Month: February 2016

Playing La Raza Card: RNC Chair Brags That 2 of Top 3 In Iowa Are Hispanic

Posted by on February 2, 2016 at 7:05 pm. 1 Comments :

Following the 2012 loss by Mitt Romney, the Republican National Committee conducted what they called an “autopsy” to establish what went so terribly wrong with a campaign that they thought they would win in a walk. After all, they were running against a president that they believed was a dismal failure on top of being a gay Muslim from Kenya who hated America. Their self-examination concluded that the GOP had fatally ignored the constituencies of color and that they would have to appeal to a much larger percentage of Latinos if they ever hoped to win a national campaign again.

Ted Cruz Marco Rubio

In 2016 the RNC is now confident that they have resolved that problem. As evidence of their progress Reince Priebus, the chairman of the party, rushed over to Fox News, the party’s PR division, and gleefully boasted about the diversity of the party’s leading candidates. He told Fox that the GOP is enjoying a high degree of enthusiasm and added that…

Priebus: The other big thing was, look, Ted Cruz, first Hispanic out of Iowa from a major political party. Marco Rubio, two out of our top three Hispanic. Where is the media on this? Right? This is a big deal.

It’s interesting that the party that has relentlessly lectured Democrats for “playing the race card,” and complains bitterly when Democrats show pride for historical firsts (like the first African-American or woman or Jewish president), is suddenly showing off their own alleged minority credentials. However, there are some pertinent facts that they are egregiously omitting.

First of all, while two of the top three GOP candidates in Iowa are indeed Hispanic, the third is Donald Trump – a brazenly racist hate monger who has referred to Latino immigrants as rapists and murderers. Trump has thoroughly alienated the Latino community and has even banished Latino reporters from his campaign events. And somehow he is still delusional enough to believe that he will win their votes.

Secondly, bragging about Cruz and Rubio as representatives of the Latino community really stretches the notion of representation. Both of them share the same repugnant views toward immigrants that define Trump’s bigotry. They want to build a silly wall. They want to deport millions of Latinos residents. They oppose Obama’s DREAMers initiative that allows young Latinos who came here as children, are in school or have completed military service, and have no criminal record, to remain in the U.S. They promise to repeal ObamaCare, which makes health insurance available to millions of Latinos. And they are on the wrong side of many more general issues that impact Latinos such as equal employment, minimum wage, education, and taxes.

Clearly none of the top three finishers in Iowa (or any of the other Republicans) are aligned with the needs and desires of the majority of Latinos. The GOP candidates with Latino names are no more likely to draw Latino votes than Ben Carson is to draw the votes of African-Americans.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Republicans must think that these voters are so stupid that they will vote against their best interests just because of a shared ethnicity. That’s not gonna work. Voters know when a candidate is going to fight for the things that matter most to them. That’s why black voters voted for Obama – not because he’s black. And that’s why Cruz and Rubio will never be able to trick very many Latinos into voting for them. But they’re still going to try, and the effort will only make them look more foolish and desperate.

Donald Trump Orders His Followers To “Knock The Crap” Out Of Protesters

Posted by on February 1, 2016 at 2:33 pm. 9 Comments :

The hate-filled rhetoric of Donald Trump long ago crossed the line of decency. The record of his overt racism, rancid misogyny, and puerile insults is well documented. He regularly employs a form of vile demagoguery to incite his glassy-eyed disciples into fits of fury. And today he extended his campaign of bullying tactics to an explicit call to violence.

Donald Trump Fascism

At his final rally for the Iowa caucus, Trump addressed the crowd to encourage them to go to their neighborhood caucus and support his candidacy. During the speech he veered off subject to announce that his security was on the lookout for hecklers. Then, assuming his phony facade of machismo, he issued this directive to the jackbooted thugs that make up his audience (video below):

“If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them would you? Seriously. Just knock the hell…I will pay for the legal fees. I promise.”

That is literally the same message that was often sent to supporters of Nazis in pre-war Germany. Protesters were frequently subjected to beatings with the encouragement of the Party’s leaders. This is something that Trump must regard as a model for his brand of American supremacy.

However, there are a couple of problems with that theory. First of all, it is illegal to incite violence in this country. Trump’s exhortation to such brutality is well outside the bounds of the law. And what’s more, he knew it when he said it. That’s why he added his assurance that he would cover any legal consequences of the unlawful behavior. That offer of indemnity is evidence of unlawful intent as well as malice aforethought. Even worse, it is also a solicitation to commit a crime. If anyone ends up getting hurt, Trump should face both civil and criminal charges.

This isn’t the first time that Trump has goaded his followers into committing acts of violence. On prior occasions he has threatened hecklers by shouting commands from his podium to “get them the hell out of here.” He justified beatings after the fact saying that the protester “should have been roughed up.” He even advised his supporters to assault a protester saying “Confiscate his coat,” adding “You know, it’s about 10 degrees below zero outside.” That’s an unambiguous acknowledgement of intention to cause harm.

This is simply unacceptable in a civilized society. Donald Trump’s bullying and vulgarity is not only illegal, it’s an embarrassment to decent Americans. And yet he is the leading candidate in the Republican primary. That tells you something about the modern GOP. And what it tells you is that it isn’t all that modern. It is following in the boot steps of an older regime that reveled in brutality and oppression and also idolized a megalomaniac with bad hair and designs on world domination. That will be the legacy of Mein Trumpf.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.