Here’s what’s pissing me off more than Trump’s racist & misogynistic demagoguery: the failure of other Republican leaders to step up strong, call him out, denounce him, and tell him he’s not welcome in their party. Today he fielded a question from a man who spewed anti-Muslim racist garbage, including claiming Obama to be a Muslim and not an American citizen (how original). Trump said nothing to contradict the man’s claims, and he treated the man’s eventual question, “will we ever be rid of them [Muslims]” like a normal question. His response meandered but more or less affirmed the man’s ideas.
Of course, this is only the latest episode in Trump’s media-grabbing use of shock-language, xenophobia, and hate. That someone like Trump could be doing what he’s doing right now is not terribly surprising. But what’s inexplicable and appalling is the overall lack of a clear and forceful condemnation of Trump’s destructive narcissistic fear-mongering by the rest of the Republican leadership, including the other Presidential candidates, current major office-holders, and retired respected GOP figures.
Yes, some of the other candidates have objected to things Trump has said, or have criticized him at times in strong terms. But that’s not enough. Not enough for a major American political party that carries some of the responsibility of upholding our most basic core American values.
I’m saying it out loud now: Republicans are making a huge mistake by not having collectively called out Trump’s many bigotries as completely unacceptable for our nation and for their party. What we should have been seeing in the past 8 weeks is a parade of high stature GOP leaders coming forward in every media format to take this guy down. There are 3 living Republican former Presidents who could do this. There’s Colin Powell and Condi Rice. There are retired Senators, like the well-respected Republican moderate, John Danforth, of my home state of Missouri, and John Sununu, and even The Guvernator! All of these folks, including all of the current GOP candidates for pres, should have huddled and then set forth on a clear, unequivocal rejection of Trump having a place in the party. The message would be “we’re conservative – perhaps even very conservative these days – but racist, sexist, and just plain arrogant and cruel comments are out of bounds for our party.”
I don’t know how party rules work, but if it is possible for them to kick him out of the party, they should have, along with the full-blown denunciation and condemnation. Instead, the criticisms aimed at him are scattered, weak, and do not reach the level of stopping this dangerous demagogue from hijacking the party brand.
I’m a Democrat – a strong, very liberal, Obama-loving, big time Dem. As a purely cynical political analyst, part of me says, “Trump – keep that going as long as possible, hopefully ending with him breaking his pledge and running as a George Wallace 3rd party candidate, thus handing the election to us Dems without much suspense.” But as much as I’d love to see the election play out in a way that maximizes the Dems’ chances of winning, a dangerous hate-peddler shouldn’t be allowed to take over more and more of the mantle of one of the two major parties in this country. It’s not good for our country as a whole.
The failure of the rest of the Republican leadership to call out Trump’s bullshit and banish it from the party is the thing that angers and astonishes me the most.
The Accidental Rabbi 