Almost the entire political establishment, including almost all his Republican rivals for the nomination and even war criminal Dick Cheney, has attacked Donald Trump’s most recent statement that no Muslims should be allowed to enter the US for the foreseeable future, with Jeb Bush going so far as to call it “unhinged”. Trump, predictably, has brushed off the criticisms.
“We need a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States while we figure out what the hell is going on,” he said, prompting a huge roar. The crowd of about 500 Trump faithful stood up as one and bellowed its approval.
…“I wrote something today that was very salient, very important,” the candidate said, adding that it was “probably not politically correct”. Then, as the crowd hung on his every word, he lowered his voice to an intimate whisper, leant into the microphone, and said: “But. I. Don’t. Care.”
And you know what? I think this widespread criticism will simply add to his luster among his supporters as the true outsider, the one who cannot be intimidated or bought, and that it will further cement his position as the leader of the pack. Look at this graphic that plots his poll numbers along with his outrageous statements.
Back in the 2008 election, it became clear, especially after John McCain’s disastrous choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate, that Obama had a steady lead in the polls and was heading for a win. But the media needs a competitive race and so their commentators would seize on anything that happened and speculate that it would help the McCain campaign, suggesting that now the race was getting closer when it was doing nothing of the sort.
This resulted in a running joke in the blogs that supported candidate Obama, where they would take any blunder by McCain or Palin and write that ‘this is good news for John McCain’.
But in this election, it looks like that this is no longer a joke. Trump has discovered that there are no depth of tribalism, xenophobia, and racism that will alienate his supporters. Everything that happens actually is good news for Donald Trump.
“The crowd of about 500 Trump faithful”
So the leading Presidential candidate in the whole GOP can’t attract more than 500 people to see him in person in a Southern city as big as Charleston? Pfft! The Atheist Club of San Jose regularly exceeds 100 people and we meet twice a month. So much for Trump’s massive support!
Slight off topic but related tangeant here -- Looks like GOP Rep Michele Fiore here has out-trumped Trump and Carson when it comes to spewing repellent hateful shit about Muslim (or Syrian rather -- not all Muslim even) refugees :
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/gun-obsessed-gop-state-rep-nevada-threatens-syrian-refugees-im-about-fly-paris-and
Wow. WARNING : May make some here feel ill.
Everything? Everything eh? Even being caught with the proverbial “dead girl or live boy” of political aphorisms fame?
Maybe Obama or soem other key Democratic people should practice some reverse pyschology and praise Trump here for some liberal policies or being such a good parody act or something? /only-half -joking.
Admittedly, for some rabid Reps it does seem like Trump could walk on stage, pull down his pants and piss all over the first few rows, take a massive dump then walk off and he’d still get resounding applause and their votes. However, I think we should be wary of confusing getting lots of popular press attention with actual genuine popularity among the broader populace.
Evil, repugnant and vile as Trump may be and worrying as his polling figures and support from a scarily more sizerable than should be set of scumbags is,; lets have some perspective please. Recall that Trump is just speaking to Republicans here and that Obama won in by landslides in 2008 & 2012. What are Trump’s disapproval ratings and how many Americans would never vote for him even among the minority of the US of A that is Republican?
All the media and establishment have turned on Trump suddenly, including Fox. One of them even openly called him fascist. I’m actually surprised.
More good news for Trump:
“A petition calling for Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump to be barred from entering UK has passed 100,000, meaning MPs will have to consider debating the issue.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35052505
Could be worse.
Ha, no, I’m just kidding, it can’t get worse.
doublereed @4:
If he gets the nomination, my prediction is that most of the right-winger pundits and media will come scurrying back to him, because to maintain their opposition would require integrity, and these are Republicans we’re talking about. We need to preemptively come up with a name for the jiggy dance they’re going to do in the process.
The meme I’d like to suggest is “The Foxtrot.”
@7 brucegee
This is the first time since he ran that the media had the balls to call him out, not just the republicans. It’s shocking only because the media almost never counters anything anyone on the right wing says that openly.
Trump talked about deporting 11 million people and the media never called him a fascist.
Republicans have long used a strategy of appealing to the lowest instincts in humanity. They encouraged such values in their base, but they have succeeded better than they had planned. The voters have gone more rabid than the conventional candidates expected and that’s what Trump is capitalizing on.