Nothing like total commitment to "making America great again," is there?:
Donald Trump canceled his appearance Friday evening at a major campaign stop for the GOP presidential field in South Carolina as he faces criticism from both Republican and Democrat candidates over his failure to address claims that Barack Obama is a Muslim and “not even an American.”
Trump’s campaign announced in a statement Friday he no longer plans to speak at the Heritage Action Presidential Forum at the Bon Secours Arena in Greenville.
“Mr. Trump has a significant business transaction that was expected to close Thursday,” the campaign said. “Due to the delay he is unable to attend today’s Heritage Action Presidential Forum. He sends his regrets and looks forward to being with the great people of South Carolina on Wednesday in Columbia.”
Does that sound like as transparent an excuse to y'all as it does to me? What could Trump possibly be ducking? Oh, wait, the Hill mentioned that, didn't they?
At a campaign event earlier in the week, a supporter demanded that Trump do something about "the Muslims" and also that Trump acknowledge that Barack Obama is a Muslim as well. He deflected those demands, but is being assailed by the "political elites" for not reflexively ripping the guy's head off for his "Islamophobia". Which I agree is silly and not remotely Trump's obligation to refute.
What strikes me is that he appears to be running away from this criticism from the very people whose pillorying is the very raison d'etere of his candidacy. Trump is supposed to be, holds himself out as being, the "voice of the voiceless," the "silent majority" who are sick and tired of the "elites" in both parties, and the instrument and vehicle of their political demise. Inevitably, that's going to attract supporters who say things like the one who insisted that Trump denounce Obama as a Muslim. I would have thought that Trump would have said something like, "Yes, Barack Obama IS a Muslim, and we're gonna take him down and out!" or words to that effect. But instead he runs away and is now ducking campaign events until the furor blows over, assuming it does. Isn't that something a <GASP> "professional politician" would do? But that's not who Trump is supposed to be.
I sense hypocrisy here. Though Trumpsters will doubtless be able to effortlessly ignore it.
But this gets back to my long-held theory that the purpose of Trump's candidacy, aside from sabotaging the GOP's chances of regaining the White House in 2016, is to make Republicans look like every filthy, despicable stereotype the Left throws at us.
Which brings us to Bernie Sanders' interview with Stephen Colbert:
Bernie Sanders, making his first appearance on a late-night talk show since launching his presidential campaign, told The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Friday that Donald Trump is "appealing to the baser instincts among us, xenophobia and, frankly, racism."
Sanders rejected comparisons of his populist-driven campaign as a Democrat counterpart to that of Trump's effort, which he called "disgraceful."
"What I am talking about is a vision which goes beyond telling us we have to hate a group of people," Sanders said.
Are Dems going to peddle such smears about us anyway? Certainly. It's who they are and what they do, and should be no deterrent to seeking our policy agenda. But do we really need somebody like Donald Trump out there personifying it?
And now he's started "chickening out" on this "rightwing populism". Which means, on the one hand, that he might belatedly be learning the value of political discretion, and on the other hand, suggests that he is morphing into what Tea Party Trumpsters hate and loathe the most: an "elite professional politician".
You can stick your fingers in your ears and hum at the top of your lungs all you want. But you know it's true.
So how now, brown "populist" cow?
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