On the eve of the Democratic National Convention, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) was discussing on ABC’s This Week how Donald Trump is dangerous to the country. He noted that not only are his positions worrisome, but his attacks on the press is another reason to be fearful.
“We do have the worst Republican nominee since George Wallace,” he declared. Ellison prefaced these remarks by saying he’s with Sen. Bernie Sanders concerning doing everything he can t defeat Trump come November.
Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) was also on the panel and fact checked his colleague on Wallace’s party affiliation.
“Well, first I want to correct my friend. George Wallace was a proud Democrat and ran for the Democratic nomination. It was on that stage down there,” Cole said.
“Thank God he got rejected and lost,” replied Ellison.
Well, the fact of the matter is that this isn’t the first time Democrats have botched their won party history from Wallace to the roots of the Ku Klux Klan. Wallace was an avowed segregationist, though he later recanted and rejected his racist views later in life. The point is that when we have folks saying how Trump is going to bring about the End of Days—you need to step away from the table for a second. It won’t be the end of the world. It won’t be the death of the country. Even actor Tom Hanks knows that this narrative about Trump being inherently dangerous is ridiculous—and that’s a member of the Hollywood Left.
Moreover, it was a failed attempt to slide in a thinly veiled accusation that the Republican nominee is a racist. Now, one can certainly make that argument that he might be a racist; given his unnecessary week he wasted attacking Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is involved in the lawsuit over Trump University. The billionaire called for Curiel’s recusal since he’s of Mexican descent, though he was born in Indiana, which the Trump camp thought constituted a conflict of interest.
At the same time, the media was laser focused on those remarks, and therefore kept the spotlight on Trump. And that’s the thing that many Republicans, especially the Never Trump camp found so troubling about his candidacy. Trump’s not a Republican. He’s a loose cannon. And he’s simply not principled in his positions, whereas there were other candidates in the 2016 field that were who could easily defeat Clinton. Trump knows how the media works, he’s manipulated them throughout the primaries, and it could be that he made those remarks to keep the spotlight on him, no matter how odious the means were to accomplish that goal. There’s always something else with Trump. Case in point, look at what he did to Ted Cruz at the Republican National Convention. He knew Cruz wasn’t going to endorse. The Trump camp reportedly saw a copy of Ted’s remarks beforehand. Yet, he was allowed to speak because I think Trump suspected that Ted just couldn’t let things go. He knew he would implode. In many ways, the Texas senator and conservative firebrand is too smart for his own good—which is why some could speculate this was a perfect trap.
The Trump camp said that they wanted to be the bigger people in allowing Cruz to speak at the Convention. And when he refused to endorse, along with making some digs at the New York delegation, he totally destroyed himself. He was booed off the stage by some of the very people who were die-hard supporters, with many writing the epitaph for his political career.
So, yes, Trump may not be the best candidate—but he’s not George Wallace, and he’s always thinking ahead of the media curve (so far). So, let’s cut it with the misappropriating of party labels and the threats of doomsday with a Trump administration. Life will go on.
Oh, and as for Judge Curiel—he denied a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. So, expect Trump to say something about this soon.
(H/T Tom Balek)