Posted on 02/14/2016 2:52:49 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Donald Trump sought Sunday to walk back his statements during Saturday night's Republican debate that former President George W. Bush bore responsibility for the Sept. 11 terror attack.
"I am not blaming him," Trump said on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday.
Trump continued to imply Bush erred, however. "The CIA said there was a lot of information that something like that was going to happen," he said. The attacks killed just under 3,000 Americans.
During Saturday night's debate, Trump told former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush: "The World Trade Center came down during your brother's reign, remember that."
"How did he keep us safe?" Trump said later. "I lost hundreds of friends. The World Trade Center came down during the reign of George Bush. He kept us safe? That is not safe."
Trump holds a large lead in South Carolina. A CBS poll released Sunday put his support at 42 percent. That is more than double the 20 percent of the second-place candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., polled in third at 15 percent.
But in the wake of the debate, many pundits argued Trump risks losing support of pro-military conservative voters in South Carolina and other upcoming primary states, among whom George W. Bush remains popular.
For some GOP voters, Trump's faulting of Bush may have sounded too similar to Democratic denunciations of the former president, who faced criticism at the time for taking a lengthy vacation in the weeks prior to the attack, which occurred nine months into his presidency.
Hoping to capitalize on the those views, Rubio responded to Trump's claims Saturday by arguing former President Bill Clinton was at fault for the 9/11 attacks. Clinton failed to kill Osama bin Laden, Rubio said.
Trump on Sunday also seemed to walk back his claim that the Bush administration deliberately misled Americans in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.
"They lied," Trump said during the debate. "They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none. And they knew there were none."
On Sunday, Trump said George W. Bush "thought there were weapons of mass destruction, maybe, or maybe he didn't."
Trump insisted the invasion of Iraq was a "disaster" that continues to spread instability.
"We would have been so much better off if Bush and the rest of them went to the beach and didn't do anything," Trump said. "If you had Saddam Hussein, he was a bad guy and all of that, but he made a living off killing terrorists. Now if you want to become a terrorist you go to Iraq."
Trump spoke just hours after he fired off a series of post-midnight tweets arguing he fared well in the debate.
Saturday's debate "might have been my best performance," Trump said Sunday.
See how far that gets ya
>> What democrat garbage is Trump gonna spout next? Valarie Plame? <<
I’d say that at this point, Trump is already way past any mere “democrat” characteristics.
No, by now he has outed himself as a full-fledged member of the Code Pink fan club. His proper spot is on the Alex Jones Show, not on the stage with the other GOP contenders.
Last night’s outburst demonstrates, moreover, that the man obviously is not mentally stable. His finger should never be anywhere near the nuclear button.
There actually were WMDs in Iraq, they were moved to Syria.
“Bill Clinton was 100% responsible for not doing anything about Bin laden.”
Please. Bush also had to ignore the security memos.
Trump never finishes his sentences or thoughts. He just finish his thoughts or wondering what he’s really saying. I don’t trust him.
I guess he forgot about the thousands of chemical weapons that were found.
Another thing to remember: Clinton is a brother by ‘another’ Mother, they have been friends for years, even running a drug cartel in Mena, Arkansas when Clinton was Governor...
So knowing that, of course GWB knew about bin laden and the reasons why Clinton didn’t want to take him out while he was President...
And the Bushes are very close friends with the Saudis, how do think we got to use their country for our war in Desert Storm? Then the Saudi Prince came here while GWB was President, remember the picture of them holding hands and Bush kissing him at his ranch in Little Prairie?
It all fits together...Trump is pulling back another curtain for the people of America to see what happened...
Fhios I agree with much of what you write in 92, except for suspecting a lie somewhere at the root of the Iraq invasion, by Bush or by anyone else. Pretty much everything else you say there I could have written myself. Clearly nation-building was a successful follow up to WWII but the Iraq/Afghanistan experience obviously calls it into
question today. Like you, I would more seriously consider purely punitive military policies now.
But you argued in 9 that Trump did not walk back anything. So again, has he always maintained that Bush lied? He said it with absolute, unmistakable clarity last night. Has that always been Trump’s position?
That is my understanding as well.
Even the New York Times admits Iraq had WMDs.
I’ll ponder that as I fly to Hawaii in the morning. on second thought, no I won’t.
-— “I am not blaming him,” Trump -—
The only thing that matters is what Trump says today. Usually.
>> Trump is pulling back another curtain <<
You betcha. He pulled back a curtain to reveal — once more — his own unstable personality, with its distinctly nasty side.
He may win the GOP nomination, maybe by a plurality. But the American people at large will never hand the WH to such a candidate.
Donald Trump continues to support Planned Parenthood despite the fact that abortionists like them kill 3000 babies a day.
-— Donald Trump slings mud. Then claims otherwise. -—
And I’ve yet to hear him explain ANYTHING coherently.
Reading the fine print in your cool little Cruz puppet meme, I noticed those stories are sourced from such reliable main stream media outlets such as Daily Beast and the NY Slimes, as are most of the anti cruz diatribes around here these days. It just seems funny that most of the pro Trump ammo comes from sources that FR traditionally has regarded as DNC biased.
Trump lies. I heard the debate.
And wasn’t this the very accusation leveled at Cruz after the #newyorkvalues dust up in Iowa.
It’s a shame you can’t revise and extend your tag line to read... and Donald Trump thinks Planned Parenthood does wonderful things.
EXCELLENT..Thanks. He’s a sharp man, I mean a really sharp man so why hasn’t he figured out yet that everything he’s said, I mean everything he’s said, is archived somewhere? What you say must be repeated several times to get the point across, doesn’t it? I mean, doesn’t it have to be repeated several times? UGH!
This is what Trump wrote - not what he says he wrote:
“The America We Deserve,” which was published in January 2000, makes a single reference to bin Laden. It doesn’t warn “we better be careful with this guy named Osama bin Laden.” It doesn’t say the U.S. “better take him out.” And Trump’s reference to bin Laden as someone “nobody really knew” at the time is wrong, too.
Here’s the lone reference to bin Laden in Trump’s book:
Trump, “The America We Deserve,” January 2000: Instead of one looming crisis hanging over us, we face a bewildering series of smaller crises, flash points, standoffs, and hot spots. We’re not playing the chess game to end all chess games anymore. We’re playing tournament chess, one master against many rivals. One day we’re all assured that Iraq is under control, the UN inspectors have done their work, everything’s fine, not to worry. The next day the bombing begins. One day we’re told that a shadowy figure with no fixed address named Osama bin-Laden is public enemy number one, and U.S. jetfighters lay waste to his camp in Afghanistan. He escapes back under some rock, and a few news cycles later it’s on to a new enemy and new crisis.
http://www.factcheck.org/2015/12/trumps-bin-laden-prediction
What a sorry disgusting POSheista...that DT is.
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