Saturday, September 17, 2016

Last Call For The Bodyguard

Donald Trump must be feeling pretty confident, because he's right back to stroking his ego and being utterly awful again, and it just may take the heat off Clinton for a while.

The New York Times says Donald Trump on Friday night "once again raised the specter of violence against Hillary Clinton." The Guardian, meanwhile, titled its tweet "Trump hints at Clinton's assassination again."

If you just glanced at those recaps and noted the word "again," you might think Trump had brought up his controversial "Second Amendment people" comment — the one about how Republicans could prevent a President Clinton from appointing liberal judges.

But Trump was actually repeating a formulation that he has used many times before, about how Clinton should have her guards disarm if she believes so strongly that guns aren't the answer to stopping violence.

And it's not even an argument that's unique to him. It's an extension of a favored argument used by the National Rifle Association -- "The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun" -- and it's one the gun rights crowd has used with gusto against Democrats who support gun control, including President Obama. There was even a White House petition a few years back calling on the White House to disarm security guards for Obama, Vice President Biden and their families, given the White House's stance on guns.

So Trump was on well-trodden ground here. The difference Friday night, though, is that he took a comment that was worn and not all that interesting and spun it forward with just a few extra words, giving it new life by painting a more violent picture. 

Depressing stuff?  Trump's actual quote is far worse than the Post lets on.

She goes around with armed bodyguards like you have never seen before. I think that her bodyguards should drop all weapons. They should disarm. Right? Right? I think they should disarm immediately. What do you think? Yes? Yes. Yeah. Take their guns away. She doesn't want guns. ... Let's see what happens to her. Take their guns away, okay? It would be very dangerous.

That's not a  "borderline" threat, or "moderately" disturbing, it's an outright invitation to test the mettle of the United States Secret Service in their capacity to protect a possible president and former First Lady.  That's an open "Second Amendment remedy" attack on his opponent, and it should be roundly condemned.

But of course a lot of Trump statements should be roundly condemned, and yet this man is seven weeks away from maybe being President.

To Hell In A Deplorables Basket

Allen Abel at Maclean's give us some north of the border perspective on who Trump voters are and why they want to vote for him, and the reasons really shouldn't surprise you at this point in the game.

These are Donald Trump’s “deplorables,” as Hillary Clinton calls them—11 unashamed Trump-train riders from across the United States, writing in their own words. 
To Clinton, they—or at least “half of them,” as the Democratic nominee chuckled last weekend in a stunning display of contempt before hurriedly apologizing­—can be lumped together as “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic­­—you name it.” 
Our contributors would disagree. The Trump supporters who volunteered to write for Maclean’s this week are collegians and golden agers, whites and non-whites, retirees and working people. One studies bioterrorism; one teaches Grade 7. They hail from locales as variegated as Boynton Beach, Mayfield Heights, Wichita Falls, and Punxsutawney. (One of them is this writer’s first cousin.)

Two weeks ago, Trump said, “Becoming the nominee of the party of Abraham Lincoln . . . has been the greatest honour of my life. It is on his legacy that I hope to build the future of the party, but more important, the future of the country.” It is likely that, when they harken to Trump on the stump, only a minority of American citizens espy the second coming of Honest Abe. Even within his own party, Trump’s disapproval rating is unprecedented for a major-party nominee. But even if he is routed by Clinton on Nov. 8, at least 40 million Americans will vote Trump. Here’s why.

And the reasons are myriad:  He's not the career politician in the race, he's "not afraid to speak the unpopular truth" about immigrants, Muslims, and black people, but most of all these are people who really, really, really hate Hillary Clinton, folks like Royce Barnes in the swing state of Florida.

I am a 68-year-old American voter. I am a white American. I am a combat veteran of the U.S. Army; I served for 18½ years, received an honourable medical discharge, and was declared 100 per cent Service Connected Disabled. I have been married to the same wonderful woman for over 33 years, have four children with her. 
I grew up on a farm in the state of Maryland, which in the ’50s and ’60s, made my parents automatically Democrat. In 1966, I graduated from high school and joined the Army (U.S. one year, Korea one year, Vietnam one year). I never registered to vote until Jimmy Carter and I registered Democrat. He was the most destructive president in history until the current administration. I immediately changed to Republican after Carter. 
Since then, I have followed and participated in the political process with a steadfast conviction, hoping to see either party honour the Constitution of the United States of America. What I have observed is that both parties have separated themselves from the Constitution because of political correctness, which was strongly introduced in the Bill Clinton administration. Now I live in a country where I am considered a terrorist, because I am a Christian, a veteran, a white conservative, law-abiding, born-in-America citizen. 
What do I make of Mr Trump’s statements? I almost support all of his statements, because they are not polictically correct, they are mostly the honest truth. Finally, I believe that he is America’s last hope . . . if Clinton wins, America will never come back. 
Most people have been dummy-downed by the lies and deception of their leaders, and are not even aware that their God-given liberty and rights have been almost completely stolen from them. American leadership has declined since JFK’s assassination to the point of treason and total corruption. The political system must be totally remodelled and redeemed. 
I believe that God anointed Trump to be the agent of change necessary to defeat the so-called wise politically correct crowd that presently stands in the position of power and authority.

So yeah, I think that 40 million is low by half.  Plenty of people will vote Trump, and they will rationalize away his racism, bigotry, misogyny, and Islamophobia because it doesn't affect them personally.

The question is will at least that many of the rest of us show up and vote for Clinton?   Will Johnson and Stein really get 20 million votes between them on top of that?

Are we really going to put this asshole in the White House?
Related Posts with Thumbnails