Posted on 02/24/2016 2:01:38 PM PST by MeanWestTexan
Donald Trump, the undoubted Republican front-runner after winning the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries, is — there is no way to sugarcoat this — a liar, an ignoramus, and a moral abomination. I have never previously described any presidential candidates in such harsh terms — not even close — but there is no other way to accurately describe him. There simply isn't. This past week, the week culminating in his big South Carolina win, provided yet more evidence, as if any were needed, of the validity of all these words to describe him.
Start with the lying. Trump has consistently claimed that he was the "only" Republican candidate who opposed the Iraq War from the start. Until recently, commentators could do no more than note there was no evidence of his opposition. Now we can go further because, thanks to the ground-breaking work of BuzzFeed reporter Andrew Kaczyinski, we know that Trump actually supported the invasion.
On September 11, 2002, Trump told Howard Stern "yeah I guess so" when asked if he supported an invasion of Iraq. Why his hesitation? Only because he thought it should have happened sooner. As he said: "I wish the first time it was done correctly," suggesting, as he had previously written, that George H.W. Bush should have toppled Saddam in 1991.
After the invasion started, on March 21, 2003, Trump called it a "tremendous success from a military standpoint." He did not come out in bull-blown opposition until April, 2004, calling it a "terrible mistake," by which time the Abu Ghraib excesses had been revealed and the U.S. was suffering battlefield reverses in Fallujah and elsewhere.
Asked now to explain his quotations from 2002-2003, Trump can only say: "I really don’t even know what I mean." That's a pretty weak way to explain away a blatant lie, and one that has been at the core of his claim to possess the kind of foreign policy judgment we need in a president.
It should be added that this is hardly only lie that Trump has brazenly peddled. Other doozies include his claim that "thousands" of Muslims in New Jersey cheered 9/11 and that he had no idea that a reporter whose disability he ridiculed was actually disabled — he claimed to have no memory of meeting him (which he had done many times). Ironically Trump’s greatest lie of all is his claim to have "the world’s greatest memory."
But wait, as they say on late-night TV, there is more. Trump's ignorance was revealed yet again this past week with his bizarre praise of General John J. Pershing whose supposed example he cited as a model in the war on terror. Here is what Trump said:
"General Pershing was a rough guy, He caught 50 terrorists who did tremendous damage…and he took the 50 terrorists and he took 50 men and dipped 50 bullets in pig’s blood. You heard about that? He took 50 bullets and dipped them in pig's blood [which is considered haram]. And he has his men load up their rifles and he lined up the 50 people and they shot 49 of those people. And the 50th person, he said, you go back to your people and you tell them what happened. And for 25 years there wasn't a problem. We've got to start getting tough and we’ve got to start being vigilant and we've got to start using our heads or we’re not gonna have a country, folks."
There’s only one problem with Trump's inspirational tale: There is no evidence it ever happened. Snopes.com describes this as a common urban legend. It is actually far removed from the way that Captain Pershing dealt with the Moros, the Muslims in the Philippines, in the early years of the 20th century. As I wrote in my book The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power, "Captain Pershing preferred to win over the Moros with outstretched hand rather than mailed fist. So successful was his campaign that he was made a datto, or chieftain."
In other words, Pershing's approach was the very opposite of what Trump claimed. Although Pershing was not afraid to use force if necessary, he understood that the Moros could not simply be terrorized into acquiescence to American rule and that excessive brutality could backfire.
It is offensive that Trump is praising Pershing for war crimes he didn't commit and simply gobsmacking that Trump thinks that Pershing could have ended the Moro insurrection for 25 years simply by executing 49 prisoners. In fact, while Pershing did help to quell the Moro uprising using a balanced counterinsurgency approach, it never truly ended; the Muslim insurrection in the Philippines continues to this day, a fact of which Trump is undoubtedly unaware.
The larger point is that Trump is wrong to claim that we can defeat ISIS and al-Qaeda by emulating their tactics. The more likely outcome is to create more enemies than we eliminate. Even the Nazis couldn’t pacify the Balkans in World War II by using scorched-earth tactics.
It is hard to think of another major party presidential candidate in our history as ignorant, mendacious, and offensive as Trump. And yet a significant share of the GOP electorate, amounting to roughly a third of early state voters, has been supporting him in no small part because they think he is telling it "like it is." No, he isn't. What he is saying bears no relation to basic truth or common decency.
Get over yourself, dude. I sound nothing like a Bill Clinton admirer. I just support Donald Trump and he makes Bill Clinton look like the little rascal that he is. Don't forget that Trump has attacked Bill Clinton when everyone else has been afraid to.
Trump’s policy of returning the “good ones” back into the country on an expedited basis will ensure that the Democrats are in power for at least another generation. That one policy alone will create millions of new Democrat voters. If I were a Democrat, I’d be praying for Trump’s election.
I never heard Cruz say anything about that until he put out his immigration paper late last year. That would be the immigration paper that pretty much copied Trump.
I’ll see your lies and raise you another! During the Iowa campaign, Trump said of Cruz, “Cruz is totally against ethanol”. This is absurdly and demonstrably a lie, and Trump knew it. Cruz is and was against the ethanol Renewable Fuels Standard, which is a mandate. He wants, as all conservatives should, to phase the RFS out over a five year period. But Trump totally distorted it.
Its the other way, trump copied Cruz
Not if you look at the dates the papers were put out. Cruz copied a lot of stuff Trump said first, but it was all good stuff.
Is that the tower he made out of cement instead of using steel?
It’s not bitter, it’s just sadness at where the nation will be when we were hoping for a conservative. Without ending legalized pre-born genocide all is moot.
Max Boot was BORN IN RUSSIA (look it up). Should we believe anything he says regarding our elections?
That’s assuming they leave in the first place - I don’t believe that for a second.
Ignorance is a choice.
In 2011:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0h3Mu8BbjM
In 2013:
http://www.cruz.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=105
All long before Trump was running as a Republican.
That’s actually a documented falsehood, but you seem to be in love with Occutard propaganda so I won’t waste my time further.
And breathe air!
Those undisciplined, unprincipled (learn to accurately use homonyms please) rich guys are all alike!
Bravo!
I wonder why Cruz waited until November 2015 to put out an immigration position paper for his campaign? That gave the appearance of him doing a me too thing in regards to Trump’s position. I guess Rush is correct when he says perception is reality in politics. On the other hand, if you read “Time to Get Tough” from 2011, Trump was saying pretty much the same things in that book about immigration that he is saying now. I could not watch the 2013 clip you posted. I get 403 Forbidden error whenever I try.
Four states thus far and what is the delegate count ?
Even if Trump has 100 he still has got to get at least 10X more delegates.
Even if Trump has jumped from 35% if the vote to 46% in Nevada .This election cycle is still in its infancy. With Cruz and Rubio banging away at each other the only beneficiary is Trump.
As far as the amnesty issue goes. One guy (Trump) is saying they get a round trip ticket and another guy (Cruz) says they go period. The other guy (Rubio) is saying the illegals can stay.
I will wager that those Trump voters did not know that Trump has taken that position. Or knows his position on Ethanol and other government subsidies and mandates. Now who is at fault for not bringing these issues up? The media and who else ?
There is an outstanding example of media machinations which is going ignored and should not. Using false reporting a day prior to the South Carolina vote which has a large evangelist population which is quasi-anti papist. The media delibertately misquoted Pope Francis and had him attacking Trump by not only musquoting his statements but inserting Trumps name into it and made it appear as a personal attack. Which had the expected result leaving Trump exploiting a myth of invinceability because of the result.
But that manipulation by the media remains a dirty little secret even by conservative talkies when it should be recognized and exposed as reality politics.
He’s put out multiple immigration papers over the last 5 years or so. He has changed his position from the earlier papers, specifically H-1B visas but not much else.
The 2013 link is just a normal Web link not a video. That’s weird. I’ll try to see if I screwed it up somehow. It works for me but may be cached.
Could be our net here. There are a lot of hops and firewalls between Afghanistan and wherever that server is.
I tried the 2013 link on multiple different browsers and they all worked. Hmmm...
Ah!
Okay, I’ll give you a BIG break there.
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