demented rhetoric, the higher his polls go, so he is content to ride the fetid wave of a campaign based chiefly on blind bigotry and unapologetic stupidity.
Pause here for a quick recap, just in case you want to test the level of your uncle's cognitive impairment during Thanksgiving dinner:
It was bad enough that Trump wants to round up 11 million immigrants and return them to their country of origin – because in his warped imagination they're mostly murderers and rapists - but he also considers a deadly, Eisenhower-era deportation program as the model to satisfy his xenophobia.
He suggests that Americans who happen to be Muslim should be specially registered – not unlike the way Nazis mandated the registration of Jews – and that we should track them with "a lot of systems, beyond databases," and "look very carefully at Mosques."
And then he ramped up the Islamaphobia by telling an absurd story about celebrations within shouting distance of Ground Zero. "Thousands of people were cheering," Trump said, more than once.
Only nobody saw anything like that - not the cops, not the residents of Jersey City, not the army of reporters who checked out all those rumors.
MORE: Recent Star-Ledger editorials
It's one thing to slander a group of people, but it's clear that Trump no longer wants to use garden-variety demagoguery. Now he's actually relying on his fantasies.
In the process, he has invented a campaign that white supremacists would love, and apparently there is enough love to go around: The polls suggest that Trump has reclaimed the lead in Iowa and is expanding his lead in New Hampshire.
And it would no longer surprise anyone if he were to win those states in landslides, because from the other candidates, party leadership, and their broadcast network, you hear mostly crickets. Occasionally, a minor candidate such as Rick Perry, Lindsey Graham or John Kasich might suggest that Trump "does not represent the Republican Party."
But Chris Christie's response to Trump's Jersey City daydream was mealy-mouthed as usual ("I mean, I can't say"), so we're left to wonder whether these candidates abandoned their principles or whether they had any in the first place.
Or maybe this is just another sign that Trump hasn't so much embarrassed his party as he has exposed it.
Whatever its appeal, it's working. Everything that is wrong, venal, lazy and mendacious about the party has become crystallized in this flagrant insult to those voters who care more about serious issues than surrendering to the Tin Foil Hat crowd.
A candidate is defined by his most extreme members. As long as the GOP is willing to tolerate Trump's lies about one group or another, it risks being branded as the party of bigots.
No comments:
Post a Comment