Trump The Timid
[Trigger warning–more Trump derangement syndrome.]
I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a timid man run for President. Consider:
1. Trump wants to ban Muslim immigrants: “Until we are able to determine and understand this problem”
Why doesn’t he understand the problem? Isn’t it obvious? If he doesn’t know what’s going on, why is he running for President?
2. Here’s Time magazine:
Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump told TIME that he does not know whether he would have supported or opposed the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
“I would have had to be there at the time to tell you, to give you a proper answer,”
You don’t know? You’d have to be there?
3. Here’s CNNPolitics:
The Sunday uproar started when Trump was asked by Tapper whether he would disavow Duke and other white supremacist groups that are supporting his campaign.
“Just so you understand, I don’t know anything about David Duke, OK?” Trump said.
Trump was pressed three times on whether he’d distance himself from the Ku Klux Klan — but never mentioned the group in his answers.
“I don’t know anything about what you’re even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists,” he said. “So I don’t know. I don’t know — did he endorse me, or what’s going on? Because I know nothing about David Duke; I know nothing about white supremacists.”
He knows nothing about David Duke and white supremacists? Come on, just tell us what you think!
Seriously, Trump is of course anything but timid. Which means that when he seems timid and tentative, something entirely different is actually going on.
Here’s what Trump might be thinking; “I won’t disavow or not disavow David Duke. That way I can send a dog whistle to those southern rednecks I need on Tuesday, while still denying it later on.” Or “I’ll play both sides of the issue on concentration camps for Americans of Japanese descent, so that I can later deny it. I’ll just say it’s a difficult issue; who knows what I would have done.” Or “I’ll say we need to ban Muslims until we know more. That will get me the anti-Muslim bigots, while still leaving me an out if there’s a big backlash.” Trust me, Trump knows exactly what he believes—the apparent timidity is all part of the act.
BTW, Trump’s biggest support today came from that well known southern redneck state called “Massachusetts”. In contrast, he didn’t do well in ultra-liberal states like Oklahoma. Sanders lost in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts, and won in Oklahoma. I used to think I understood America, but I have no idea what’s going on. It like the news media mixed up the election map into a sort of Picasso cubist painting.
Kudos to the 6 New Jersey newspapers that called on Gov. Christie to resign. It’s a moment of truth where the GOP must decide if it wants to turn into an American version of France’s National Front. Pity that Rubio fell 3 points short in Virginia, otherwise the story might have been that the race is still wide open. As it is, Trump still has the momentum. On the other hand those who think Trump will win a general election might ponder the fact that he underperformed the poll numbers tonight, and the polls already had him doing 8 points worse than Rubio, in a match-up against Hillary.
PS. I’d been interested the total number of votes earned by Trump, Cruz and Rubio today. My sense is that while Trump had more than Cruz, it’s wasn’t by the margin people expected going in. Is that correct?