Greetings, salutations, and happy August! To celebrate the end of the RNC and DNC, we’ve rounded up an all-Trump special — because Donald Trump did just that much in the last two weeks. If you’ve got some Tales of Trump to add, hit us up in comments. And as always, if you want to contribute your thoughts on Trump (or anything else), drop us a line with your pitch: editor at globalcomment dot com.
‘Ghazala Khan: Trump criticized my silence. He knows nothing about true sacrifice.‘ (Washington Post)
Hey, so remember that time Donald Trump repeatedly insulted the parents of a soldier who was killed in action simply because they had the temerity to appear at the DNC and speak out about politics while also being Muslim? Remember how Khizr Khan’s wife Ghazala stood by him but didn’t speak and Donald Trump made a bunch of racist, Islamophobic comments about it? Well, guess what. She, along with Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Mike Pence, John Kasich, and many, many more, has some things to say about that.
When Donald Trump is talking about Islam, he is ignorant. If he studied the real Islam and Koran, all the ideas he gets from terrorists would change, because terrorism is a different religion.
Donald Trump said he has made a lot of sacrifices. He doesn’t know what the word sacrifice means.
If you missed their speech, here’s the couple Donald Trump was insulting:
(If you don’t have one of your own, you can pick up a Pocket Constitution from the ACLU for appropriate mic drop moments.)
‘Kochs reject push to meet with Trump‘ (Politico)
The Koch brothers have long been considered some of the slimiest slime in politics, behind horrific legislation, the election of conservative legislators, and many piles of steaming, unpleasant goo in Washington. There’s one pile of goo they refuse to get behind, though…
Koch and his brother David Koch, who helm an influential network of advocacy groups and major conservative donors, have been sharply critical of Trump’s rhetoric and policy stances and have indicated they do not intend to support his campaign.
I mean, seriously, when the Koch brothers don’t like you, that tells you something.
‘Donald Trump Calls on Russia to Find Hillary Clinton’s Missing Emails‘ (New York Times)
He claims it was a joke, but for many, there’s nothing particularly funny about saying a foreign power should hack a US politician — especially since if those emails were indeed classified (something Secretary Clinton says they weren’t), hacking and leaking them could be a serious threat to national security. Numerous DNC speakers harshly criticized Trump for his comments, but my favourite of his critics was also his closest: Mike Pence (who seems to be experiencing a bit of buyer’s remorse).
If Mr. Trump is serious in his call for Russian hacking or exposing Mrs. Clinton’s emails, he would be urging a power often hostile to the United States to violate American law by breaking into a private computer network. He would also be contradicting the Republican platform, adopted last week in Cleveland, saying that cyberespionage “will not be tolerated,” and promising to “respond in kind and in greater magnitude” to all Chinese and Russian cyberattacks.
‘How And Why Trump Will Try to Ditch the Debates‘ (Talking Points Memo)
Donald Trump is claiming that the debate schedule was ‘rigged,’ despite the fact that the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates is in charge of the whole affair. We suspect his protesting may be setting the stage for something else — trying to weasel out of the debates altogether. We’re not the only ones.
The other thing to remember is that for all their flaws, presidential debates are fairly substantive. They have high caliber moderators like Jim Lehrer. Candidates are pressed on real questions. It’s nothing like primary debates with a dozen or more participants. Trump’s major liability is that a substantial majority of the public either believes or is inclined to believe that he is temperamentally unfit to be president. His natural path will be to try to bully or overwhelm Clinton. It’s the essence of his political mode and message. But Clinton does not rattle easily. He’ll have a very hard time throwing her off balance. Precisely the things he’ll try to do are the kinds of things likely to reinforce the perception that he simply lacks the temperament to be president.
‘Yinz guys…it’s OK to call Trump a jagoff, n’at‘ (The Hill)
Fun regional dialect time! Someone called Donald Trump a ‘jagoff,’ but what does it mean? (Hint: Unless you’re from Pennsylvania, it probably doesn’t mean what you think it means.)
Is it fair to call Trump a jagoff? Absolutely. In fact, he might even admit that it is part of his strength and appeal to the very important voters that live in the areas where the word is used.
Finally, we leave you with this:
"@patrioticpepe: @realDonaldTrump ONLY TRUMP CAN UNITE AMERICA AND FIX OBAMA'S MISTAKES!!! #Trump2016 https://t.co/yB72Bm2muM"
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2016
Is this the man you want as the next president of the United States?
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Photo: Gage Skidmore/Creative Commons