TRUMP CONTINUES TO DIG HIS HOLE EVEN DEEPER

…An Angry President Obama

 

 

Members of the GOP are stepping away from their own presidential nominee.

 

 

 

Donald Trump has called for a complete change in the nation’s immigration policy.  That being that the Republican presidential candidate vowed to shut down immigration from countries "where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States."

 

However, most of the Republican leaders joined with President Obama and other Democrats in sharply condemning Trump’s reaction to the nightclub massacre in Orlando.  They decried his anti-Muslim rhetoric and his questioning of Obama’s allegiances as improper and not in line with America’s values.

 

All this occurred after less than a full week that Trump had signaled his intent to turn his presidential campaign into a more measured tone for the general election.  (Ain't gonna happen folks.)

 

This week Trump has shown no sign of backing down from his suggestions that Obama was connected to, or sympathetic with the Muslim terrorists, telling the Associated Press (AP) that the president “continues to prioritize our enemy over Americans”.

 

President Obama and the likely Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, both blasted Trump’s comments about the president and a proposal to ban on foreign Muslims from the United States.

 

An angry President Obama dismissed Trump’s repeated demands for him to use the term “radical Islam” when speaking about the terrorist shootings and attacks.  The president said, “Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away.  This is a political distraction.”

 

This president showed his dislike toward Trump as he described Trump’s response to Orlando as being just more “conspiracy theories” and that the narcissist’s continues with his, “pathological self-congratulations.”

 

All of this noise by the presumptive Republican nominee has set off a new wave of alarm within his own GOP over whether the real estate mogul’s promised move toward changing for the general election will ever materialize.

 

Even though some of Trump’s most ardent backers defended his response to the Orlando attack, most Republicans on Capitol Hill are trying to distance themselves from Trump’s comments.  This is following the comments on the terrorist attack on the gay nightclub in Orlando that killed 49 innocent people to date, plus the killer that was killed by the local authorities.

 

This rift between the nominee and his party has highlighted the enduring tensions between establishment Republican figures who want to be more inclusive.  But the bulk of the party that backs Trump’s proposed Muslim ban has rallied around him as the presumptive nominee.

 

The Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) refused to respond to questions about Trump at his weekly news conference.  (Expect this to be the normal McConnell position until November.)

 

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) has denounced Trump for trying to rally support for his anti-Muslim policies, while others castigated Trump for the disgusting accusations he has lobbed at Obama.

 

“I do not think a Muslim ban is in our country’s interest,” Ryan told reporters. “I do not think it is reflective of our principles, not just as a party but as a country.”  Ryan then called for “a security test, not a religious test” for immigrants.

 

Finally, Jeb Bush posted on Facebook that "Donald Trump has not demonstrated that temperament or strength of character. He has not displayed a respect for the Constitution. And, he is not a consistent conservative. These are all reasons why I cannot support his candidacy."

 

In his speech, Trump reiterated his calls for Muslim ban and he expanded its potential reach to include any country with “a history of terrorism against the United States and its allies”.  Then he mistakenly said the Orlando attack was done by an Afghan man and was due to an immigration system that “allowed his family to come here.”  But the authorities have shown that the killing was done by a man born in America to Afghan parents.

 

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-TN), had at one time praised Trump for his willingness to shake up politics.  But now the senator has expressed serious unease with how Trump responded to such a national tragedy.  “Traditionally, it is a time when people rally around our country, but with Trump, it’s obviously not what’s occurred, and it’s very disappointing,” Corker said.

 

Senator Lindsey O. Graham (R-SC), a leading national security hawk, said he had “run out of adjectives” for Trump.  “I don’t think he has the judgment or the temperament, the experience to deal with what we are facing,” said Graham, who obviously does not support the nominee.  Graham, like other Republicans, took issue with Trump’s apparent suggestions in Monday interviews that Obama may identify with the radical Muslim terrorists.

 

Senator Graham said that Trump “seems to be suggesting that the president is one of ‘them.’ I find that highly offensive. I find that whole line of reasoning way off base. My problems with President Obama are his policy choices.”

 

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), who faces a challenging reelection bid, also called Trump’s insinuations about Obama “offensive.”

 

Speaking after meeting with his National Security Council, Obama basically dismissed Trump and his many calls for him to change the way he talks about terrorism.

 

“That’s the key, they tell us. We can’t get ISIL unless we call them ‘radical Islamists,’ ” Obama said, referring to the Islamic State militant group. “What exactly would using this label accomplish? What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to trying to kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this? The answer is: none of the above.”

                                                                                                                            

At a campaign event in Pittsburgh, Hillary Clinton excoriated Trump and challenged Republicans to repudiate him. Clinton said Trump failed to demonstrate an ability to deliver a “calm, collected and dignified response to the Orlando attack.”

 

“Instead, yesterday morning, just one day after the massacre, he went on TV and suggested that President Obama is on the side of the terrorists,” Clinton said. “Just think about that. Even in a time of divided politics, this is way beyond anything that should be said by someone running for president.”

 

Trump has also said Obama should “resign” because of his refusal to use the phrase, “radical Islamic terrorism.” But there one of Trump’s main backers on Capitol Hill that said Trump doesn’t expect that to happen.

 

“What I think Trump’s saying is: You need to get in the game and start leading, or get out of here,” said Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL). “That’s just his way of expressing it. And I think people understood that. He doesn’t expect President Obama to resign, but he’s saying you can’t do this job effectively if you don’t understand the nature of the threat we face.”

 

Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), an Air National Guard Major and leading House GOP voice on national security issues, has broken away sharply with Trump.

 

“I guess I appreciate Mr. Trump’s fieriness in talking about it, but you don’t do it by alienating the very people that we need, and those are moderate Muslims,” he said. “We have to use the folks that frankly are not radicalized, which is the vast majority of Muslims, to win this war.”

 

But this week, after a series of typical Trump rallies in which he called out enemies by name and then his response to Orlando, many Republicans were left wondering where Trump was coming from…?

 

Trump is now saying that if any of the Republicans can’t get behind him, then he is says, “Just be quiet, I will do fine by winning this on my own.”

 

This idiot really thinks that he doesn’t need any help to win in November, and he intends to do this having a 70% unfavorable rating of all those asked, saying they would never vote for Trump.  But Trump doesn’t care that 94% of Hispanics, 84% of African Americans and 83% of women find Trump totally “unfavorable”.

 

In addition, Republican governors across the country are now announcing that they will not be voting for Trump while Clinton is going up in the polls.

 

If this keeps up, the RNC Convention coming up in Cleveland could be in serious trouble.

 

Stay tuned………

 

Copyright G.Ater  2016