Fox News:
Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton traded barbs Thursday over the Republican nominee’s past suggestions that President Barack Obama was born outside the U.S. and thus ineligible to be president, despite the fact that he was born in Hawaii – also known as the “birther” movement.The problem with this line of thinking about birtherism, and by extension Trump, is that nothing he did had an overt racism to it. In fact, feel free to name any president since 1946 who could/should have had their birthplace questioned?
Trump’s campaign spokesman said the Republican candidate now believes Obama was born the U.S., but has been called upon to say so himself. Campaign spokesman Jason Miller said Trump "did a great service to the country" by bringing closure to an "ugly incident" that Trump, in fact, fueled.
"In 2011, Mr. Trump was finally able to bring this ugly incident to its conclusion by successfully compelling President Obama to release his birth certificate," Miller said.
"Mr. Trump did a great service to the President and the country by bringing closure" to the issue, he added. "Inarguably, Donald J. Trump is a closer. Having successfully obtained President Obama's birth certificate when others could not, Mr. Trump believes that President Obama was born in the United States."
Trump’s “birther” comments were long seen by some as an attempt to delegitimize the nation’s first black president and have turned off many of the African-American voters he is now attempting to court in his bid for the White House.
The problem here is that Trump dared to question the qualifications of a black president.
Imagine 100 years ago. What if a black man were to question Woodrow Wilson's birthplace? Admittedly, he might face a lynching. At the very least, he would face a public response not unlike what Trump is getting today.
This needs to end.
Birtherism was not a racist movement. Perhaps some of the people involved in pushing it had racist intent, but that is not a question for the public square, unless the motive can be proven. For anyone in the public to "assume the intent" is nearly reverse racism in action.
On the other hand:
Clinton went on the attack Thursday night at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute over Trump’s refusal to say whether Obama was born in the U.S.
"He was asked one more time where was President Obama born and he still wouldn't say Hawaii. He still wouldn't say America," Clinton said. "This man wants to be our next president? When will he stop this ugliness, this bigotry?”Clinton has a valid point. The fact that Trump is refusing to come out and just admit the obvious is telling. Why would he use his campaign to issue a statement instead of saying it himself? While racism could be the answer, I have another suggestion: I think his massive ego refuses to admit he was wrong.
Trump's ego is a bigger problem as a presidential candidate than racism would be. Even if he is a racist, he isn't one in the traditional sense. No true racist would ever go to black churches like Trump has, or even dare to work with someone like Ben Carson. The David Duke style of racism is a fringe element in this country, yet the Left treats the mildest incidents of racism as if they were cross burnings. If Trump is a racist, he isn't the KKK kind. I am not saying this is good or even ok, but it can be corrected without a verbal lynching taking place.
However, I suspect Trump's ego comes from a much deeper place in his psyche. When a son has had a successful father, the pressure to match or supercede him is tremendous. Trump got his wealth from his father, but has been spending his life trying to be his own success story. Trump strikes me as a man suffering from feelings of inadequacy, and so he is constantly touting his accomplishments to justify himself to the world.
Racism comes more from an omega psyche: "I am low, but I'm not the lowest." It is a way of justifying your own lack of success in life. Point out the flaws in others to build yourself up. People in the 1% rarely have this issue, so true racism is rare among the elites. (There are some ego issues among the elite, but they don't normally turn to racism as an outlet.)
The Left, as usual, is missing the point with Trump. They are going to get him elected if they keep running down this road.
Speaking of Trump...
CNN:
In the past 24 hours, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. have cut off interviews when pressed for answers on tough questions. Trump Jr. strayed from the campaign's talking point about the Republican nominee's tax returns -- that they'll be released once an IRS audit concludes -- when he said unveiling the documents would "detract" from his father's message.
And Trump Jr. caused a firestorm when, during a Thursday interview with a Philadelphia radio station, he raised the specter of the Holocaust by saying if Republicans acted like Hillary Clinton, the media would be "warming up the gas chamber." The campaign later said Trump Jr. was referring to capital punishment, though the Clinton campaign quickly seized on the remarks.
"The particular wording is extremely insensitive, divisive and probably pretty consistent with the type of rhetoric he heard around the house growing up," Clinton campaign chair John Podesta told reporters on a conference call.Naturally, the Clinton campaign wasn't astute enough to recognize that he was metaphorically calling them Nazis. So they called out the PC police, and Trump Jr. was issued a citation.
However, his point about the double standard is correct. Behavior like Hillary's from a Republican would create a Media firestorm the likes of which hasn't been seen since Watergate. Note that the Clinton campaign didn't challenge the point of his comment?
Regarding Ivanka:
She was by her father's side this week when he unveiled a child care policy crafted with Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Washington, that guarantees six weeks of leave for new mothers.Sorry Ivanka, but that just isn't good enough. Normally I am against the Media asking family members such questions, but she put herself out there as part of the team that worked on Trump's child care policy. In addition, she is an adult. These questions are fair game. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the political kitchen.
When Cosmopolitan magazine's Prachi Gupta grilled Ivanka Trump on what that policy meant for gay couples -- asking if after an adoption, "they would not be receiving special leave for that because they don't need to recover or anything" -- the interview turned contentious.
"So I think that you have a lot of negativity in these questions, and I think my father has put forth a very comprehensive and really revolutionary plan to deal with a lot of issues. So I don't know how useful it is to spend too much time with you on this if you're going to make a comment like that," she said.
When pressed on how Trump would pay for his proposals, including increased defense spending an a US-Mexico border wall, Ivanka Trump cut off the interview. "I'm going to jump off, I have to run. I apologize," she said.
Aside from Ivanka's incident, notice how the Clinton campaign continues to use political correctness as a weapon against Trump. This PC nonsense will lose the election, because it makes it appear they can't talk about the issues, while also making Trump appear sympathetic.
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