This is just my opinion. I do not speak for anyone else. I am a registered Republican. I do not think the vast majority of Republicans are racist or intolerant - they are just tired of being accused of these things every time they have something to say. A very large segment - the so called silent majority- are tired of keeping silent and Mr. Trump is listening to them. Other candidates might want to try to listen instead of condemning them. There are obviously a lot of them that want to be heard and they have as much right to be heard as anyone else. I do not have all the answers but maybe someone does. Instead of accusations and name calling how about listening for a change. This country belongs to all us equally no one has more rights that the next person.
17
These days I am glad that when I had the chance to immigrate to the US I decided to stay in Canada. I am specially proud of our new Prime Minister who has promised to take in 25,000 Syrian refugees regardless of their religion, in numbers based on the population of the two countries it will be equal to the US admitting about 200,000 refugees which based on the present political climate will cause riots in most US cities.
24
Trump has not invented some immense evil that is spreading! Citizens of all nation states as recognized in the UN Declaration of Human Rights have sovereignty rights. The over whelming majority of Americans know that they have sovereignty rights the right to control or bar anyone or anything from entering this country in the same way the that our rich and powerful advocates of reckless mass immigration have a right to keep us common citizens out of their penthouse apartments, million dollar homes in the suburbs and overseas bank accounts. It just so happens that Trump is the only one in our political class that even pretends to recognize that all human beings have sovereignty rights. And if some readers of this doubt that sovereignty rights are necessary and important they should have a discussion about this with someone from Tibet, or the Ukraine or one of our native American citizens, or nations in Africa being taken over by Chinese colonialists.
17
Oops, looks like we forgot about Jimmy Carter
6
"Axis of ignorance" - good one!
9
How did the first batch of English come to America? They were fleeing religious persecution. What are members of the GOP engaging in now? Religious persecution. Muslims have stated that extremists have been using their religion to forward their agenda. That ISIS integrates tenets of the Quran into their own ideology forming essentially a new religion, which is the Islamic State. This shouldn't be difficult to comprehend. However, when you call out American Christians for terrorism carried out in the name of Christianity, the defense is to say the attacker wasn't really a Christian or is exercising a distorted version of Christianity. You cannot accept one side of the argument and not the other, just doesn't work that way.
23
The article seems to have left out the significant role played by the press in spreading the Trump Effect. The force Trump feeds on is not anger or nativism, as you suggest, it is publicity -- especially the free kind you provide him daily. You say that the time to renounce his candidacy was when he announced it. That was also the time for you to stop writing about him.
23
The evil of the internment of Japanese-Americans was not a recently recognized phenomenon. Justice Murphy in his dissent explicitly called the internment and punishment of Korematsu "racist".
Donald Trump is only the translator of the GOP's core, standard message that they have been dog-whistling since the Civil Rights era. Crime, Willie Horton, anchor babies, Sandra Fluke, Communism, terrorism, welfare, Real America, blue collar, work ethic, voter fraud, family values are not neutral terms. They are racialized, xenophobic and misogynistic concepts. The underlying message is that: this is a White nation; Whites only will have the social, political, economic and physical power.
I'm not surprised at Trump's popularity. I'm not surprised that the candidates share the same views. I'm not surprised that there is substantial support for ignorance and hate by a plurality of the electorate.
I'm disgusted at the "good" Americans that won't acknowledged what many of us have explained for years.
I'm not disgusted that the media covers him. I'm disgusted by widespread professional misconduct evinced by "journalists" not reiterating facts and questioning the false assertions made by this party for 14 years.
With the freedom you have - the freedom to tell the truth that Syrians (and others) are DYING for - you have an obligation to query with facts at hand.
Anything less is Dereliction of Duty. It took too long for you to publish this.
Donald Trump is only the translator of the GOP's core, standard message that they have been dog-whistling since the Civil Rights era. Crime, Willie Horton, anchor babies, Sandra Fluke, Communism, terrorism, welfare, Real America, blue collar, work ethic, voter fraud, family values are not neutral terms. They are racialized, xenophobic and misogynistic concepts. The underlying message is that: this is a White nation; Whites only will have the social, political, economic and physical power.
I'm not surprised at Trump's popularity. I'm not surprised that the candidates share the same views. I'm not surprised that there is substantial support for ignorance and hate by a plurality of the electorate.
I'm disgusted at the "good" Americans that won't acknowledged what many of us have explained for years.
I'm not disgusted that the media covers him. I'm disgusted by widespread professional misconduct evinced by "journalists" not reiterating facts and questioning the false assertions made by this party for 14 years.
With the freedom you have - the freedom to tell the truth that Syrians (and others) are DYING for - you have an obligation to query with facts at hand.
Anything less is Dereliction of Duty. It took too long for you to publish this.
30
Virtually all of the Republican candidates have the same mindset as Trump, particularly the noxious Cruz, who'd add to Trump's domestic agenda, a foreign policy guaranteed to accelerate war & terrorism. None of them will be elected president.
7
Not a fan of Trump or his proposal, but please. Stop playing the "disgrace card." It's tiresome. Trump proposes something similar to what Jimmy Carter did (banning all Iranians from entering the country and deporting 15,000 innocent Iranians who were here on visas) and nothing compared to what FDR did (the internment of Japanese). Your analogy to that atrocity and your loose use of the word "fascism" are beneath you and are themselves "appeals to hatred and exclusion" (see 90% of the comments below for the effects of your heated rhetoric). His proposal is an over-reaction to a terrorist attack, but so was your call for gun confiscation and the President's call to disarm all the presumed-innocent Muslims on the no-fly list. Let's all take a breath, please.
11
If we are comparing today's events with WW2 Internment Camps then let's remember the facts. Imperial Japan had an emperor who declared himself god and would have suicide bombers called Kamikaze kill themselves and as many people as possible. After a horrendous surprise attack on Pearl Harbor with thousands dead the USA acknowledged Imperial Japan as an enemy. America, right or wrong, responded in the only way they knew how to protect their home and loved ones. The only way the world was able to completely destroy Imperial Japan and end a bloody war was to remove their emperor god. Please study and educate yourself on the different types of Islam and how there never will be peace with their ideology, that's fact. There is no tangible "God" to remove from radical Islam, so how do you protect loved ones from someone's suicidal loyalty to an intangible idea?
1
Trump has insulted the Brits, French, Germans and all the Muslims. Today Israel discouraged his planned visit which, given his fascist notions, comes as no surprise. Yet Trump continues to believe that he is qualified to represent America in the most important diplomatic post in the world.
Instead of making America great, Trump is ruining our international reputation and reducing our global influence even among our allies. And who could blame them. Trump has no understanding of or respect for the greatest Constitutional document ever written. Our own.
Instead of making America great, Trump is ruining our international reputation and reducing our global influence even among our allies. And who could blame them. Trump has no understanding of or respect for the greatest Constitutional document ever written. Our own.
8
I write this on behalf of my students as I read that Georgia wishes to deny students like mine access to an education.
I am a retired professor with thirty-eight years of experience, who was offered a part-time position teaching middle school "internationals" European history and an honors essay course. English is their only common language. And I'm a native speaker, never mind my field was not European history. Or teaching the delights of writing essays in English.
These have become, in the past seven years, my people. And more than half are Muslims. But I've learned that middle schoolers are just that. Girls more emotionally developed than boys. One occasionally has to bully them into getting down to work. The majority complain about the school food.
Most work very hard. Harder than a many of the "natives". I'm not sure if they're trying to prove anything. I think they just want to make their way. And they know (as do many of their parents) that it's all up to them.
I've come to the point where I don't think much about religion and my students, I did at first, as one can't miss the dress many display. But not now. They're just my "kids", who stop me in the halls or after class with questions or comments... and smiles.
Georgia? You're missing out if you deny people like my kids. Give it a chance for people to get to know them. Other students are missing out. Teachers likewise of the experiences I've had. To deny them is to deny everyone.
I am a retired professor with thirty-eight years of experience, who was offered a part-time position teaching middle school "internationals" European history and an honors essay course. English is their only common language. And I'm a native speaker, never mind my field was not European history. Or teaching the delights of writing essays in English.
These have become, in the past seven years, my people. And more than half are Muslims. But I've learned that middle schoolers are just that. Girls more emotionally developed than boys. One occasionally has to bully them into getting down to work. The majority complain about the school food.
Most work very hard. Harder than a many of the "natives". I'm not sure if they're trying to prove anything. I think they just want to make their way. And they know (as do many of their parents) that it's all up to them.
I've come to the point where I don't think much about religion and my students, I did at first, as one can't miss the dress many display. But not now. They're just my "kids", who stop me in the halls or after class with questions or comments... and smiles.
Georgia? You're missing out if you deny people like my kids. Give it a chance for people to get to know them. Other students are missing out. Teachers likewise of the experiences I've had. To deny them is to deny everyone.
58
What will the Dems do ? Containment and no credible threats haven't worked ...
3
I have been saying this for several months in these columns.
We are becoming a nation of the ignorant, of those who spread their hatred, those who kill others based on irrational perceptions.
We are reading about assaults on others just because they wear a scarf, or because they look like a Middle Easterner. The GOP and its sycophants are responsible for this, for the spread of hate, for the cult of ignorance we are seeing,
We are becoming a nation of the ignorant, of those who spread their hatred, those who kill others based on irrational perceptions.
We are reading about assaults on others just because they wear a scarf, or because they look like a Middle Easterner. The GOP and its sycophants are responsible for this, for the spread of hate, for the cult of ignorance we are seeing,
14
The 2016 campaign is shaping up to be a slugfest.
In the red corner, the GOP low information voters!
In the blue corner, the Obama liberals...the no information voters!
Touch gloves and come out fighting.
I'd ask for a clean fight, but apparently we're long past that.
In the red corner, the GOP low information voters!
In the blue corner, the Obama liberals...the no information voters!
Touch gloves and come out fighting.
I'd ask for a clean fight, but apparently we're long past that.
8
I'll be glad to take you, Trump, Cruz and Ben Carson on in a knowledge slugfest any day of the week, and twice on Sundays.
It'll be like hunting baby ducks with hand grenades, but I'll willing to step up.
It'll be like hunting baby ducks with hand grenades, but I'll willing to step up.
6
Because people who feel they have been strong-armed by Democrats are now doing some of their own.
3
After seeing how eager people are to shut down dissension by labeling it "hate speech", racist, even fascist, I'm going to order a Trump baseball cap. It will be my paean to what's left of free speech.
11
You're a ________, and your kids are enormous _________ who should be taken out and ____________. Moreover, we should ___________ your ______, and you should be shipped back home to ______ in a cattle boat.
Remember, I'm just expressing my god-given rights to freedom of speech. Wassamatta you--no sense of humor?
I think the first place I ran into the notion that the decline of civility in a society was a bad, bad sign was that old-school commie, Robert A. Heinlein.
i'm sorry you don't understand that civility isn't an add-on, any more than reason and a respect for facts are.
Those are essential conditins for modern society to exist at all. Your casual dismissal of them is a bad, bad sign.
Remember, I'm just expressing my god-given rights to freedom of speech. Wassamatta you--no sense of humor?
I think the first place I ran into the notion that the decline of civility in a society was a bad, bad sign was that old-school commie, Robert A. Heinlein.
i'm sorry you don't understand that civility isn't an add-on, any more than reason and a respect for facts are.
Those are essential conditins for modern society to exist at all. Your casual dismissal of them is a bad, bad sign.
11
As long as any Republican politician or candidate who renounces what Trump says and does, but still states they would vote for him if he becomes the candidate, either has no courage at all, or espouses Trump's beliefs. The harm that is being done our country world-wide and the hatred stirred up in this country, which I fear will only get worse, is a very sad commentary on the pure greed of a candidate and party.
10
The advent of TRUMP is a byproduct of our defunct political system. Both parties are to blame. BOTH parties [including Hillary] have bought and sold their agendas to wealthy donors, corporations and special interest lobbies. A large swath of angry America feels left out in the cold and forsaken by the politicians they put into power. The Trump vote/momentum/anomaly .. whatever it is- will not disappear even if he decides to exit the race- and there will be scores of politicians like him who will invariably pick up where he left off.
While I commend the NYT for finally realizing that Donald Trump is an existential threat to our Democracy and values, why fault the guy for delivering a message that +30 million Americans want to hear? I think the NYT needs to take out a one page ad in their own newspaper and other media outlets and not only condemn this man- but spread the word to all his followers to beware of false prophets. Even that I'm afraid may not be enough. Face it NYT- Trump out scooped you on this story and ran with it- probably all the way to the White House. This editorial is about 8 months late.
While I commend the NYT for finally realizing that Donald Trump is an existential threat to our Democracy and values, why fault the guy for delivering a message that +30 million Americans want to hear? I think the NYT needs to take out a one page ad in their own newspaper and other media outlets and not only condemn this man- but spread the word to all his followers to beware of false prophets. Even that I'm afraid may not be enough. Face it NYT- Trump out scooped you on this story and ran with it- probably all the way to the White House. This editorial is about 8 months late.
8
The fault lies not in the reality tv star, but in the republican minions themselves. Their prejudice has been stoked since the "southern strategy" and before and their ignorance preyed upon by the GOP politicians, their think tanks and their media outlets. If you can convince them that the president is a Kenyan born Muslim; that repeated tax breaks heavily weighted to the wealthy will help the middle class; that the "death tax" will haunt them in the afterlife; that universal health care is the precursor to a totalitarian state; that reasonable gun control leads directly to tyranny; and global warming is a hoax, it is quite easy for the blowhard Trump to convince them that he can be a trusted leader. His lies and manipulations are transparent; his policies are fact free and non existent, but his audience has believed all those things before.
And they do again.
And they do again.
16
I agree that the time to denounce Donald Trump's views was the day he entered the race but instead, our culture responded by treating him as some sort of political funnyman when he should have been regarded as a hateful, dangerous bigot. He was celebrated on NBC while hosting Saturday Night Live while skits were shown over and over on various TV news programs and media personalities yucked it up and slapped their knees with laughter. Donald Trump is the culmination of years of malicious and malevolent Repub lican rhetoric that snowballed into the party of intolerance and hate that we see today. Trump has become the ultimate Ugly American who is supported by ugly Americans.
40
I have a college-age son who is deeply distressed by Donald Trump's anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim views and by the growing number of his supporters. I've suggested to my son that perhaps Trump's military high school and business school college education didn't teach him to think deeply and analytically about the world's people and many complex problems. I've expressed the possibility that despite his vast wealth, perhaps Mr. Trump hasn't travelled to the kinds of places that might inspire compassion and an expansive worldview. I've wondered aloud to my son about what, if anything, Mr. Trump reads. And, like Mr. Trump, his followers seem to have been deprived of the benefits of a good education, world travel and reading--all things that open minds and hearts, and work against fear, anger and bigotry. My son and I are both trying to have more compassion for Donald Trump and his supporters, who come across as having been denied privileges that both my son and I have enjoyed, but with every new outrageous outburst from Trump and every uptick in the percentage of voters supporting him, we're having trouble maintaining a compassionate view.
6
While Trump demagogues against Muslims, & calls for egregious violations of fundamental constitutional rights, Cruz calls for homicidal bombing campaigns & other war crimes.
Seems a bit curious that the neo shock & awe "bomb them to oblivion" advocates are now trying to protect the Army of Conquest & other Sunni jihadists affiliated with Al-Queda from Russian air strikes. How conveniently the neo supporters of shock & awe in Iraq ignore/forget the catastrophic costs that will ripple through the generations including hundreds of thousands of civilians killed, millions of refugees, & the civil wars created.
Seems a bit curious that the neo shock & awe "bomb them to oblivion" advocates are now trying to protect the Army of Conquest & other Sunni jihadists affiliated with Al-Queda from Russian air strikes. How conveniently the neo supporters of shock & awe in Iraq ignore/forget the catastrophic costs that will ripple through the generations including hundreds of thousands of civilians killed, millions of refugees, & the civil wars created.
8
Why has the crackpot Trump become such a political rock star? Because, the NYT wants to sell newspapers. Because CNN wants to score high ratings. Because the mass media is all about profit. Trump understands this and speaks and acts in an outrageous manner guaranteed to to max out his exposure. The man has got your number NYT. Let 's see an honest editorial addressing your own culpability in creating Trump as a viable presidential candidate.
6
I AGREE 100%. Since before 9/11 a very unAmerican and fear based willing ignorance has been festering and maliciously expanding within a once Grand Old Party that is now a Gross Old Party and no longer The Party of Lincoln.
5
Discrimination anywhere is discrimination everywhere. Indeed, Anne Frank and her family had been denied entry to the U.S. back in the bad old days when, uh, anti-Semitism was rampant...unlike today, of course. (?)
6
The folks who identify as left always decry the insanity of those they denigrate as the low information right. However, they are just as responsible for the insanity as Trump and others like him.
They simply cannot understand that their pointy headed belief that they know best how other people should live and even think is off putting. This latest barrage of gun control propaganda is particularly self absorbed. It's not going to change anyone's mind, and it will make a Trump presidency more likely.
What these folks have to understand is that the Bill of Rights is a unity of comprehensive guarantees. If you start chipping away at some, you don't really have much of a platform to gripe about other people chipping away at other rights.
They simply cannot understand that their pointy headed belief that they know best how other people should live and even think is off putting. This latest barrage of gun control propaganda is particularly self absorbed. It's not going to change anyone's mind, and it will make a Trump presidency more likely.
What these folks have to understand is that the Bill of Rights is a unity of comprehensive guarantees. If you start chipping away at some, you don't really have much of a platform to gripe about other people chipping away at other rights.
7
What frightens me most about Donald Trump is not that he might conceivably, unbelievably, become the Republican nominee for President. It's the crowds of cheering, booing, sign-waving people who throng to his self-love fests and behave like the teenaged girls in the audience who screamed and swooned whenever Elvis swiveled a hip. Who are these people? When did they abandon any semblance of rational thinking and blissfully drink the Kool-Aid Trump serves up? Has reality TV turned them into mindless automatons who will believe anything as long as it's said by a "celebrity?" Or does Trump actually say out loud what they feel in the darkest corners of their own hearts but were afraid to say out loud for fear of being exposed as ignorant?
I don't know this country any more. I can't recognize these people as fellow Americans. This is not the country my ancestors settled in the 1600's (yes, they were immigrants, and certainly not vetted), not the country many members of my immediate family fought for in every war of the last century, not the country I was taught to believe in as the bastion of justice and equality. If Trump actually speaks for the people who appear to support him, and if those people actually turn out to vote for him, then truly this is not the America I thought it was. American exceptionalism indeed -- what a disgrace.
I don't know this country any more. I can't recognize these people as fellow Americans. This is not the country my ancestors settled in the 1600's (yes, they were immigrants, and certainly not vetted), not the country many members of my immediate family fought for in every war of the last century, not the country I was taught to believe in as the bastion of justice and equality. If Trump actually speaks for the people who appear to support him, and if those people actually turn out to vote for him, then truly this is not the America I thought it was. American exceptionalism indeed -- what a disgrace.
14
At last, the NY Times has spoken out about the dangerous and divisive Demagogue who is harming us in our country and abroad. Why did they not put it on the front page as they did with their opinion on guns. All the news media are to blame for exploiting the man who would be "King" Readership is the goal no matter the negative effect Yes, he is charismatic and appealing to insecurities. Have we forgotten what another charismatic man did to the German people and to the world.
3
A modest proposal. Perhaps the most effective way the Republican mainstream can repudiate Trump and his divisive message is to endorse Hillary Clinton for president.
2
Or they could go big and endorse Bernie Sanders.
3
Some things we can comfortably say would never happen here. And then they do.
3
Do you suppose that Rubio, Cruz and Bush would've accepted the same treatment for the "Marielitos" who came from Cuba in 1980 - and their descendants today? After all, they were mostly criminals released from Cuban prisons, right?
3
It should be obvious that “the danger right now is allowing him to legitimize the hatred that he so skillfully exploits”
Yet, as Edward R Morrow has pointed out during another difficult period in American history: “The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer.”
Yet, as Edward R Morrow has pointed out during another difficult period in American history: “The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer.”
6
I shudder not only at witnessing a despot in the making and running for the highest office in the land...but, perhaps even worse, how many U.S. citizens are applauding and supporting his views. THAT's what really scares me!
8
Beyond noting that there's plenty of open fascism in this country--we still have Birchers, there's the reprganized Church of the Creator, and FOX News sticks Ollie North and Pam Geller up there on a regular basis--I'd ask people what it is that Trump's rallies look like to them.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/11/the-ecstasy-of-donal...
At the point your crowd starts beating up protesters on a regular basis, you've moved off the table of political enthusiasm in the democratic process.
i'd also point out that Trump's ranting about the media, college professors, and corporations fits very nicely with fascism: those guys ALWAYS yell about the "elite cabal," that's secretly running everything and keepng working white guys down. Just because he's swapped out the word "Jews," for "Muslims," and suchlike doesn't change the essential ways he's bundlng race, class, and conspiracy together. It's exactly why the man's a birther.
Read Lewis' "It Can't Happen Here," and tell me what you see. And then read "The Fountainhead," with its White Genius Uber Alles and its tirades against darkies of all shades, and tell me that's not at least proto-fascism.
Oh, and if you're offended by my callng Ollie North a fascist? I was pretty offended when he illegally traded arms with the islamofascist government of Iran, and used the money to illegally finance out-and-out fascist death squads run by the ugly likes of Roberto d'Aubisson.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/11/the-ecstasy-of-donal...
At the point your crowd starts beating up protesters on a regular basis, you've moved off the table of political enthusiasm in the democratic process.
i'd also point out that Trump's ranting about the media, college professors, and corporations fits very nicely with fascism: those guys ALWAYS yell about the "elite cabal," that's secretly running everything and keepng working white guys down. Just because he's swapped out the word "Jews," for "Muslims," and suchlike doesn't change the essential ways he's bundlng race, class, and conspiracy together. It's exactly why the man's a birther.
Read Lewis' "It Can't Happen Here," and tell me what you see. And then read "The Fountainhead," with its White Genius Uber Alles and its tirades against darkies of all shades, and tell me that's not at least proto-fascism.
Oh, and if you're offended by my callng Ollie North a fascist? I was pretty offended when he illegally traded arms with the islamofascist government of Iran, and used the money to illegally finance out-and-out fascist death squads run by the ugly likes of Roberto d'Aubisson.
8
"The internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II, as some Republicans have either forgotten or never understood, was a dark episode in American history. "
Indeed ... but it was of American citizens who never left the country.
And its not the Republicans who have forgot ... WE HAVE NEVER FORGOTTEN ... but the Democrats who conventiently forget that it was done
be the Democrats.
As has conveniently mentioned even by the NYT, keeping out foreigners (not returning American citizens) for any reason is absolutely constitutional and in fact has been done many times in the past. The President has the power to do this. Our present one has failed repeatedly to protect us from Islamic terrorists.
Indeed ... but it was of American citizens who never left the country.
And its not the Republicans who have forgot ... WE HAVE NEVER FORGOTTEN ... but the Democrats who conventiently forget that it was done
be the Democrats.
As has conveniently mentioned even by the NYT, keeping out foreigners (not returning American citizens) for any reason is absolutely constitutional and in fact has been done many times in the past. The President has the power to do this. Our present one has failed repeatedly to protect us from Islamic terrorists.
7
Do you have a time limit on how long you have to be in this country before we can't stuff you into the gulag any more, or are you just going with "you're okay till us white guys get scared?"
2
I am a Democrat and I did not forget.
2
The demographics that Republicans are facing aren't encouraging: for the first time, the majority of children born in the U.S. between ages 0-5 years is non-white. You have the browning of America with an influx of people of color coming to our shores and it unnerves a demographic of white males, vital to the Republican base, those limited to a high school education with limited prospects of gainful employment.
In the Republican Party civil war before us, you see an emaciated pachyderm being horse and quartered with on side observing Obama winning 71% of the Asian-American electorate in 2012 and lamenting the demographic destruction that is going to a fall them come election day 2016.
On the other side you see a group of conservatives like Trump, who take notice that Democrats have won the popular vote for the last five out of six presidential elections and figure another moderate won't do. They're convinced there's a "silent majority" of disaffected whites flocking to the polls The awakening of the Reagan Democrat.
My guess is that Trump doesn't want to be president. He just wants to be remembered in posterity as having started a movement. He wants to be remembered as some conservatives remember President Reagan. He's more likely to remembered as Barry Goldwater of 1964.
In the Republican Party civil war before us, you see an emaciated pachyderm being horse and quartered with on side observing Obama winning 71% of the Asian-American electorate in 2012 and lamenting the demographic destruction that is going to a fall them come election day 2016.
On the other side you see a group of conservatives like Trump, who take notice that Democrats have won the popular vote for the last five out of six presidential elections and figure another moderate won't do. They're convinced there's a "silent majority" of disaffected whites flocking to the polls The awakening of the Reagan Democrat.
My guess is that Trump doesn't want to be president. He just wants to be remembered in posterity as having started a movement. He wants to be remembered as some conservatives remember President Reagan. He's more likely to remembered as Barry Goldwater of 1964.
4
Donald Trump is the greatest gift to the Democratic party. Moreover, I doubt any serious observer outside our borders recognizes him as the 'voice of America'. In fact, I believe his presence on stage speaks volumes about tolerance and freedom in America.
2
Trump appeals to millions of Americans because he is a powerful voice saying things loud and clear, front and center, that most Americans know need to be said, but which the supposed leaders in both parties' establishments stubbornly refuse to say, and try to sweep under the carpet, egged on by the movers and shakers in the Fourth Estate, in the Academy, in the Pulpit, in the Labor Halls and in the Chamber of Commerce Board Rooms, things which need to be said, such as:
Unrestricted immigration is not ipso facto good.
Immigration ought to be controlled.
Immigration ought to be limited --
with more than mere empty, vague talk about "paying taxes" and "learning English",
but, instead, with serious controls to require knowing English,
before coming here,
and serious proof, before coming here, of ability to support oneself and one's family, including one's children, before coming here, without relying on the public weal,
and serious controls on total overall numbers per year, without an endless stream of exceptions for hundreds of thousands of "mothers and children" supposedly "fleeing violence", not to mention millions more "seeking a better life" for "themselves and their families".
Sure, Trump exaggerates, big time. But the basic message rings true:
immigration needs to be seriously controlled, quantitatively as well as qualitatively, and it is now not controlled, and the tongue-waggers castigating Trump are pushing for de facto uncontrolled immigration.
Unrestricted immigration is not ipso facto good.
Immigration ought to be controlled.
Immigration ought to be limited --
with more than mere empty, vague talk about "paying taxes" and "learning English",
but, instead, with serious controls to require knowing English,
before coming here,
and serious proof, before coming here, of ability to support oneself and one's family, including one's children, before coming here, without relying on the public weal,
and serious controls on total overall numbers per year, without an endless stream of exceptions for hundreds of thousands of "mothers and children" supposedly "fleeing violence", not to mention millions more "seeking a better life" for "themselves and their families".
Sure, Trump exaggerates, big time. But the basic message rings true:
immigration needs to be seriously controlled, quantitatively as well as qualitatively, and it is now not controlled, and the tongue-waggers castigating Trump are pushing for de facto uncontrolled immigration.
8
This must be based on the fact that net immigration is now zero, and the Border Patrol and ICE have been deporting record numbers.
2
Hate a powerful feeling and can tell by your vitriol.
2
The editors are correct that Trump arose from the grassroots of Republican media pundits. Trump's conservative values have been preached by Rush, Fox News, etc. for decades.
What is ironic is that the other Primary candidates chose to walk in the middle of conservatism. Yet they ignored all the Media groundwork of the past two decades that elevated conservatism to the far right. Only Trump is declaring the Republican Platform in its essence.
What is ironic is that the other Primary candidates chose to walk in the middle of conservatism. Yet they ignored all the Media groundwork of the past two decades that elevated conservatism to the far right. Only Trump is declaring the Republican Platform in its essence.
5
Something changed in American politics over time, and it’s not just the singular demagogues that dominate the stage today. Deregulation in banking returned us to market manipulation and system collapse in ‘08, deregulation in elections and media have brought 1930s political manipulation back. There is real misery and low expectations on Main St., but Washington is too self-absorbed in personal aggrandizement. Demagogues are used to distract and deflect accountability.
Many talking heads on TV have long been parroting party doctrine for the audience in news, not discussing it with any rational detachment. Party affiliated cable TV news has paper-thin walls between the press and the parties’ propaganda machines. Put aside the proto-fascist stuff we hear from Trump, listen to one question they asked Bernie Sanders in a debate, “Are you a capitalist or a socialist?” It’s a false choice.
Capitalism is a system for running markets and banks, not a form of democratic government. A capitalist IS a banker or financier, not any voter or a senator who believes in it. Examples abound where the government is the corporation, but not in a democracy. Socialism can be a code word for Soviet style communism, or the publically managed not-for-profit stuff that’s existed for a century or more, as in Medicare, the FDA, and public schools. Which is it?
We should get a US psychiatrist general (like the surgeon general) to write a warning that viewing political debates & ads are bad for you.
Many talking heads on TV have long been parroting party doctrine for the audience in news, not discussing it with any rational detachment. Party affiliated cable TV news has paper-thin walls between the press and the parties’ propaganda machines. Put aside the proto-fascist stuff we hear from Trump, listen to one question they asked Bernie Sanders in a debate, “Are you a capitalist or a socialist?” It’s a false choice.
Capitalism is a system for running markets and banks, not a form of democratic government. A capitalist IS a banker or financier, not any voter or a senator who believes in it. Examples abound where the government is the corporation, but not in a democracy. Socialism can be a code word for Soviet style communism, or the publically managed not-for-profit stuff that’s existed for a century or more, as in Medicare, the FDA, and public schools. Which is it?
We should get a US psychiatrist general (like the surgeon general) to write a warning that viewing political debates & ads are bad for you.
28
I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth; banks are going bust; shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter; punks are running wild in the street, and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it.
We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat. And we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be!
We all know things are bad -- worse than bad -- they're crazy.
It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out any more. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we're living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, "Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials, and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone."
Well, I'm not going to leave you alone.
I want you to get mad!
So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell,
"I'm as mad as hell,
and I'm not going to take this anymore!!"
We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat. And we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be!
We all know things are bad -- worse than bad -- they're crazy.
It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out any more. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we're living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, "Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials, and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone."
Well, I'm not going to leave you alone.
I want you to get mad!
So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell,
"I'm as mad as hell,
and I'm not going to take this anymore!!"
1
Most frightening is how Trump's poll numbers go up with each hideous pronouncement he makes.
4
Do I sniff just a small whiff of courage in the NYTimes editorial boardroom? After all these months of playing along with Trump (and the other hate-spewing Republican candidates)? It's time for hardball, ladies and gentlemen.
4
I do NOT think that Trump is an extremist or racist.
There is nothing wrong with securing the borders and only permitting legal tourists and residents.
IF Only one terrorist comes in with 10,000, it is one too many.
There is nothing wrong with securing the borders and only permitting legal tourists and residents.
IF Only one terrorist comes in with 10,000, it is one too many.
7
I'm really disappointed you didn't publish my first comment. I thought it was very appropriate. Did you read first draft this morning? Almost as many people are afraid of Hillary being elected as they are of Trump being elected. Why not support Bernie Sanders so we can have an election about hope (and hopefully this time for real) instead of fear. There's still time for you to turn away from the dark side all you have to do is endorse Bernie.
1
And yet again the times rejects national and economic security at the altar of political correctness. Why are we supporting Trump? Because the American people are fed up with a left wing media dictatorship. They lie and accuse anyone who is alarmed at the impending third world takeover of this great nation, of the worst forms of xenophobia and racism.
Well were tired of it, and this time it will not work. Your efforts to turn the GOP againt its own voters are treasonous, and will fail miserably. We WILL choose leaders who are concerned with the well being of its own citizens. Take your hand wringing moralizing elsewhere.
Well were tired of it, and this time it will not work. Your efforts to turn the GOP againt its own voters are treasonous, and will fail miserably. We WILL choose leaders who are concerned with the well being of its own citizens. Take your hand wringing moralizing elsewhere.
7
The only thing more bigoted and discriminatory than the clamor about Muslims is the use of the phrase "the right wing" to intentionally conflate economic conservatives with the Fascism of Donald Trump. Trump has not changed politically since being a Democrat a few years ago and is rich enough to do what he wants and with as much partisan loyalty as Mayor Bloomberg exhibits.
4
The internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II, as some Republicans have either forgotten or never understood, was a dark episode in American history.
As if Republicans did that internment! It was the nation's most liberal Democrat ever, FDR, who carried out that order. Talk about spin.
As if Republicans did that internment! It was the nation's most liberal Democrat ever, FDR, who carried out that order. Talk about spin.
4
Like most reasonable people, I am horrified by the poisonous words spewing out the Donald's mouth.
I am horrified by the fact that there actually people that support him but I have to blame in great part his ascent in the polls by the blanked coverage he has been given, not only in the print media but in particular by CNN.
I am totally disgusted by Trump's constant presence on the air which I am certain has "promoted" his brand and his views mostly to increase their ratings. No wonder he hasn't spent any money on advertising, why should he when he's getting it for free!
This kind of blanked coverage of one particular presidential candidate is immoral and the networks and CNN in particular should pledge to give the other candidates equal time.
I am horrified by the fact that there actually people that support him but I have to blame in great part his ascent in the polls by the blanked coverage he has been given, not only in the print media but in particular by CNN.
I am totally disgusted by Trump's constant presence on the air which I am certain has "promoted" his brand and his views mostly to increase their ratings. No wonder he hasn't spent any money on advertising, why should he when he's getting it for free!
This kind of blanked coverage of one particular presidential candidate is immoral and the networks and CNN in particular should pledge to give the other candidates equal time.
6
The Trump effect buries facts like terrorism is the act of individuals against society itself. We should not be goaded into believing the sky is falling and yet the constant drumbeat from the media makes it seem like we are at immanent and personal risk everyday. Nothing could be less true. It has left us with a bad case of anticipatory dread of outcome, which translates to a win for the terrorists and the GOP. They wants us scared and pliant, meanwhile our entire economy is being snatched by billionaires and their corporations. It's a win for the GOP base and a huge loss for the American public. The only alternative is Bernie Sanders and the media ignores him and denies that fact that more people support him than any Republican candidate.
2
Face it Trump is the Frankenstein the GOP, at least nurtured, if not created. Now that he is about to devour it they started panicking. Have a good eat, Mr. Trump!
4
Has anyone investigated Trump's background -- how his ancestors came to these shores, when, from where, and why? It might be interesting to know his family's immigration story.
2
I guess the editors have been reading the comments their readers have been posting since Trump declared his candidacy. This editorial is a little late to the game, and doesn't go far enough. Everything it says is true, but the fundamental truth is that Trump is the Monster and the Republican Party is Dr. Frankenstein, who has been working feverishly in his laboratory since the Nixon years to create just such a loathsome...*thing.*
I agree. Trump is the Southern strategy's legitimate child, a Pro-Life irony.
3
With any luck, Mr. Trump will be this election's Ralph Nader.
3
The man on the white horse is a real threat in this country. Enough crazies to elect one.
Trump is a genius marketing whiz and a moral midget. He proclaims he has not spent a nickel on TV advertising because the media puts him on the front page every day. In other words, keep putting his name in print and keep making his popularity grow. The best thing the Times could do is embargo Trump. You will be criticized but who cares? Your readers will appreciate it and you will set an example for future candidates who might be studying this this playbook.
The Donald is certainly not America's trump card on the global stage.
This is the comment I have been writing, in various forms, on various articles for months. The Republican Party's attempts to convince people that Trump does not represent their values is nonsense. Trump is just more blatant than other candidates. Fear-mongering, bigotry and childish insults did not originate with him. It's part of the GOP playbook and has been for some time. "The gov't is coming for your guns!" "The immigrants are coming for your jobs!" "Planned Parenthood is coming for your children!" "Muslim refugees are coming for your lives!" "Obamacare is coming for your grandparents ('Death Panels' you see...)!" "Gays are coming for your religion!" "Impeach the President!" "Back to the gold standard or we're doomed!" Trump didn't come up with this ridiculous rhetoric. And shocked as the party pretends to be, the GOP voters have gotten used to that hyperbolic home cooking and have been eating it up the last few months. It's as if a group of GOP pundits said, "Let our powers combine!" and summoned Trump into existence. That said, Trump so embodies the extremist views Republicans have embraced that metaphor falls short of the horrifying reality we witness with our own eyes on an almost daily basis now. What an indignity to see that man cynically instigating a virtual (soon to be actual?) race war for the sake of poll numbers.
4
It is about time this was said. The republicans have been heading in this direction for a while.just listen to Hannity,Limbaugh and Levin. They are fear mongering
2
This editorial is just as extreme as Trump. Trump goes off the deep end with many of his statements but the NYT goes just as far off the rails in the other direction. I have no doubt that many Trump's supporters are indeed xenophobic & nativist but the majority of Americans who are concerned about millions of illegal immigrants entering the US are not. The NYT's policy of unlimited & unfettered access to the US by anyone who shows up is just as ridiculous as Trump's plan to deport millions of current illegal residents. They are extremes at opposite ends of the spectrum. This country would be better served if both Trump & the NYT moderated their name-calling and instead looked at difficult issues such as immigration with analytical rigor & common-sense.
10
I agree with many others here that Trump is not to be blamed for the condition of the Republican voter base. He is merely holding up a mirror, reflecting the handiwork of Rupert Murdoch, Roger Ailes, Rush Limbaugh and the Republican Party, who have spent 40 years building up a base that feeds on fear, anger and resentment. He's just beating them at their own game.
But as dangerous as his reckless speech is, he’s not, at core, an ideologue. In the business world, he's a realist and a deal maker and if he were elected, I would expect the frothing at the mouth to stop and realism to kick in. He's driven by ego, not evil.
Cruz, on the other hand, is evil. And he’s waiting in the wings to take over if Trump stumbles. That is the development to fear. Trump may play a psycho on TV, but Cruz is the real deal.
But as dangerous as his reckless speech is, he’s not, at core, an ideologue. In the business world, he's a realist and a deal maker and if he were elected, I would expect the frothing at the mouth to stop and realism to kick in. He's driven by ego, not evil.
Cruz, on the other hand, is evil. And he’s waiting in the wings to take over if Trump stumbles. That is the development to fear. Trump may play a psycho on TV, but Cruz is the real deal.
16
Brink of fascism indeed. Donald Trump will not even get the Republican nomination, let alone the White House. Yet look at the power he has to affect the entire globe because of one 5-letter word: MONEY. He is being discussed around the world as if he WERE the president of the United States; he is receiving more media attention around the world than President Obama at the moment. As long as money controls politics and government in the U.S. to the extent it currently does, there will always be a Donald Trump lurking around the corner, able to buy his way into the presidential race.
In the meantime, congratulations to the NY Times and all the nation's media for keeping the public's attention riveted on this lunatic Trump and diverting it from the malignancy that has been eating the U.S. alive for generations far worse than Donald Trump could ever do: the horrific economic inequality that will lead to social conditions worse than anything Donald Trump could create. You the media are playing right into the hands of the 1 percent who want things to continue on the same trajectory they've been on for decades.
In the meantime, congratulations to the NY Times and all the nation's media for keeping the public's attention riveted on this lunatic Trump and diverting it from the malignancy that has been eating the U.S. alive for generations far worse than Donald Trump could ever do: the horrific economic inequality that will lead to social conditions worse than anything Donald Trump could create. You the media are playing right into the hands of the 1 percent who want things to continue on the same trajectory they've been on for decades.
4
Yes. It's true that the News Networks (aka, Media) support the Establishment choice of Jeb & Clinton who insist on maintaining the old ways of politics. Hence, the Media does a disservice to society when they support the Status Quo.
Voters are repeatedly rejecting the Media Propaganda, because everyone can now say: Been There, Done That. The voters want a change from the talk of broken promises to solid hard effective action. Simply stated: Throw out the Bleeding Heart mentality.
Voters are repeatedly rejecting the Media Propaganda, because everyone can now say: Been There, Done That. The voters want a change from the talk of broken promises to solid hard effective action. Simply stated: Throw out the Bleeding Heart mentality.
3
How has it gotten this far? The press and the media have not called out the Republicans when they flat-out lied or made other outrageous statements. It's past time for hateful speech to be called out. If Trump and his fellow candidates are espousing extremist views, it's because they've not gotten any pushback.
2
Missing from the discussion of Trump's Muslim exclusion plan is any analysis of whether his plan would make the US any safer. Just as WWII round-ups of Japanese-Americans did not make the west coast safer from attack, neither will a crude screening measure such as proposed by Trump accomplish any of the aims it claims to seek.
In the rush to condemn Trump as a fascist, critics should not veer away from the more damaging assessment that he is a fool.
In the rush to condemn Trump as a fascist, critics should not veer away from the more damaging assessment that he is a fool.
Thanks for turning us into a divided, fascist country, Rupert.
So Ironic. Remember all the Hope and Change hype some seven years ago? And here we are. A nation divided more so than in any modern time... With people so opinionated and split on ideological lines that we resort to all kinds of name calling of our fellow Americans if they are " on the other side." We really need help.
4
Clinton wants to continue that nightmare. Yuk!
2
The editorial asks how many of Mr. Trump’s rivals have said they would reject his candidacy if he won the nomination and says that the answer, as of today, is none.
There is one exception to that statement -- Lindsey Graham -- and what he said is in an interview with CNN earlier this week is worth noting because he is not only a GOP presidential candidate but US Senator who has taken an oath to "bear true faith and allegiance" to the US Constitution.
In the interview, Graham said "I'd rather lose without Donald Trump than try to win with with him...If we lose the 2016 election, so be it". He also made it clear that he believes that the time has arrived for the Republican Party and Republican Party and for every Republican Presidential candidate to openly reject Trump.
In other words, Senator Graham understands something that apparently Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul apparently do not: a member of Congress cannot "bear full faith and allegiance to the Constitution while simultaneously suggesting that Americans should elect a presidential candidate who advocates for positions that undermine the US Constitution.
There is one exception to that statement -- Lindsey Graham -- and what he said is in an interview with CNN earlier this week is worth noting because he is not only a GOP presidential candidate but US Senator who has taken an oath to "bear true faith and allegiance" to the US Constitution.
In the interview, Graham said "I'd rather lose without Donald Trump than try to win with with him...If we lose the 2016 election, so be it". He also made it clear that he believes that the time has arrived for the Republican Party and Republican Party and for every Republican Presidential candidate to openly reject Trump.
In other words, Senator Graham understands something that apparently Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul apparently do not: a member of Congress cannot "bear full faith and allegiance to the Constitution while simultaneously suggesting that Americans should elect a presidential candidate who advocates for positions that undermine the US Constitution.
All I have heard for years from Republicans are words like, constitutional conservative, lets take our country back, lock and load, we the people and so on and so on. Then when they have a candidate who stirs up the same crowd using the same words they cry foul. A wise person told me one day to "think what you want to but be careful what you say". If the same group of people the Republicans have fired up want Trump then they better accept him as their possible candidate or they will finally show the lock and load crowd they have been lying to them for years.
2
Trump may have taken an extreme position, but the Editorial Board is extremely naive in its stance. I ask you one simple question - can you absolutely, 100% guarantee that none of the Syrian refugees coming over hold extremist Islamic views that contradict the western lifestyle and beliefs of the U.S.? If you can answer this question with 100% certainty, then I will happily agree with your premise that we should let all the refugees in. However, I suspect that you will not be able to give me that guarantee. Therefore, you cannot make the case that Americans should forgo their own safety in order to accommodate refugees coming from a war-torn part of the world. How is that smart?
Trump is only vocalizing what a lot of Americans are feeling. ISIS effectively launched an attack on U.S. soil in San Bernardino, and Americans are worried because the leaders of this country (Obama and his crew) have failed to come up with any sort of plan that will protect us or destroy ISIS. So yes, Trump's solution may be extreme; what is the Editorial Board's alternative solution? To just welcome everyone and hope for the best?
Trump is only vocalizing what a lot of Americans are feeling. ISIS effectively launched an attack on U.S. soil in San Bernardino, and Americans are worried because the leaders of this country (Obama and his crew) have failed to come up with any sort of plan that will protect us or destroy ISIS. So yes, Trump's solution may be extreme; what is the Editorial Board's alternative solution? To just welcome everyone and hope for the best?
7
For the last six years, the Immigration records show that everyone has been welcomed. And yet, the Presidents admits that violence is at an all-time high. Then in the next breath, the President wants to continue the same agenda of his administration thru Clinton. Say What? Such insanity proves that the U.S. Leadership is out of touch with reality.
4
I guess Trump roll out the red carpet for Bashar al-Assad (an Alawite Christian) but not for the millions of muslim refugees that have lost everything due to his tyranny.
The Republicans have planted pods all over the country that absorb moderates and leave them heartless. It started with Richard Nixon in Santa Mira, California.
1
Just within the last 24 hours I have read that people beat up a six year old Muslim girl and a Muslim convenience store clerk, mosques are being vandalized with paint and human feces, and in Seattle a Muslim community college student was pushed off a roof and killed. These crimes are inspired by Republican rhetoric that equates Muslims with terrorists and threatens to kill them all. Republicans inspire hate.
1
I have read hundreds of hateful and spiteful articles against the Republican party and Donald Trump. A recent NYTimes op-ed told Trump to "go to hell." So I decided to watch one of Trump's rallies to witness this evil evil man. Except the problem is that he's charming, funny, and makes you feel like he's a quirky, politically incorrect family member. And that's the problem: when you listen to him he isn't full of overt racist hate and bigotry. Instead everything he says is over-the-top and exaggerated, combined with subtle reassurances. He says he "loves Muslims" but that "something is wrong with radical Islam and we need to figure it out." And this makes sense to a lot of people. They are afraid of radical Islam, and they want to feel that someone is looking out for them. And then the media tells them they need to accept all Muslims and refugees and that if they don't they are racist and ignorant like Trump. You can't bring people away from Trump with this strategy.
5
True. But it will be Trump's political opponents, perhaps Hillary, who will be bringing people away from Trump, and she won't be calling American people racist and ignorant. She is a candidate. The New York Times is a newspaper.
The irony, of course, being that the same conservatives who ask why the moderate Muslims won't speak out against the radicals can't find the wherewithal within themselves wo decry Trump.
5
Anyone who doesn't have an opinion about Trump by now hasn't been paying attention to the news. I think his statements are absolutely indefensible: about women, Obama, honorable politicians (both Dem and Rep), immigrants, Muslims, refugees, news reporters, and the disabled.
What is also indefensible are all those who aid and abet him either as advisers, paid propagandists, political scientists, or journalists. Any politician with national stature, Republican or Democrat, who doesn't stand up and denounce these reprehensible views also helps him.
If the professionals don't counter his inflammatory language and views, then they are either wearing psychological blinders or serving their own self interests.
What is also indefensible are all those who aid and abet him either as advisers, paid propagandists, political scientists, or journalists. Any politician with national stature, Republican or Democrat, who doesn't stand up and denounce these reprehensible views also helps him.
If the professionals don't counter his inflammatory language and views, then they are either wearing psychological blinders or serving their own self interests.
1
Jen Bush proposed letting only Christians into the US long before Trump. Trump is not an exception but the chief representative of the bigoted, ignorant Republican Party, which also includes NY Times's own Mr Douthat who in today's editorial called that ignorance and bigotry "legitimate." Let's not comfort ourselves that Trump is the only fascist on the American right.
3
Reagan was the "nice" bigot who smiled when he talked about Welfare Queens and campaigned in Philadelphia, Mississippi making it clear to the racists that he was on their side. Trump is just the other face of Reagan, but less subtle as he appeals to the same people that are motivated by hate and fear of the other.
7
Trump espouses everything the conservative right stands for in the US, but never says out loud. His appeal is that he is perceived as honest, and is extraordinarily honest relative to his lying, hypocritical opponents. How many of us were subject to the hatred-spewing discourse of conservative, right wing relatives over our Thanksgiving tables? Or since Obama took office ... his blackness obscuring everything he said or did, a testament to the enshrinement of bigotry in this country. We like to think of ourselves as good people because we treat our loved ones with respect, but being "good" is more about how we treat the ones we do not love. In that scenario, we fail miserably ... the conservative views remain the harshest when directed toward the under privileged, anyone who has not achieved success ... a group doubling in size every year. Say what you will about Trump... at least his vitriolic rhetoric honestly reflects his party's attitudes. THAT is why he is leading in the polls among consevative voters. Liberals who vote their consciences are not included among his supporters, just quietly waiting to cast their votes.
5
The dishonesty iof this editorial is truly astonishing. Mr. Trump called for a *temporary* halt on accept immigrats from certain Muslim countries, where US intelligence has stated that terrorists are posing as refugees. Mr. Trump has stated that the *temporary* halt is needed to permit a rational vetting process. This newspaper misrepresented that as an outright and permanent ban on accepting Muslim Immigrants. The fact that Christian's were included in Trumps suggested halt, was ignored. The fact that the proposed halt was to be temporary was purposefully misrepresented. This is a dangerous and irresponsible step for this newspaper to take. Now, print retractions, write accurately of what Trump said, and apologize to the world for the hysteria you caused.
4
From this side of the pond we view not only Trump but the rest of the Republican wannabes and HRC as one of the same spouting the same old policies of devisiness and intolerance..
Trump is endemic of American bigotry, small mindedness and ignorance where the mouth us mightier than the pen.
Trump is endemic of American bigotry, small mindedness and ignorance where the mouth us mightier than the pen.
3
You don't speak for everyone on your side of the pond any more than Donald Trump speaks for all Americans. BTW, when are you going to elect your first non-white prime minister? I'm not holding my breath.
2
Why focus on Trump and the other GOP candidates? The simple fact is that registered Republican voters and Republican supporters among the public agree with what they're saying, or they wouldn't bother saying it. The climate of fear, bigotry, xenophobia, Islamophobia has been fanned for decades on the right, by the right, and while they didn't invent these maladies they've given them a home, in exchange for campaign contributions and turnout on election day.
Anyone who wants proof of just how far the GOP has drifted need only listen to President GW Bush's comments on Islam and Muslims six days after 911, and compare them to the public utterances of Republicans today, or the right wing media outlets.
Politicians say what their base wants to hear. The real problem is rooted deep in the American body politic, and spreading.
Anyone who wants proof of just how far the GOP has drifted need only listen to President GW Bush's comments on Islam and Muslims six days after 911, and compare them to the public utterances of Republicans today, or the right wing media outlets.
Politicians say what their base wants to hear. The real problem is rooted deep in the American body politic, and spreading.
4
The only Republican who I have heard state that he would not vote for Trump if nominated for President is Tom Ridge who happens to be the first United States Secretary of Homeland Security (2003 to 2005). Who should know better than Mr. Ridge just how dangerous Trump's racist diatribe is?
When Dems insist we solve climate change yesterday, it is a statement from their heart, not their minds. Trump's appeal is emotional. The GOP may be energized, but they know his platform isn't serious. Dems like to think the GOP is dumb. Underestimating the opposition can be a big mistake.
It is not only the GOP base effected by Trump. I often find the worst in myself bubbling to the surface in response to his followers. I grow impatient and struggle not to judge. It feels as if we are all being drug down the rabbit hole.
It is frustrating to be confronted with so many fellow Americans who seem unable or unwilling to examine their own bias. So many Americans are unaware of their own racism...and Trump makes them feel reasonable. We call them stupid or "low-information" and effectively negate any chance of rational debate. I've seen comments that this group is "lost" to us. They are our neighbors and relatives. We can't just break-up with them or stick them in a twelve-step program.
Confronting Trump is only the beginning.
It is frustrating to be confronted with so many fellow Americans who seem unable or unwilling to examine their own bias. So many Americans are unaware of their own racism...and Trump makes them feel reasonable. We call them stupid or "low-information" and effectively negate any chance of rational debate. I've seen comments that this group is "lost" to us. They are our neighbors and relatives. We can't just break-up with them or stick them in a twelve-step program.
Confronting Trump is only the beginning.
3
I disagree with the general premise of this editorial. First of all Trump used the word "Temporary", which has been omitted from the hysterical media coverage. He asked for a TEMPORARY ban until our leaders can get their act together and figure out their strategy for Syria and the Middle East.
Also this come along in the context of admitting refugees from Syria along with repeated high profile terrorism incidents. The Media are the main culprits in fomenting the fear that Donald Trump is exploiting. The establishment media wanted to harvest that fear in order to feed the Security State. Instead, The Donald is using that fear to feed his campaign.
The Donald has stolen their "Harvest Of Fear."
Also this come along in the context of admitting refugees from Syria along with repeated high profile terrorism incidents. The Media are the main culprits in fomenting the fear that Donald Trump is exploiting. The establishment media wanted to harvest that fear in order to feed the Security State. Instead, The Donald is using that fear to feed his campaign.
The Donald has stolen their "Harvest Of Fear."
2
I see a lot of people denying Trump's hate and fear mongering. People with a 2x4 in their can't see the reality right in plain view because of their handicap.
Following up on the question of how many candidates have said they will reject a Trump candidacy, I would like to ask, who would be willing to be Donald Trumps running mate? It's perhaps not fair to ask someone in a race to say they will reject the results of the race but asking if they would be willing to be on the same ticket is fair. Trump, Cruz for 2016? How scary is this going to get!?
Gosh, the GOP has been courting ignorant racist, bigoted, xenophobic, misogynists for what, 30, 40, 50 years. I do believe this is the chickens coming home to roost.
2
I find it somewhat disconcerting that so many commentators prefer to conflate Trump with the clear majority of Americans who are concerned about the spread of Islamic Wahhabist doctrine and its effect on the world's civilizations.
The blanket condemnation of those who believe that Islamic Wahhabism should be contained to those lands who embrace its culture is just as reprehensible as Trump's conflation of all Muslims with Islamic terrorism.
Perhaps its the virulent partisanship of today's political climate that has rendered disagreement with left or right ideology as immoral or naive. While the right wing, led by its propagandists in the entertainment / opinion media that have been largely at fault, the leftists are catching up fast.
Let's be clear. Wahhabist doctrine is an anathema to civilization.
That is, if you believe that civilization should value women's rights as thinking human beings, respect "non believers," banish corporal or any other punishment for apostasy, and generally subscribe to "enlightenment" values, most importantly the supremacy of secular law over theocracy.
The blanket condemnation of those who believe that Islamic Wahhabism should be contained to those lands who embrace its culture is just as reprehensible as Trump's conflation of all Muslims with Islamic terrorism.
Perhaps its the virulent partisanship of today's political climate that has rendered disagreement with left or right ideology as immoral or naive. While the right wing, led by its propagandists in the entertainment / opinion media that have been largely at fault, the leftists are catching up fast.
Let's be clear. Wahhabist doctrine is an anathema to civilization.
That is, if you believe that civilization should value women's rights as thinking human beings, respect "non believers," banish corporal or any other punishment for apostasy, and generally subscribe to "enlightenment" values, most importantly the supremacy of secular law over theocracy.
5
I believe Trump's numbers are much higher if we take into account the Independents and Democrats, and he has a real chance to get the Popular Vote back to Republicans, after a long hiatus. His views fill the vacuum left by the establishment who are now all crying like Marie Antoinette, afraid that Trump will chop their heads off -- figuratively, off course.
2
This is what happens when millions of Americans get their ideas from talk radio, the only place where Trump is enthusiastically supported.
4
Why isn't the news media confronting Mr. Trump about why nearly every military leader and intelligence gathering and security providing agency (government and private) has stated that Trump's plan to curtail Muslims' rights and freedoms is making Americans less safe?
1
The Republican party is in shambles. Clueless. Gutless. They knew from jump street that Trump was a train wreck. But instead of ostracizing him, they let him represent them because they rationalized that he's the front runner, so maybe he could win the nomination. Now after his latest deranged and unrealistic comments about banning muslims from coming here, they are clearly worried. Still, they have not acted to kick him out. They have put winning over morality and ethics. A neo fascist like Trump exists because of their inaction and priorities. Shame on them.
The problem is everyone is forgetting those days not too far in the past when the big terror threat in the Western world was Irish and Catholic. I don't remember any xenophobia or anti-Irish or anti-Catholic sentiments coming from these folk who claim now to be so deeply concerned about Islamic terrorism.
But there is one Trump supporters who probably remembers those days pretty well, and it's Donald Trump himself. Not because he denounced the Irish or the IRA. Actually, according to the Guardian, his feelings were quite the opposite there. He attended a big fundraiser for Sinn Fein and had his picture taken with Gerry Adams.
A few months later, the IRA bombed Canary Wharf, killing two men who worked nearby.
Nobody called for the Irish to be banned from America. Probably because there are so many Irish-Americans here and we have a lot of political power.
If there are any Irish-Americans supporting Trump now, I say shame on them, for allowing themselves to forget the past when the ethnic group most associated with terror was Irish.
But there is one Trump supporters who probably remembers those days pretty well, and it's Donald Trump himself. Not because he denounced the Irish or the IRA. Actually, according to the Guardian, his feelings were quite the opposite there. He attended a big fundraiser for Sinn Fein and had his picture taken with Gerry Adams.
A few months later, the IRA bombed Canary Wharf, killing two men who worked nearby.
Nobody called for the Irish to be banned from America. Probably because there are so many Irish-Americans here and we have a lot of political power.
If there are any Irish-Americans supporting Trump now, I say shame on them, for allowing themselves to forget the past when the ethnic group most associated with terror was Irish.
5
Trump is doubling down on is racist comments hoping for another terrorist attack. This is exactly what the terrace want. Only way Trump could possibly win is if we have a rapid increase of terrorist attacks over the next year. He's hoping for them and I'm sure the terrorist would love to oblige. Thanks trump.
It's time to dump the chump.
It's time to dump the chump.
1
Our President, with whom I am normally in agreement, it not exactly accurate when he says that the series of proposals coming from Mr. Trump are not “who we are.” My grandparents came to this country on the Mayflower seeking religious freedom. My grandfathers fought in the Revolutionary War for our country’s liberty. Our founding fathers had a vision of an America of high and noble principles. But, alas Mr. President, this is who we were. A poll showing 65% of likely Republican primary voters agree with Mr. Trumps exclusion plan, while only 22% said they disagreed and 13% thought it was a Common Core test question and opted out. Driven by their fears, blown out of all reasonable proportion by hate mongers like Mr. Trump who feed on fear for their own personal gain, a significant portion of this country is quite different from those high principles our Founding Father envisioned.
Can America become great again. I believe so. But not by imposing religious tests. Not by creating a refugee problem twice the size of Europe’s by deporting 11 million residents (Governor Bradford, my 10th great grandfather, was undocumented). The GOP leadership were not supportive of Mr. Trump’s latest brain child. But they all said they would support him if he becomes the Party standard bearer. We can become great again when we stop putting Party before principle. We can become great again when we UNITE against our common foes and realize that we have nothing to fear but fear itself.
Can America become great again. I believe so. But not by imposing religious tests. Not by creating a refugee problem twice the size of Europe’s by deporting 11 million residents (Governor Bradford, my 10th great grandfather, was undocumented). The GOP leadership were not supportive of Mr. Trump’s latest brain child. But they all said they would support him if he becomes the Party standard bearer. We can become great again when we stop putting Party before principle. We can become great again when we UNITE against our common foes and realize that we have nothing to fear but fear itself.
1
The Republican party has been radicalized since GWB came into office with Cheney's help of course. Why would you expect Trump to be different?
1
Cluck all you want over Trump, the real shocker is that so many American people are at a fork in the road and may be deciding to take the the road leading to fascism. The 2016 election will be a very important indicator which way the future of our country is heading.
Dare the NY Times face writing an editorial about what I fear is happening to our country? I sure hope my they're misplaced and we will all have a good laugh at Trump's grotesqueness after election day - should he get so far as at to be on the ballot - when America tells the ultimate narcissist (and, one hopes, the Republican Party), "Your fired!"
Dare the NY Times face writing an editorial about what I fear is happening to our country? I sure hope my they're misplaced and we will all have a good laugh at Trump's grotesqueness after election day - should he get so far as at to be on the ballot - when America tells the ultimate narcissist (and, one hopes, the Republican Party), "Your fired!"
1
"Go ahead, deplore Donald Trump. "
No, I'll deplore the New York Times.
For what I consider betrayal of America, in the Times's tabloid-shallow coverage of the run-up toward the coming election.
Tonnage of promotion of the daily rants of Trump, the poll-tuned political positions of Hillary, the sinking of Bush.
But Bernie and his real issues? A year of blackout, capped by the mockery of a video of a silly question drawn from a hat.
As people look back at the sinking of the New York Times, the explanation will not be rapid change in the media-technology environment. It will be that the Times sank itself, by betraying and destroying its image of seriousness and responsibility.
No, I'll deplore the New York Times.
For what I consider betrayal of America, in the Times's tabloid-shallow coverage of the run-up toward the coming election.
Tonnage of promotion of the daily rants of Trump, the poll-tuned political positions of Hillary, the sinking of Bush.
But Bernie and his real issues? A year of blackout, capped by the mockery of a video of a silly question drawn from a hat.
As people look back at the sinking of the New York Times, the explanation will not be rapid change in the media-technology environment. It will be that the Times sank itself, by betraying and destroying its image of seriousness and responsibility.
4
The Establishment, including of course the NY Times, is beside itself about the Trump phenomenon. More important than Trump himself are his masses of dedicated, angry followers, who grow with each Establishment attack and gibe. They don't give a hoot what the Establishment - the White House, the leadership of both the Republicans and Democrats, the mainstream churches, and the mainstream media - says or even does, in terms of legal or other action.
The Establishment is fatally discredited, and has been since 2008, when it became apparent that the Establishment serves ultimately only the interest of Wall Street writ large.
Many irreversible divides are now present in the former United States: Trump and the Trumpistas versus the Establishment, bicoastal urban elites versus the remnant rural and small town heartland, the 1% vs. everybody,
and whites vs. blacks. There is nothing the NY Times or any of them can do about it, and if they were really pragmatic, they would know that making a martyr out of Trump is counterproductive. The more they insult and attack and ridicule, the more his followers increase, with their angry fervor.
The Establishment is fatally discredited, and has been since 2008, when it became apparent that the Establishment serves ultimately only the interest of Wall Street writ large.
Many irreversible divides are now present in the former United States: Trump and the Trumpistas versus the Establishment, bicoastal urban elites versus the remnant rural and small town heartland, the 1% vs. everybody,
and whites vs. blacks. There is nothing the NY Times or any of them can do about it, and if they were really pragmatic, they would know that making a martyr out of Trump is counterproductive. The more they insult and attack and ridicule, the more his followers increase, with their angry fervor.
4
You sir are part of the problem. We all are for letting it happen.
1
The Japanese Internment example is powerful. Those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it. Perhaps our systems of education are failing the masses. Why could so many fall in line to such fear rhetoric? This is something we should have evolved from after WWII.
How soon we forget? Or, how little we read? Or, how distracted our students? Or, how safe our debates have become in history classes? Or, Perhaps too many are reading Bill O'Rielly's Walmart history books for their "facts."
How soon we forget? Or, how little we read? Or, how distracted our students? Or, how safe our debates have become in history classes? Or, Perhaps too many are reading Bill O'Rielly's Walmart history books for their "facts."
4
Trump is merely stating clearly the core perspective of conservatives in America and around the world.
Or Trump is just stating inconvenient, unvarnished fact that exposes Barack Obama as a two bit con, and a failed president.
Tomato, tomato.
Tomato, tomato.
3
I know before I write this that I'll be taken for an uninformed idiot, but here goes. I read over and over that the country is suffering a "malaise", a "dissatisfaction" and that people everywhere are angry and scared. Where do these people live exactly? Because I don't see it al all. I see people going about their daily lives just like they always have. I've never heard anyone express a fear of Islamic extremists. I've just read about it in the papers. I've never heard anyone say that Trump is on the right track. In fact, if his name is mentioned at all it's as a joke. Where are all the people who supposedly believe ISIS is going to take over their neighborhoods? Where are all the people who think Trump is their guy? Admittedly, I only know a tiny few people compared to the total population, but if dissatisfaction and terror are really sweeping the country surely I would have come across one person that feels that way by now. It's very confusing, because what I read in the papers and hear on the news conflicts to a great degree with my own experience.
4
Interesting. I have a close friend in Seattle who will probably never return to our home state of TN. He talks about the diversity of the neighborhoods and the rich culture. Your economy appears much more stable, even though to me the cost of living there seems outrageous. You are geographically isolated by an impressive range of mountains. There seems to be a resiliency and sense of community inherent in living there. And you have embraced the left, or at least so it seems to someone stuck deep in the trenches of the right.
You nailed it. Glorida Steinem said in her latest book, "Media is not reality. Reality is reality."
1
I apologize for my terrible mistake. I meant that Trump and the entire Republican Party are anti-human rights. Our counterrevolution must, of course, be pro human rights.
3
The Editorial misses the forest for the trees.
Mr. Trump is adept at marketing and public relations. He doesn't need consultants to tell him that there is a sizable segment of voters that want two things: bluntness and simple solutions to difficult problems. Mr. Trump has realized that the absence of well-thought out policies is actually an advantage. Instead offer bomb-throwing, demonizing rhetoric. Worry about policies once elected.
Of course the other candidates would consider this winning formula.
But the forest that the Editors are missing is the Republican voter who falls for the empty rhetoric. The voter who confuses insults for truth telling is the problem. The voter, who thinks that a candidate who today focuses his wrath on a nationality or religion won't focus his wrath on the voter, if that happens to suit his fancy, is the problem. One only has to read comments to NYTimes articles to see the forest. The candidates are simply giving these voters what they want.
Mr. Trump is adept at marketing and public relations. He doesn't need consultants to tell him that there is a sizable segment of voters that want two things: bluntness and simple solutions to difficult problems. Mr. Trump has realized that the absence of well-thought out policies is actually an advantage. Instead offer bomb-throwing, demonizing rhetoric. Worry about policies once elected.
Of course the other candidates would consider this winning formula.
But the forest that the Editors are missing is the Republican voter who falls for the empty rhetoric. The voter who confuses insults for truth telling is the problem. The voter, who thinks that a candidate who today focuses his wrath on a nationality or religion won't focus his wrath on the voter, if that happens to suit his fancy, is the problem. One only has to read comments to NYTimes articles to see the forest. The candidates are simply giving these voters what they want.
4
As president Trump would use executive powers and his racist and religious intolerance to subvert the constitutional ban on any Congressional prohibition of the free exercise of religion or of its establishment. But there would be articles of impeachment that could be drawn up against this subversion as a violation of civil liberty, civil right, equal opportunity, and the subversion of Congressional powers.
So we must not get too frightened of Trump trumping liberty. However, he and many in this great country of ours are fascistic, yes. What to do about that:
Educate the young in the discipline of thinking for themselves better than we currently do. Let them read harder texts in high school and college. Require them to use much more of their naturally given brain power. Then the Trumps of the world will retain their private castles in the sky but not the spirit of the land.
RB
So we must not get too frightened of Trump trumping liberty. However, he and many in this great country of ours are fascistic, yes. What to do about that:
Educate the young in the discipline of thinking for themselves better than we currently do. Let them read harder texts in high school and college. Require them to use much more of their naturally given brain power. Then the Trumps of the world will retain their private castles in the sky but not the spirit of the land.
RB
3
Here in LA County's working class towns we are full, with people living in vehicles, garages, bushes, under bridges, on the sidewalks. Unemployment is sky high, despite cheerful statistics. Traffic is insane, public transport slow and unreliable. Too many people are mentally ill, poor, in jail, in gangs, uneducated and on the dole with no prospects, and they don't need more competition from anybody. Do you want us to take more people? How many, exactly?
2
While Donald Trump is the "loose cannon" of the gaggle of candidates on the Republican side, some of the others are more akin to "Trump-lite" than individuals who abhor the rants and hatred spewed by Trump and his followers. They are afraid he'll win the nomination or that he'll pull his camp into their own party and run against them. In either case, the GOP is destined for a very rough ride in the coming months. Whether or not it will survive remains to be seen.
If people are afraid of Trump's neo-Nazi rants, they should be more concerned as to how many of their party are lining up to support Donald in his effort.
The only man to appeal to Trump's followers as well as many main-stream Republicans is Ted Cruz. However, can either side trust him since he waffles around like a someone trying to balance themselves standing on a medicine ball? Carson is finished. Rubio is a serious candidate but has few behind him. Bush seems to have inherited some of the genes of his brother and makes comments that are complete nonsense. Kasich is about the only one who really denounces Trump and the far right isolationists who are more akin to neo-Nazis than anything else.
The Donald will be tested in the primaries and we shall see how far his incomprehensible and bigoted talk will take him. Let's hope he will be soundly defeated in his run to be a ruthless, tyrannical leader.
If people are afraid of Trump's neo-Nazi rants, they should be more concerned as to how many of their party are lining up to support Donald in his effort.
The only man to appeal to Trump's followers as well as many main-stream Republicans is Ted Cruz. However, can either side trust him since he waffles around like a someone trying to balance themselves standing on a medicine ball? Carson is finished. Rubio is a serious candidate but has few behind him. Bush seems to have inherited some of the genes of his brother and makes comments that are complete nonsense. Kasich is about the only one who really denounces Trump and the far right isolationists who are more akin to neo-Nazis than anything else.
The Donald will be tested in the primaries and we shall see how far his incomprehensible and bigoted talk will take him. Let's hope he will be soundly defeated in his run to be a ruthless, tyrannical leader.
1
Donald Trump represents the ultimate "triumph" of the Nixon-era "Southern strategy" with its covert, and not so covert, racist appeal. It was only in the 2014 mid-term elections that the Republican Party became the party of the "solid South" and, in so doing, the voice of the angry, white male anti-black, anti-female, anti-immigrant core constituency in the region. Before that we only had third party candidates like George Wallace and the American Independent Party. Nevertheless, the Republican Party has been capitalizing on this racist heritage for some time with slogans like Ronald Reagan's "welfare queen," and George H.W. Bush's infamous Willie Horton ad. If anything, we may owe Mr. Trump and the so-called "Trump effect" a debt of gratitude for removing the PC mask of bigotry that the Republican Party embraced in Richard Nixon's Faustian bargain for power. Now that we can all see, as you point out, how all that current Republican candidates also bask in this toxic bigotry, it's up to the Democratic candidates and the American people to render judgment and hopefully choose tolerance over intolerance.
2
It is not xenophobia to suggest that immigrants come to this country through legal means and that we be more selective about who we let in. The reality is that immigrants form countries/areas know for their hostility should be more carefully vetted. Of course, what Trump is proposing is bone-headed and unrealistic, but there is a grain of the reasonable in his vitriol. Could you imagine the wails from the Editors if Trump suggested that we only allow skilled labor immigrants in to the US?
2
This is being written by someone who voted for Obama 2x. The Times, and everyone in the media, right or left is missing something essential about Trump. First, you are all obsessed with him, and endlessly give him free publicity. Then you feign outrage-but what he is expressing, in his at times blustery manner(probably calculated) is the realization that the entire US political system is all part of the same entrenched group of corrupt, interlocking power interests. People, which the Times and others depict as xenophobes, racists, ignorants, all realize this, and despair over anything changing. All the candidates-or nearly all-Dems and Repubs are of this professional political class-do any of them have real jobs? As goofy as Trump can be there is a kind of unscripted honesty that people are craving-in contrast to all the rest-with their telepromters, speech writers-and everything said according to some political calculation. People are sick of it all-and Trump is the only thing out there possibly different-is there much to lose at this point?
2
Unfortunately this streak of bigotry has always existed in the US. Anti-Catholic sentiment in the 1830s resulted in the burning of an Ursuline Sisters convent in Charleston, Ma. The Know Nothing Party was a danger then and the GOP has picked up their platform. Shame on us
4
The reason why no Republican candidate for President has said they would not support Donald Trump if he is the Republican nominee for President is that they themselves need these same 33% of the Republican voters.
This one-third of the Republican Party are a part of the fringe groups that the Republican Party has spent the last two decades actively recruiting. But without them, and without supporting their radical and often irrational views, the Republican Party cannot remain a major political party.
A real dilemma for the Republican Presidential candidates! And very clearly showing their lack of personal integrity, not a single one of them has done the right thing. These candidates are the antithesis of patriotic Americans who revere the truths and freedoms that are part of America. They're political spinners -- even with our most basic constitutional rights.
This one-third of the Republican Party are a part of the fringe groups that the Republican Party has spent the last two decades actively recruiting. But without them, and without supporting their radical and often irrational views, the Republican Party cannot remain a major political party.
A real dilemma for the Republican Presidential candidates! And very clearly showing their lack of personal integrity, not a single one of them has done the right thing. These candidates are the antithesis of patriotic Americans who revere the truths and freedoms that are part of America. They're political spinners -- even with our most basic constitutional rights.
2
Attacking a hyperbolist with hyperbole does not inspire confidence. Brink of fascism? This, if I may borrow a phrase of Chomsky, is a disservice to the victims of fascism. On the subject of the jihad meme, there is a tendency here to see the fearful as merely ignorant, the outspoken as intolerant and probably bigoted. I think it is because we like pluralism and want a 1970 Coca Cola commercial kind of world. Who doesn't? Acknowledging the meme and its roots, nevertheless, will help promote thoughtful interchange and lead to solutions to what is an actual, and indeed scary, problem.
2
I've said it before and I'll say it again; cable TV is the worst thing that has ever happened to this country. CNN started 35 years ago on June 1, 1980 as a well intentioned endeavor.
Cable TV then attracted less well intentioned channels, yes, Fox News, that's you. Right wing radio then spread like wild fire and nobody can contain either of them. Evangelical Christians then joined them and we have a real mess on our hands and the 4th estate fell apart. All of them are chasing the almighty dollar.
The FCC seems unable to control any of them. Why?
The media is the message. ~ Marshall McLuhan
Cable TV then attracted less well intentioned channels, yes, Fox News, that's you. Right wing radio then spread like wild fire and nobody can contain either of them. Evangelical Christians then joined them and we have a real mess on our hands and the 4th estate fell apart. All of them are chasing the almighty dollar.
The FCC seems unable to control any of them. Why?
The media is the message. ~ Marshall McLuhan
5
Trump, or somebody like him was inevitable, ever since the GOP started using Lee Atwater's playbook.
The GOP has simply returned "to it's roots", there is absolutely nothing new to be seen here in terms of what Trump is doing. He's nothing more than the modern, reality show avatar for a bygone era.
Atwater adjusted how the GOP addressed the electorate to fit the times, tutoring them to speak "in coded language" as outright, in your face racism was in the process of becoming more or less taboo by the late sixties.
But the "code" has become more and more transparent over the years to the point where they've basically just said the heck with it, we're going back to the "old school" ways of doing things before the civil rights era.
Look at what they've done just in terms of voter suppression since Obama became president, it's in your face and unrepentant discrimination.
Do you really think they care that Trump comes across as "vulgar".
For public consumption, they give lip service to that, but that's all that it is.
None of them will disavow him as their nominee, and that's all you really need to know.
The GOP has simply returned "to it's roots", there is absolutely nothing new to be seen here in terms of what Trump is doing. He's nothing more than the modern, reality show avatar for a bygone era.
Atwater adjusted how the GOP addressed the electorate to fit the times, tutoring them to speak "in coded language" as outright, in your face racism was in the process of becoming more or less taboo by the late sixties.
But the "code" has become more and more transparent over the years to the point where they've basically just said the heck with it, we're going back to the "old school" ways of doing things before the civil rights era.
Look at what they've done just in terms of voter suppression since Obama became president, it's in your face and unrepentant discrimination.
Do you really think they care that Trump comes across as "vulgar".
For public consumption, they give lip service to that, but that's all that it is.
None of them will disavow him as their nominee, and that's all you really need to know.
2
I congratulate the NY Times for its belated but very important analysis of our current political landscape. "Trump brought his party and its politics to the brink of fascism".
Sorry to say but every time I have mentioned the "F"-word ("that is "Fascism") in one of my previous comments, your editors simply discarded my comments. So maybe now is the time we can face up to the truth.
But the situation is much more ominous. Why is it that Mr. Trump's quasi-fascist messages have lifted him to the top of the list of Republican contenders? Is it possible that the reason lies in the thinking, beliefs and perhaps unconscious tendencies of large segments of our population?
When Georgia wants to prohibit Muslim children from going to school, what are they going to achieve? We do not have to be afraid of Muslim immigrants who want to come here and build a safe and prosperous future for their families. The greatest danger lies with the next generation, when in the process of growing up they realize that they do not belong either here or in their parents' home country. They are the ones who are the easiest pray for jihadist agitators. Instead, we should do everything in our power to help these children assimilate into the American life.
But Trump has a different message. It sounds ominously like "Heraus mit dem Juden! Heraus mit dem Gelben! Heraus mit dem Zigeuner! (For the linguistically challenged, "out with the Jews, out with the Asians, out with the Gypsies"),
Sorry to say but every time I have mentioned the "F"-word ("that is "Fascism") in one of my previous comments, your editors simply discarded my comments. So maybe now is the time we can face up to the truth.
But the situation is much more ominous. Why is it that Mr. Trump's quasi-fascist messages have lifted him to the top of the list of Republican contenders? Is it possible that the reason lies in the thinking, beliefs and perhaps unconscious tendencies of large segments of our population?
When Georgia wants to prohibit Muslim children from going to school, what are they going to achieve? We do not have to be afraid of Muslim immigrants who want to come here and build a safe and prosperous future for their families. The greatest danger lies with the next generation, when in the process of growing up they realize that they do not belong either here or in their parents' home country. They are the ones who are the easiest pray for jihadist agitators. Instead, we should do everything in our power to help these children assimilate into the American life.
But Trump has a different message. It sounds ominously like "Heraus mit dem Juden! Heraus mit dem Gelben! Heraus mit dem Zigeuner! (For the linguistically challenged, "out with the Jews, out with the Asians, out with the Gypsies"),
4
Exclusionary immigration policies are not even close to fascism.
Or else the U.S. has been fascist for most of its history and most of the world remains fascist today.
A nation can limit who to admit without being fascist.
Or else the U.S. has been fascist for most of its history and most of the world remains fascist today.
A nation can limit who to admit without being fascist.
4
This editorial is correct about Mr. Trump, but is otherwise overwrought.
Mr. Trump is an odious candidate; many conservatives, myself included, will vote for the Democrat in the unlikely event he wins the Republican nomination.
This country is founded on religious freedom, and his comments about “registering” Moslems who are here legally is reprehensible and unconstitutional. Obviously, there are exceptions to freedom of religion; we cannot tolerate beliefs which encourage violence. A small minority of Moslems have been radicalized and hold such beliefs; the large majority do not.
But it must also be understood that the US cannot solve all the problems of the world at large;, we clearly do not have the resources to do so. Many believe we should admit all Syrian refugees who wish to enter, others, legitimately, believe there are reasons relating to security and finite national resources that preclude this. Make no mistake: it is impossible to “vet” refugees from a dysfunctional country like Syria to exclude those who would commit mass terror. Like it or not, this is the reality. Many feel we should accept the risk in the interest of humanity, but others do not.
The issues facing many of the world’s billions are great, including starvation and disease, as well as religious and political persecution. We are a wealthy nation, and must do what we can. But our leaders must make choices and set priorities.
Mr. Trump is an odious candidate; many conservatives, myself included, will vote for the Democrat in the unlikely event he wins the Republican nomination.
This country is founded on religious freedom, and his comments about “registering” Moslems who are here legally is reprehensible and unconstitutional. Obviously, there are exceptions to freedom of religion; we cannot tolerate beliefs which encourage violence. A small minority of Moslems have been radicalized and hold such beliefs; the large majority do not.
But it must also be understood that the US cannot solve all the problems of the world at large;, we clearly do not have the resources to do so. Many believe we should admit all Syrian refugees who wish to enter, others, legitimately, believe there are reasons relating to security and finite national resources that preclude this. Make no mistake: it is impossible to “vet” refugees from a dysfunctional country like Syria to exclude those who would commit mass terror. Like it or not, this is the reality. Many feel we should accept the risk in the interest of humanity, but others do not.
The issues facing many of the world’s billions are great, including starvation and disease, as well as religious and political persecution. We are a wealthy nation, and must do what we can. But our leaders must make choices and set priorities.
Trump complains that he is not being respected while he campaigns. But does he respect anybody himself? As far as I can tell, he feels so insulated from almost everybody except his immediate family, that he issues a non-stop flow of insults, belittlements, name-calling, derogatory statements, etc. about everyone he encounters, making it clear that he respects no one at all. He has already crowned himself king. Apparently he never learned that giving respect earns respect back. He must have had useless parents--there seems to be no politeness, no courtesy, no kindness, no respect, etc., in his makeup. Just a drive to override anything and everything another person might be saying.
3
Not a fan of Trump's proposal, but please quit calling everything fascist and racist. It was not fascist or racist when President Carter halted all immigration from Iran during the hostage crisis and deported 15,000 Iranians. A moratorium (not a ban) with exceptions (such as for persecuted Christians, women and homosexuals) while we evaluate our vetting process is at least worthy of discussion.
How does toxic nativism spread? By our leaders appearing to not even recognize the threat posed by Radical Islamic Terrorism or by porous borders, generally. This is a populist reaction against the fecklessness of our elites. If you want to keep such reactions in check, stop ignoring legitimate concerns and insulting those who raise them.
How does toxic nativism spread? By our leaders appearing to not even recognize the threat posed by Radical Islamic Terrorism or by porous borders, generally. This is a populist reaction against the fecklessness of our elites. If you want to keep such reactions in check, stop ignoring legitimate concerns and insulting those who raise them.
5
"But serious damage is already being done to the country, to its reputation overseas, by a man who is seen as speaking for America": this is the crux of the Editorial Board's position.
America is heterogeneous and polarized enough that no subset of its population can really be seen to "speak for" all its people. And perhaps one might argue that other countries don't see our cultural divisions as starkly as we do. That would be to underestimate others' awareness, but it would also be to lie to ourselves.
Trump (et al.) is "seen as speaking for America" because, to some extent, he IS. The success of his demagoguery and the broader nativist emphasis in the Republican Party are visible and, as it were, "credentialized" as American beliefs by a large number of American citizens who are bigoted, terrified, wildly uninformed (in part because they are ill-served by present modes of news reportage). Those Americans who twist what the Gospels and/or the Constitution (allegedly) say or mean to promote exclusion, gun fetishism, and all manner of sectarian intolerance, see their own image in the pseudo-Christian quasi-fascists seeking the Republican nomination.
Why shouldn't the world distrust and contemn a violent society whose xenophobic bigots back the new fascism? That's not all we are, but it's part -- a real, loud part.
Nor let me spare the "left" that only shows up in the big election years. They are unheard because they are too quiet. Citizenship is a full-time job, kids.
America is heterogeneous and polarized enough that no subset of its population can really be seen to "speak for" all its people. And perhaps one might argue that other countries don't see our cultural divisions as starkly as we do. That would be to underestimate others' awareness, but it would also be to lie to ourselves.
Trump (et al.) is "seen as speaking for America" because, to some extent, he IS. The success of his demagoguery and the broader nativist emphasis in the Republican Party are visible and, as it were, "credentialized" as American beliefs by a large number of American citizens who are bigoted, terrified, wildly uninformed (in part because they are ill-served by present modes of news reportage). Those Americans who twist what the Gospels and/or the Constitution (allegedly) say or mean to promote exclusion, gun fetishism, and all manner of sectarian intolerance, see their own image in the pseudo-Christian quasi-fascists seeking the Republican nomination.
Why shouldn't the world distrust and contemn a violent society whose xenophobic bigots back the new fascism? That's not all we are, but it's part -- a real, loud part.
Nor let me spare the "left" that only shows up in the big election years. They are unheard because they are too quiet. Citizenship is a full-time job, kids.
1
I wonder if the GOTP will ever return to reason.
They've never been the most emotionally or mentally stable group but these days, they are down right certifiable.
GOTP politicians actually got traction when they told their uneducated base that President Obama was really an al Qeada operative who stayed hidden for three decades before activating and winning the White House.
The GOTP front runner was one of the biggest supporters of that nonsense.
I wonder if there's something inherent in the conservative mindset that blocks critical thinking.
Reagan's silly kindergarten take on economics, called Trickle Down Economics (more appropriately Voodoo Economics) failed badly.
It also failed when the first Bush tred and then again when The Decider tried it.
But they continue trying it maybe because the elites who own the GOTP get filthier and richer everytime the GOTP property in the White House try it.
Do us all a favor, grow up GOTP...it's just not that cute anymore.
They've never been the most emotionally or mentally stable group but these days, they are down right certifiable.
GOTP politicians actually got traction when they told their uneducated base that President Obama was really an al Qeada operative who stayed hidden for three decades before activating and winning the White House.
The GOTP front runner was one of the biggest supporters of that nonsense.
I wonder if there's something inherent in the conservative mindset that blocks critical thinking.
Reagan's silly kindergarten take on economics, called Trickle Down Economics (more appropriately Voodoo Economics) failed badly.
It also failed when the first Bush tred and then again when The Decider tried it.
But they continue trying it maybe because the elites who own the GOTP get filthier and richer everytime the GOTP property in the White House try it.
Do us all a favor, grow up GOTP...it's just not that cute anymore.
Bigotry is hateful so I am sure the Times editorial writers will join me (just kidding) in denouncing the most open and disgusting example of it, the disgusting reaction of writers and commentators on the Left after the Colorado shooting. And that is bigotry against white males, bigotry against American Christians, especially those who live in the American South.
There were countless articles in leftwing publications, pointing to the shooters race, his religion, and his original geographical origin. This is precisely what we are told again and again is not what we should do in the case of the San Bernardino shooters. In their case, only the shooters are guilty. In the Colorado shooting, every white male Christian in the South is guilty, at least those that vote Republican anyway.
I'm confident that most Southern Christians were appalled by the actions of the Colorado shooter. It is open season for bigotry against this demographic, and you can publish screeds against them with impunity, resting assured that the likes of the New York Times will react to your bigotry with silence
What really galls the Left is that these people resist their efforts of control, and won't be told what to think, or how to vote. But bigotry is bigotry, and the Leftists variety is of the more venal kind, being aimed at a wide swath of the American people, whose families have been here since the country's creation, and who have long formed the hard working backbone of this nation.
There were countless articles in leftwing publications, pointing to the shooters race, his religion, and his original geographical origin. This is precisely what we are told again and again is not what we should do in the case of the San Bernardino shooters. In their case, only the shooters are guilty. In the Colorado shooting, every white male Christian in the South is guilty, at least those that vote Republican anyway.
I'm confident that most Southern Christians were appalled by the actions of the Colorado shooter. It is open season for bigotry against this demographic, and you can publish screeds against them with impunity, resting assured that the likes of the New York Times will react to your bigotry with silence
What really galls the Left is that these people resist their efforts of control, and won't be told what to think, or how to vote. But bigotry is bigotry, and the Leftists variety is of the more venal kind, being aimed at a wide swath of the American people, whose families have been here since the country's creation, and who have long formed the hard working backbone of this nation.
4
The reactionaries on the far right claim they support Trump for the sake of safety from terrorism. Never mind that he reflects their own racist tendencies which they have projected onto President Obama for the past 7 years.
But the thing is fanning bigotry and fear does not calm the waters, but rather fans the flames and makes us even more open to terrorism. If we deputized most of the American people to fight terrorism, it would make terrorists even more determined to attack us and a determined foe will always find a way to do so. The only real answer to terrorists is to show the world how tolerant we are. This does not mean we should let down our guard but means that electing a reactionary fear mongering Trump as President will not make us safer, but only fan the the determination of intent of groups like ISIS around the world to commit even more horrendous acts.
But the thing is fanning bigotry and fear does not calm the waters, but rather fans the flames and makes us even more open to terrorism. If we deputized most of the American people to fight terrorism, it would make terrorists even more determined to attack us and a determined foe will always find a way to do so. The only real answer to terrorists is to show the world how tolerant we are. This does not mean we should let down our guard but means that electing a reactionary fear mongering Trump as President will not make us safer, but only fan the the determination of intent of groups like ISIS around the world to commit even more horrendous acts.
Since Obama was elected in 2008, GOP conservatives, Fox News and talk-radio have made bigotry, of every kind, acceptable and publicly pronounceable. Trump and Cruz are at the top of the hate-hill.
We have gone through similar period in the past. Hopefully, this shall pass too.
We have gone through similar period in the past. Hopefully, this shall pass too.
1
I'm the leader of my household. If I were running a massive deficit, had negative cash flow, and survived almost exclusively on loans, I wouldn't be inviting people over for dinner.
I believe in the great melting pot, but I also believe in sanity. We need to get the American 'house' in order before allowing ANY immigrants into our nation. The immigration program should be put on hold until we can adequately take care of the population that is already here.
I'm from Connecticut. I live next to the city of Bridgeport. Bridgeport shares a common trait I have seen in cities in every state I have visited; it is crumbling. Bridgeport is filled with outdated public facilities, abandoned warehouses, people suffering in poverty, drug use, and crime. Dannel Malloy wants to bring 1,600 Syrians to my state. I guess he figures 1,600 more people living on government handouts won't make much of a difference.
This also completely ignores the intelligence we are getting from Europe that at least 1% of the immigrants from the middle east will be radicalized. So 1,600 new people living on food stamps in government sponsored housing and 16 ISIS fighters.
"Here is $1,000 to get you started. And here are the keys to your new apartment. Your government subsidy will arrive on the 15th of each month, as will your food stamps. Your housing stipend to get furniture will arrive shortly. The home depot is just down the road. You can get 85% of what you need to make a bomb there. Welcome to America."
I believe in the great melting pot, but I also believe in sanity. We need to get the American 'house' in order before allowing ANY immigrants into our nation. The immigration program should be put on hold until we can adequately take care of the population that is already here.
I'm from Connecticut. I live next to the city of Bridgeport. Bridgeport shares a common trait I have seen in cities in every state I have visited; it is crumbling. Bridgeport is filled with outdated public facilities, abandoned warehouses, people suffering in poverty, drug use, and crime. Dannel Malloy wants to bring 1,600 Syrians to my state. I guess he figures 1,600 more people living on government handouts won't make much of a difference.
This also completely ignores the intelligence we are getting from Europe that at least 1% of the immigrants from the middle east will be radicalized. So 1,600 new people living on food stamps in government sponsored housing and 16 ISIS fighters.
"Here is $1,000 to get you started. And here are the keys to your new apartment. Your government subsidy will arrive on the 15th of each month, as will your food stamps. Your housing stipend to get furniture will arrive shortly. The home depot is just down the road. You can get 85% of what you need to make a bomb there. Welcome to America."
14
If you're going to blame Donald Trump for Barack Obama's mistakes, can the American people at least get a chance to vote Trump into office to fix them?
Or is that just too much hope and change for the liberal establishment to take?
Or is that just too much hope and change for the liberal establishment to take?
9
Trump's ideology is inferior to most Americans on both sides of the aisle. The GOP can't control this man's free speech so they are not responsible for his idiocy, but how can they stop someone with so much money? Conservatives are on TV daily trashing him but his base is ignoring the warning signs or they are clueless or worse they agree with him in part or whole. People are concerned about terorism but less than 3% support terrorism. Most Muslims are Mecca Muslims, meaning they love God, are patriots and nonviolent and they stand with all of us. Only 3% are Medina types who are the opposite but also claim religion, are violent or support it and they are far from normal.
Maybe Congress could pass a law and ban him from running for office because so many feel he's either racist, a threat to national security or because we need to amend the 22th Amendment to exclude those whose demeanor lacks the intellect, responsible mindset and skills necessary to run for high office.
Seriously. We have dozens running for office when you include the clowns who run for attention while wearing funny suits with dollar bill symbols on them and worse, people like KKK leader
David Duke........clearly not electable.
Maybe Congress could pass a law and ban him from running for office because so many feel he's either racist, a threat to national security or because we need to amend the 22th Amendment to exclude those whose demeanor lacks the intellect, responsible mindset and skills necessary to run for high office.
Seriously. We have dozens running for office when you include the clowns who run for attention while wearing funny suits with dollar bill symbols on them and worse, people like KKK leader
David Duke........clearly not electable.
"Indiana’s refusal forced one family to seek refuge in Connecticut."
Is there something wrong with having to move to Connecticut? Is Connecticut a back-water place or a third-world country?
As usual, a poorly written house editorial. The NYT should apply Gail Collins' 72-hour rule to anything this bunch churns out.
Is there something wrong with having to move to Connecticut? Is Connecticut a back-water place or a third-world country?
As usual, a poorly written house editorial. The NYT should apply Gail Collins' 72-hour rule to anything this bunch churns out.
6
So much for impartial reporting. To be fair, I guess the NYT never made that claim. Trump IS scary. But apparently out of an abundance of concern based on polls, the NYT has gone on a full offensive against all Republicans. Frankly, who cares about British petitions? What ridiculous word program reads him as a potential psycho dictator (...although that may be true...)? What about Hilary Clinton? What is happening with her continual denial of everything against her? What of the facts surrounding her untruthfulness and very real credibility issues? Trump is so high in the polls, unfortunately, because so many people are tired of the politics in America. While I share the concern that he might actually somehow win a nomination, I'd love to see equal and fair reporting of ALL candidates and their issues.
2
Editorial is mistaken on several points. DT has not called for excluding anyone, but favors a '="tri," a thorough screening of crossovers from southern border, which O, ideologically driven,has discouraged.DT has also called for a temporary halt in accepting Syrian immigrants, which is reasonable given tragedies in Paris, Mali, SB and FORT HOOD, to name just a few.EB has called Trump a fascist. Doubt whether anyone on the Board has ever met a fascist--Alexander Harrison knew many in the OAS--and misunderstands its historical roots.( See my previous comments on this system of ideas.) To call DT nativist is also inaccurate. DT has business interests all over the world.Do u think he travels the globe calling for a FORTRESS AMERICA? Organizations mentioned, ACLU, NIC and SAPLC r all left wing entities, beneficiaries of large subsidies from 0's administration, and r its mouthpieces.No reason for anyone to take this editorial very seriously.Authors write like students eager to please their left wing teacher in an advanced placement high school English class. NYT can do better.DT speaks for folks who have suffered under 0BAMA,but have been cowed into silence by a media that does not have the best interests of Americans and America at heart.If O had been taking care of the nation's business, and putting the welfare of US citizens ahead of that of foreign nationals, we would not be witnessing the Trump phenomenon.
3
Everything Trump says and represents has it's roots in the Tea Party backlash that's been happening since 2008. He is the out of control Frankenstein monster of the GOP.
1
What seems to be operative is that once someone breaks the taboo the activity eventually becomes rampant. Thus, in mass shootings, the Texas Tower shooting and Columbine 'enabled' the horrors we live with today. If this hypothesis is correct, public xenophobia, hate speech and worse will become rampant soon enough.
All that Mr. Trump said recently was (paraphrased) that stop Muslims (temporarily)entering the country until the authorities have figured out what's going on. I have been in manufacturing business all my life. When something serious goes wrong in the business, we take a step back, stop everything and investigate, find the problem and resolve the issue before going back to normal production. Those in business understand this, not the political pundits nor creer politicians. I do not agree with all the proposals that he puts forth. But when something like this rational step is offered, I tend to go along with him.
3
This represents a profound misunderstanding of the "Trump Phenomena", why people support a Trump candidacy and how most people approach politics and voting.
Yes, the phenomena is reactionary; but it's also flat wrong that its legs rest on low-info voters, ignorance or other small ball. That's beneath this storied newspaper. Trump's appeal draws on a number of factors that require introspection by the elite (both left and right) because they represent collectively a rebuke of them and by extension you (the Times). Trump shouts American interests ahead of consensus (i.e. PC) thinking which is appealing to many people. Point-of-Fact: Syrian refuges DO increase the risk of terrorism. Argue the extent, exaggerating or underplaying, but it's still finite. People know that and are thus distrustful of politicians who try to deny it. When elites state "values", they're writing an ideological check to be cashed by voters who must accept the cost and risk but have no say and are derided (i.e. this editorial) if they disagree. No surprise then that disenfranchisement is the golden road to extremism and candidates like Trump merely fill a political space that our PC public sphere has failed to create. That space extends beyond immigration to the shrinking middle class and the state of white America; which is an inexorable state of decline but which cannot "respectably" be talked about.
Yes, the phenomena is reactionary; but it's also flat wrong that its legs rest on low-info voters, ignorance or other small ball. That's beneath this storied newspaper. Trump's appeal draws on a number of factors that require introspection by the elite (both left and right) because they represent collectively a rebuke of them and by extension you (the Times). Trump shouts American interests ahead of consensus (i.e. PC) thinking which is appealing to many people. Point-of-Fact: Syrian refuges DO increase the risk of terrorism. Argue the extent, exaggerating or underplaying, but it's still finite. People know that and are thus distrustful of politicians who try to deny it. When elites state "values", they're writing an ideological check to be cashed by voters who must accept the cost and risk but have no say and are derided (i.e. this editorial) if they disagree. No surprise then that disenfranchisement is the golden road to extremism and candidates like Trump merely fill a political space that our PC public sphere has failed to create. That space extends beyond immigration to the shrinking middle class and the state of white America; which is an inexorable state of decline but which cannot "respectably" be talked about.
2
Trump is nothing new when it comes to the vast array of demagogues in American politics. We have had them throughout our history. And sometimes they actually win support for their ridiculous notions.
It is an indicator of how many citizens in this country are filled with fear and paranoia. Grasping at straws, or straw men, is something people do when they have lost all hope for humanity, when they begin to see their neighbors as well as people whom they have never met from halfway around the world as not sharing their mutual intrinsic human values. Instead they view them as evildoers intent on vanquishing the entire Judeo-Christian world from the earth.
If one thinks this Trump mania is going to end soon, as nervous and bewildered Republicans are right now. they are sadly mistaken. Trump is a sore which has festered and become so infected it will take a thorough cleansing by hopefully a still sane majority of American voters come next November to end this cancerous growth on the nation. Yes, cancer is a harsh word to be sure, but it is mild compared with the decease of bigotry which The Donald spews every day.
People like Trump are lightening rods for hate. They represent the dark side of American history of which there are many. In the end The Donald will be but a small stain on that history which over time will fade with each washing of our pile of dirty laundry.
DD
Manhattan
It is an indicator of how many citizens in this country are filled with fear and paranoia. Grasping at straws, or straw men, is something people do when they have lost all hope for humanity, when they begin to see their neighbors as well as people whom they have never met from halfway around the world as not sharing their mutual intrinsic human values. Instead they view them as evildoers intent on vanquishing the entire Judeo-Christian world from the earth.
If one thinks this Trump mania is going to end soon, as nervous and bewildered Republicans are right now. they are sadly mistaken. Trump is a sore which has festered and become so infected it will take a thorough cleansing by hopefully a still sane majority of American voters come next November to end this cancerous growth on the nation. Yes, cancer is a harsh word to be sure, but it is mild compared with the decease of bigotry which The Donald spews every day.
People like Trump are lightening rods for hate. They represent the dark side of American history of which there are many. In the end The Donald will be but a small stain on that history which over time will fade with each washing of our pile of dirty laundry.
DD
Manhattan
Donald Trump is just one man. The real problem are those who support him. We have to face the fact that a significant fraction of people in this country have a gross failure of moral judgment.
Republican candidates have been trying to woo these people. If they could do it by offering something constructive, it would be one thing, but the reality is that they've been speaking in code showing xenophobia and hatred all along. And virtually no one in the Republican establishment has been willing to call them out.
Republican candidates have been trying to woo these people. If they could do it by offering something constructive, it would be one thing, but the reality is that they've been speaking in code showing xenophobia and hatred all along. And virtually no one in the Republican establishment has been willing to call them out.
Amen. This Trump Talk is the undressed version of the code words first used by Gov. George Wallace as he bellowed against federal government intervention, having discovered that anti-segregation talk was frowned upon. Then with the Southern Strategy the Republican Party, with full intent to divide the races, the GOP sowed the seeds we found in full bloom in Sarah Palin in 2008, and in the detestable Tea Party-like racist reactions to President Obama. The current crop of GOP Presidential candidates has been stumbling all over themselves to cater to the drooling and hateful right-wingers, but only after the've seen the golden-haired Trump shamelessly leading the blaring brass band of narrow-minded bigots down the middle of every Main Street in America. This is what the GOP wanted, produced, fomented, and silently winked at to celebrate whenever it worked to win any small or large election. They should all stand in a circular room of mirrors today and listen to screams of "Shame!"
2
What about my fellow Americans? What has happened to them? Hate and fear prevail over all.
In national polls Secretary Clinton stands at 47% and Donald Trump at 44%. He is supported by conservatives, moderates, and independents, the latter group being those who elect the president these days.
What ever happened to peace and love? Well, they died decades ago.
We have lived in 75 years of continuous war against a shifting set of enemies who become friends and friends who become enemies. We have lived in hate and fear of 'the other', racial minorities, inner city folks, and poor people for 45 years. We have fought continual war in Foreverstan (the middle east) for 35 years. We have endured 45 years of stagnant wages watching the rich get richer.
And so a master salesman surveys the land and sees 'what sells'. America is in a bad place right now with no way out. We live in a perfect storm of hate and fear. Sinclair Lewis wrote a novel in the 1930's titled 'It Can't Happen Here' about a native born dictatorship. Can it happen here now? Why not? Look around you at your fellow Americans.
In national polls Secretary Clinton stands at 47% and Donald Trump at 44%. He is supported by conservatives, moderates, and independents, the latter group being those who elect the president these days.
What ever happened to peace and love? Well, they died decades ago.
We have lived in 75 years of continuous war against a shifting set of enemies who become friends and friends who become enemies. We have lived in hate and fear of 'the other', racial minorities, inner city folks, and poor people for 45 years. We have fought continual war in Foreverstan (the middle east) for 35 years. We have endured 45 years of stagnant wages watching the rich get richer.
And so a master salesman surveys the land and sees 'what sells'. America is in a bad place right now with no way out. We live in a perfect storm of hate and fear. Sinclair Lewis wrote a novel in the 1930's titled 'It Can't Happen Here' about a native born dictatorship. Can it happen here now? Why not? Look around you at your fellow Americans.
1
I hear all this talk, talk, talk about Xenophobia, but I don't necessarily agree that that's accurate in Trumps case. Xenophobia is simply the hatred and fear of foreigners, period. If a foreign person points a gun at me a tells me they're going to shoot, am I therefore a xenophobe because that makes me afraid? Apparently, by the media's definitions, I am.
My apologies. But so why does all of today's discussions always have to be so literal and seemingly intentionally out of true context of the circumstances surrounding any discussion? Has everything in this country been literally taken over by lawyers and legalese such that rational talk and debate is no longer possible or desired?
My apologies. But so why does all of today's discussions always have to be so literal and seemingly intentionally out of true context of the circumstances surrounding any discussion? Has everything in this country been literally taken over by lawyers and legalese such that rational talk and debate is no longer possible or desired?
2
The best reaction is action! Naming the sin, yes, and opposing those who espouse it, yes. But equally critical is getting behind a positive plan of action that will direct the energies of our people away from fear and anger toward constructing a better reality for all of us, especially those who are attracted to the Republican "us against them" creed. What does America stand for? Opportunity and prosperity for all! That, as much as freedom and safety, is what brings immigrants to our shores, and right now, we don't have that. We need to level the playing field, create good-paying jobs for all willing workers now, keep American manufacturing jobs here, make all work pay a decent living, add some measure of security to jobs through recessions, put some money behind "family values" with guaranteed paid maternity leave and leave to care for sick family, take the obscene profits out of our healthcare system, shift to clean energy to address climate change, and more! Take back our tax money from wars and put them to work building prosperity at home. That's the action that will give the lie to the Republican agenda. And Bernie Sanders is the leader we need to get us there.
republicans care more about winning then governing, yes probably true with all politicians
but this band of inexperienced ideologically driven short sighted group has no serious alternative to share
they blame others, point fingers, repeat untruths and spread garbage so they don't have to answer what they actually would do
they stay so vague because they have no choice because they react to issues without careful consideration of facts, science, history or understanding of the future
the bigger villan is a too many in the media unwilling to call out the weakness so obvious in that group
but this band of inexperienced ideologically driven short sighted group has no serious alternative to share
they blame others, point fingers, repeat untruths and spread garbage so they don't have to answer what they actually would do
they stay so vague because they have no choice because they react to issues without careful consideration of facts, science, history or understanding of the future
the bigger villan is a too many in the media unwilling to call out the weakness so obvious in that group
1
Trump's proposal aside, can't we seriously discuss who should be welcome as immigrant to this country? A class of people who have values completely opposite of us as a secular, liberal democracy with equal rights to all minorities, women, gays and disabled. We as a people put country and constitution before our religion. Why can't we use such criteria for immigration.
Europe is already suffering with the increase of immigrants with values antithetical to the European secular, democratic culture.
Europe is already suffering with the increase of immigrants with values antithetical to the European secular, democratic culture.
5
I am a very liberal democrat but I have to say: this kind of writing comes across less informative and thought-provoking and much more sickening overkill on the propaganda.
The piece started out with an interesting, reasonable thesis: that Trump's concepts are not incongruous with the general Republican party ideology; a sort of it's not what you say, but how you say it type of theme.
But then it takes so many turns into bizarre diatribes against Trump, talking about America and "its message of tolerance and welcome" while at the same time demonstrating zero tolerance or understanding for Trump and the significant portion of the American population that he represents.
In addition, we are just force-fed so many bologna ideas here. Trump has not called for internment; linking the internment of Japanese-Americans does not *necessarily* have anything to do with the concept of temporarily banning Muslims from entering the country. And while it may be a stupid idea, or an unrealistic idea, or any number of things---this article does *nothing* to explain why or how. Not to mention all of the glib melodrama (e.g., "Muslisms...have good reason to fear that the darkness is falling again." I mean, really? Give me a break.)
Don't be fooled. There is no careful, incisive analysis here. And I'm disappointed to see so much liberal pap from a newspaper that I usually respect.
The piece started out with an interesting, reasonable thesis: that Trump's concepts are not incongruous with the general Republican party ideology; a sort of it's not what you say, but how you say it type of theme.
But then it takes so many turns into bizarre diatribes against Trump, talking about America and "its message of tolerance and welcome" while at the same time demonstrating zero tolerance or understanding for Trump and the significant portion of the American population that he represents.
In addition, we are just force-fed so many bologna ideas here. Trump has not called for internment; linking the internment of Japanese-Americans does not *necessarily* have anything to do with the concept of temporarily banning Muslims from entering the country. And while it may be a stupid idea, or an unrealistic idea, or any number of things---this article does *nothing* to explain why or how. Not to mention all of the glib melodrama (e.g., "Muslisms...have good reason to fear that the darkness is falling again." I mean, really? Give me a break.)
Don't be fooled. There is no careful, incisive analysis here. And I'm disappointed to see so much liberal pap from a newspaper that I usually respect.
8
Which media outlet will be the first to call upon their "Edward R. Murrow" conscience and say enough, and simply not report on Trump? It will only take one brave outlet and others will follow. Trump's incendiary rhetoric has taken up enough of our time. There are very serious issues and the media, especially TV and mostly cable TV, takes the easy road. The balance is gone and the facts are blurred. The media is once again embedded, but this time with Trump.
The GOP has fomented xenophobia, extremism, its own form of radicalization, for years. While the candidacy and election of Barack Hussein Obama was not the catalyst for the apparent surge in intolerance and outright bigotry, it brought feelings previously harbored in secret out in the open. Thanks to McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate, it became almost fashionable to openly express disdain and hatred for anyone who seemed to be different from "us." Expressing anything in terms of "us" and "them" became de rigeur at GOP rallies -- especially those at which Palin was the keynote speaker. But make no mistake. The GOP, and its mouthpiece, Faux News, began sowing the seeds of bigotry, racism, hate and anger long before Obama entered the 2008 race. So, it certainly should come as no surprise that this strategy has cuminated with the candidacy of a man like Trump, who will say and do anything to "win," costs to our national security, culture and reputation be damned. The rest in the GOP field are, as you point out, "mini-mes" of Trump, no less dangerous, no less ignorant, no less appalling. And while we could previously take some comfort in the fact that the electorate elected BHO twice (so there must not really be so many Trump and GOP supporters among us, they must just be more vocal, or are covered more often by the media), the tone of the rhetoric has crossed the line in a deeply troubling way. I wonder if we'll ever be able to recover from this.
5
"The internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II, as some Republicans have either forgotten or never understood, was a dark episode in American history." Republicans? Really? Democrats, not Republicans, were responsible for the interment of Japanese-Americans during WWii. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, one of the most liberal and progressive Democrats of the 20th century authorized their imprisonment. As far as I know the Republicans have not ordered the mass incarceration of a single group of people based on ethnicity and ancestry. In fact, the Republicans have probably done more to extend opportunity to minorities, as Abraham Lincoln ordered the emancipation of slaves, and the Republican dominated Congress during Reconstruction, led by Thaddeus Stevens, promoted civil rights in the post-bellum South.
3
i still haven't read enough from traditional media recognizing the source of this
radical right wing ideology.
politicians tend to understand what voters want to hear and adopt those views. so, the reality is that many republican voters "like" trumpism. but why? the answer is clear: the expansion and volume of talk radio and fox news. so many voters listen only to these sources of "information".
of course, we can't do much about extremist entertainers spouting their opinions. but we can, and should, closely monitor the narration of "false facts". false statements of fact are not protected by the first amendment. i would love to see defamation claims ramped up against talk radio, but of that of course would require significant monitoring and fact checking.
but our right wing "virus" has been as damaging as anything foreign: it cements anti-global warming ignorance; it secures "gun rights" mania; it promotes fear and anger, generally, against foreigners and "minorities": it excludes social welfare/infrastructure spending. we need a concentrated effort to bankrupt hate-promoting right wing lies.
radical right wing ideology.
politicians tend to understand what voters want to hear and adopt those views. so, the reality is that many republican voters "like" trumpism. but why? the answer is clear: the expansion and volume of talk radio and fox news. so many voters listen only to these sources of "information".
of course, we can't do much about extremist entertainers spouting their opinions. but we can, and should, closely monitor the narration of "false facts". false statements of fact are not protected by the first amendment. i would love to see defamation claims ramped up against talk radio, but of that of course would require significant monitoring and fact checking.
but our right wing "virus" has been as damaging as anything foreign: it cements anti-global warming ignorance; it secures "gun rights" mania; it promotes fear and anger, generally, against foreigners and "minorities": it excludes social welfare/infrastructure spending. we need a concentrated effort to bankrupt hate-promoting right wing lies.
1
It's common to say that Trump simply represents the culmination of Republican zealotry, but democrats need to accept some of the blame. Trump also represents a perfect example of identity politics. Trump backs the interests of white, christian men, to the exclusion of all others. This type of politics has been encouraged by the democratic party for quite some time. If it's OK for women and various racial groups, why isn't it OK for white men? Chickens come to roost, indeed.
1
What is to be done about the hatred that is rising in this country?
Possibly, nothing. After Obama was elected, racist Americans panicked at a black man taking office. Trump has always capitalized on this. He says the things that we were taught not to say in the 80s-90s era of PC - and racists are so relieved! Finally someone is saying what they think "everyone" is really thinking in private. So they praise him for being "straightforward" and "honest." In reality, they are just grateful to hear their racism echoed.
Bloomberg recently did a poll asking Republicans what they thought of banning Muslims from entering the country - most supported it. A 2nd question stated that all other Republican candidates and many public figures condemn Trump's idea, and criticize it as un-American - having heard this, do you think it is really a good idea? Even MORE people said yes to the second question.
Reminding people of democratic values and what the Constitution protects does NOT change their minds. As more terrorist attacks occur, the hostility towards Muslims will increase. We must rely on the rule of law to function properly to protect them - that means that our courts and our lawmakers must do the right thing. Public opinion won't change - not if we're heading into a war that touches us all. I fear the temptation to repeat our treatment of Japanese citizens during WWII will be very strong. Our public institutions must remain strong enough to keep that from happening.
Possibly, nothing. After Obama was elected, racist Americans panicked at a black man taking office. Trump has always capitalized on this. He says the things that we were taught not to say in the 80s-90s era of PC - and racists are so relieved! Finally someone is saying what they think "everyone" is really thinking in private. So they praise him for being "straightforward" and "honest." In reality, they are just grateful to hear their racism echoed.
Bloomberg recently did a poll asking Republicans what they thought of banning Muslims from entering the country - most supported it. A 2nd question stated that all other Republican candidates and many public figures condemn Trump's idea, and criticize it as un-American - having heard this, do you think it is really a good idea? Even MORE people said yes to the second question.
Reminding people of democratic values and what the Constitution protects does NOT change their minds. As more terrorist attacks occur, the hostility towards Muslims will increase. We must rely on the rule of law to function properly to protect them - that means that our courts and our lawmakers must do the right thing. Public opinion won't change - not if we're heading into a war that touches us all. I fear the temptation to repeat our treatment of Japanese citizens during WWII will be very strong. Our public institutions must remain strong enough to keep that from happening.
3
I think Trump is extreme in one direction while our government is arguable extreme in the progressive direction. The Democrat and Republican parties seem to differ little in governance but greatly in political theater. Perhaps the governance is for the donor class, and the theater is for the base. Republicans for example, will scream and holler about the evils of the ACA, and they will take show votes, but they will never take an action with teeth such as defunding it with the excuse of being blamed for a shut down.
I also think the governing establishment from both parities are fine will illegal immigration perhaps because the donors are. They will both put on nice theater, but in the end, neither will do anything about it. Many jobs that could be done by citizens are now done by illegals, or legals with work visas such that wages are pushed down at both the high and low ends, and people at the low end being pushed toward the safety net.
Now, in walks trump saying what many consider extreme things, but perhaps being the only one willing to do non-extreme populist things. Things like Rule of Law immigration, fighting Isis to win, winning on trade deals. If you want many populous things, all you will get from the ruling establishment ins good theater. Trump seems the only alternative.
The solution of course, is moderate candidates true to their word. Ones who will not give theater to the voters and results to the donors. Who else is there but Trump?
I also think the governing establishment from both parities are fine will illegal immigration perhaps because the donors are. They will both put on nice theater, but in the end, neither will do anything about it. Many jobs that could be done by citizens are now done by illegals, or legals with work visas such that wages are pushed down at both the high and low ends, and people at the low end being pushed toward the safety net.
Now, in walks trump saying what many consider extreme things, but perhaps being the only one willing to do non-extreme populist things. Things like Rule of Law immigration, fighting Isis to win, winning on trade deals. If you want many populous things, all you will get from the ruling establishment ins good theater. Trump seems the only alternative.
The solution of course, is moderate candidates true to their word. Ones who will not give theater to the voters and results to the donors. Who else is there but Trump?
3
What is scarier than Trump's comments is the fact that he is still topping the polls, which means the public opinion is backing him. If this is just an election gimmick then it can be overlooked, but if Trump is going to act on his election promises, then we have a problem. The puzzle is , we don't know if he is serious about his comments. Now every presidential hopeful could get bolder and make racier comments to score brownie points. What is even more worrisome is that this effect could percolate down to the people - political and apolitical - and they could take a leaf out of their leader's book.
After that what effect could it have on the American Muslims is anyone's guess.
After that what effect could it have on the American Muslims is anyone's guess.
16
Trump is not some bizarre aberration of the conservative movement.
He's the natural consequence of decades of fear and hate mongering, bigotry and zealot like nationalism at the expense of all decency and morality.
The GOP problem with Trump is not that he doesn't represent their views. It is that he represents their views perfectly - in such a manner that there is no way to veil the nastiness that fuels the American conservative movement.
He's the natural consequence of decades of fear and hate mongering, bigotry and zealot like nationalism at the expense of all decency and morality.
The GOP problem with Trump is not that he doesn't represent their views. It is that he represents their views perfectly - in such a manner that there is no way to veil the nastiness that fuels the American conservative movement.
77
Let us have a productive debate about immigration without the insults and name calling. Let's discuss the issues without discussing the intelligence or morality of those participate in the debate.
My view is that we already have more than enough people in the United States. I see that immigration economically benefits our affluent citizens, but hurts the less affluent. The first responsibility of our government is to our own citizens, not people of other countries. Let's stop our wars in the Middle East. Bring all our troops, operatives, contractors, money and arms home.
My view is that we already have more than enough people in the United States. I see that immigration economically benefits our affluent citizens, but hurts the less affluent. The first responsibility of our government is to our own citizens, not people of other countries. Let's stop our wars in the Middle East. Bring all our troops, operatives, contractors, money and arms home.
2
Puratinism: Bigotry is ok as long as it is not obvious.
We all are influenced by the media, especially TV and films. Many times the memories are deep within our subconscious and work their way up from time to time.
I think that is happening with the Republican Party candidates and their fervent devotees. In 1998, the movie ''The Siege,'' offered a portrayal of Arab-Americans as victims and perpetrators who pose a danger to democracy and (Euro-American) freedom. The United States military, in pursuit of a Muslim terrorist cell operating in New York City, imposes martial law and herds the entire Arab-American population of Brooklyn into a detention camp.
In the minds of Donald Trump and the Republican followers, there is precedent for their call to action. They’ll just use the script from an old movie as their policy brief. Just the latest version of Republicans relying on movies for policy, like when Ronald Reagan would conflate actions he took with scenes from his movies.
I think that is happening with the Republican Party candidates and their fervent devotees. In 1998, the movie ''The Siege,'' offered a portrayal of Arab-Americans as victims and perpetrators who pose a danger to democracy and (Euro-American) freedom. The United States military, in pursuit of a Muslim terrorist cell operating in New York City, imposes martial law and herds the entire Arab-American population of Brooklyn into a detention camp.
In the minds of Donald Trump and the Republican followers, there is precedent for their call to action. They’ll just use the script from an old movie as their policy brief. Just the latest version of Republicans relying on movies for policy, like when Ronald Reagan would conflate actions he took with scenes from his movies.
1
What I think is more interesting is how much coverage you're giving this guy. He deserves to be ignored. He seems to be a headliner every day, front page. Where's coverage of Clinton? Let's see, Trump appears eight times on today's front page and Clinton's name doesn't appear at all.
Remember in 2008 when Sarah Palin was the craziest Republican we'd ever seen? Ah, the good ol' days.
3
Even if Republican candidates said they would reject Mr. Trump's nomination, they (and we) have to face the reality that Trump apparently speaks for a large swath of his party. That is what I find frightening, the realization that so many Americans think the way Donald Trump does about Muslims (and Mexicans and foreigners in general). And that people so quickly want to scapegoat Obama and Muslims and not look at their own complicity in creating an environment where guns are easy to get which in turn make mass shootings easy to carry out.
The NY Times is quick to find responsibility in others. The fact of the matter is that the Obama Administration pursued a DIVISIVE strategy with respect to the ACA ( 0 Republican support) which in turn led to a Republican victory in the House. To every action there is a reaction. And this newspaper supported that strategy. It's very easy to see correlation when you want to and ignore it when it is not convenient. In my humble opinion the esteemed Editorial Board of the NY Times should look in the mirror.
2
The Times editorial is right, as far as it goes, but IMO it completely overlooks the influence of Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the ultra-right wing radio windbags. They whisper or shout into the ears of millions every day and tolerate no dissenting opinion, nor a shred of factual evidence contrary to their opinions.
1
Trump DOES NOT want to be president. This is all a HUGE ego trip. I wonder if his comments, getting worse all the time, are his way of getting OUT of the race? Then he can drop out saying "Hey, I'm just telling the truth. I guess America isn't ready for a guy like me."
So get ready. "God is dead." or something of that ilk is coming when he feels this joke has gone on long enough.
So get ready. "God is dead." or something of that ilk is coming when he feels this joke has gone on long enough.
I am tired of seeing this term 'fascist' bandied about. Fascism is a specific historical phenomenon and is a totalitarian political system in which the state takes over all components of civil society. The fascist state also seeks economic independence through state planning and corporatist control of labor and business. However much I dislike Trump and the Republican party I don't see anything 'fascist' about them.
3
To my friends at the NY Times.
You call it xenophobic, I call it common sense. Why would we want to bring potential headaches to our country. Are we not diverse enough already, what is it you want us to prove ?
That we can accept the poor huddeled masses forever, we can't. We already have a problem with poverty, a growing lower economic class. Do we need to add to it for some reason.
Are the skills of these Middle Eastern immigrants unusual or in high demand. Are there engineers, mathmeticians, perhaps surgeons in their midst. There are NOT. These people are as different from us as if they were from another planet and time. They will further strain our resources and the wants and aspirations of our people.
WE do not need to prove anything to anyone. What we need to do is stop the spread of potential difficulties before they happen. If that means temporarily suspending an immigration program that should be rethought, so be it.
New York City has already wittnessed what Islamic terrorists can do, repeatedly. Texas, California where next ?
The Times should carefully consider their position before they encourage the next Trojan Horse to visit our country with evil intent in their heart.
You call it xenophobic, I call it common sense. Why would we want to bring potential headaches to our country. Are we not diverse enough already, what is it you want us to prove ?
That we can accept the poor huddeled masses forever, we can't. We already have a problem with poverty, a growing lower economic class. Do we need to add to it for some reason.
Are the skills of these Middle Eastern immigrants unusual or in high demand. Are there engineers, mathmeticians, perhaps surgeons in their midst. There are NOT. These people are as different from us as if they were from another planet and time. They will further strain our resources and the wants and aspirations of our people.
WE do not need to prove anything to anyone. What we need to do is stop the spread of potential difficulties before they happen. If that means temporarily suspending an immigration program that should be rethought, so be it.
New York City has already wittnessed what Islamic terrorists can do, repeatedly. Texas, California where next ?
The Times should carefully consider their position before they encourage the next Trojan Horse to visit our country with evil intent in their heart.
4
People need to understand that President Obama's petulant ISIL speech has left even more Americans unsettled with the feeling that Obama is not able to handle the situation.
As Obama sinks, Trump will rise.
As Obama sinks, Trump will rise.
3
Aliens seeking to enter the United States have no right to enter, none at all. Excluding aliens, or excluding some aliens and not others, is within the absolute authority of the executive branch, a plenary power.
I wonder about this President and his peculiar state of mind. A nation state's *first* duty is to protect its citizens. His reaction to this war is to turn inward, to berate and even threaten with prosecution citizens who want decisive action. He should be asking Congress for a declaration of war and invoking wartime powers. Inaction is corrosive. People fell helpless and doing nothing makes people angry and, worse, afraid.
America has been safe for so long we cannot conceive of the danger that is upon us. Instead of resolute action, we dither over irrelevant arguments on gun control (anyone remember how terrorists fly planes into skyscrapers?) and immigration policy (like the Paris shooters on Syrian and Egyptian passports). Get wise people, all this outrage is just shooting a messenger so we don't have to listen to the message.
I wonder about this President and his peculiar state of mind. A nation state's *first* duty is to protect its citizens. His reaction to this war is to turn inward, to berate and even threaten with prosecution citizens who want decisive action. He should be asking Congress for a declaration of war and invoking wartime powers. Inaction is corrosive. People fell helpless and doing nothing makes people angry and, worse, afraid.
America has been safe for so long we cannot conceive of the danger that is upon us. Instead of resolute action, we dither over irrelevant arguments on gun control (anyone remember how terrorists fly planes into skyscrapers?) and immigration policy (like the Paris shooters on Syrian and Egyptian passports). Get wise people, all this outrage is just shooting a messenger so we don't have to listen to the message.
4
Beyond all the hysteria, on both sides of the issue, there is a very intense contest on the political direction of our nation between two sides-i.e. "nationalist Americans" and "internationalist Americans". Nationalist Americans perceive the final duty of the nation is self-preservation and protection of its citizenry. Internationalist Americans direction is more nuanced. Outside interests (international), in some cases the driving force, overshadow the core issue of the nationalist American, identified above. This is the struggle we are now witnessing. There is bigotry and prejudice on both sides. And more than enough articles have been produced to characterize it. But the simple truth is there appears no solution to the difficulty. The US is now purportedly proposing four options for reentry into the Middle East. Again. Does anyone believe it will be successful? There is no consensus in the region. (In fact, in most cases they are adverse.) Europe will offer only token assistance. The problem will most likely be ongoing for decades, if not centuries. And assuming that to be true, the conflict between the two American groups, identified above, will intensify. Make no mistake, this is not a temporary political phenomenon. Assuming international events continue, the domestic political force will only grow in strength.
I'd ask the editorial board and commenters to go easy with the term fascism. It's just more left wing provocation and name calling. No evidence to support the idea that Trump is a fascist or that other Repubs are -- except you don't like their political views. It's ok to say that Bernie is a socialist though, because he calls himself that. And I can call Hillary an unscrupulous liar, because she is.
And I can call Obama a tepid leader, feckless and at heart a globalist (one who does not put America's interests first) because he has proved himself thus in seven years of of inept governing.
So, I understand the Ed Board's desire to label Trump and other Republicans with the worst words they can think of, fascist, bigot, etc. That sort of levels the play field, brining Republicans down to the lower regions already occupied by the DIMS, I suppose, even though the labels used are the products of wishful thinking and fevered imaginations.
Why do the DIMS (and the Times) insist on using ad hominem attack as their primary weapon. Incapable of arguing the issues? Just a guess.
And I can call Obama a tepid leader, feckless and at heart a globalist (one who does not put America's interests first) because he has proved himself thus in seven years of of inept governing.
So, I understand the Ed Board's desire to label Trump and other Republicans with the worst words they can think of, fascist, bigot, etc. That sort of levels the play field, brining Republicans down to the lower regions already occupied by the DIMS, I suppose, even though the labels used are the products of wishful thinking and fevered imaginations.
Why do the DIMS (and the Times) insist on using ad hominem attack as their primary weapon. Incapable of arguing the issues? Just a guess.
5
Do tell us what lies Hilary has told? Several House led GOP witch hunts have failed to prove anything. As to Obama, well from the perspective of the rest of the civilised world he has restored much of the prestige of the US which was trashed by Bush/Cheney. Quiet correctly he has avoided getting the US militarily involved in the bowl of snakes that is the Middle East.
Trump is the creation of right-wing Republican media blasts that began in a sleepy town in eastern North Carolina with Jesse Helms, then in the hills of nearby Virginia with "Reverend" Falwell ... and that has grown louder, more vitriolic and incessantly broadcasted every year since.
Time wise these presidential campaigns have stretched to the point that they now go on for way too long. We still have to listen to almost an entire year of this madness! Daily! Trump has figured out that he can stay in the headlines day after day with a never ending barrage of provocative pronouncements. He has it down to a formula at this point. Meanwhile there are more registered Democrats than Republicans and Barak Obama beat John McCain by 10 MILLION votes and Mitt Romney by 5 MILLION votes. Trump is one of a huge number of Republican candidates. He is polling at 30 to 35 percent of Republican voters. Looking at all those numbers we should not be seeing nearly as much coverage of him as we have, regardless of whatever insane declaration of the day he has to offer.
Trump is just saying out loud what other Republicans use code for. He is the Republican voter let loose. Trump is exactly who they are.
1
Obama also shares the blame, his reaction to the flood of children fleeing the gang wars of Central America was shameful. We've essentially set-up concentration camps for children and their mothers on our borders. The US set the stage for the current chaos in the Middle East with our war in Iraq. But Americans refuse to take responsibility, and now blame the victims of our own mistakes. Home of the brave and land of the free? Not any more.
1
To the Editors,
Let's face it, Mr. Trump is doing nothing but expressing what the GOP/TP/KOCH AFFILIATE really believes and the sooner he breaks away and forms his own party, the better it will be. In it's current configuration, appealing to fear and bigotry, the GOP/TP/K.A. is not a choice for this country at this time. The balance between liberal and conservative has been toppled and the only way to restore the old way of "compromise" is to have one of the two parties suffer a defeat so devastating that the voices of "reason" will take over.
Since the Republicans "embraced" the Tea Party, it is for them alone to discard the same. And as long as they accept Mr. Trump as a candidate in this miasma, they will, hopefully, suffer the consequences next year when the voters truly have their say.
The downside to this shake out? Maybe, Mr. Trump will actually be elected president.
I'm willing to take that chance as long as his running, minimally, discomforts the GOP/TP/K.A. and, maximally, causes the parting of the ways of reasonable conservatives from the can of nuts the party has become.
Let's face it, Mr. Trump is doing nothing but expressing what the GOP/TP/KOCH AFFILIATE really believes and the sooner he breaks away and forms his own party, the better it will be. In it's current configuration, appealing to fear and bigotry, the GOP/TP/K.A. is not a choice for this country at this time. The balance between liberal and conservative has been toppled and the only way to restore the old way of "compromise" is to have one of the two parties suffer a defeat so devastating that the voices of "reason" will take over.
Since the Republicans "embraced" the Tea Party, it is for them alone to discard the same. And as long as they accept Mr. Trump as a candidate in this miasma, they will, hopefully, suffer the consequences next year when the voters truly have their say.
The downside to this shake out? Maybe, Mr. Trump will actually be elected president.
I'm willing to take that chance as long as his running, minimally, discomforts the GOP/TP/K.A. and, maximally, causes the parting of the ways of reasonable conservatives from the can of nuts the party has become.
Bring Donald Trump on, one of two things will happen: Either the GOP will force him out and he will run as the candidate of the "Trump Party", splitting the vote, or he will run as the GOP candidate and lose. We're spending much too much time on this subject, surely we have real things to worry about.
We deplore him personally. We despise his message and reject his hate, his violence and his ignorance. But our news media loves him and loves his outrageous, uncensored, dangerous idiocy. He's on T.V. and the front page every single day because he is driving the sale of advertising. Trump has rendered Citizen's United irrelevant. He hasn't had to spend a penny of his fortune to dominant political coverage. Today, in the Times, he is the subject of this editorial, three Op-Ed's and the Room For Debate.
If you think we want to read about Trump's latest stupidity every day, you are wrong. Bernie Sanders' ideas are popular, mature, sensible, decent, respectable, humane, intelligent and trustworthy and the Times and the rest of the ratings and click-driven mainstream news media ignore and dismiss them because those qualities don't sell popcorn.
If you think we want to read about Trump's latest stupidity every day, you are wrong. Bernie Sanders' ideas are popular, mature, sensible, decent, respectable, humane, intelligent and trustworthy and the Times and the rest of the ratings and click-driven mainstream news media ignore and dismiss them because those qualities don't sell popcorn.
"The internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II, as some Republicans have either forgotten or never understood, was a dark episode in American history."
I live in rural America, the rust belt, the land of dwindling opportunities and rising meth production. No they haven't forgotten or don't understand the internment camps. They think it wasn't that bad of an idea, for the Japanese-Americans or anyone else perceived as an enemy of them. The way to try to climb to the top of the heap is to make sure you knock everyone else down. That's the appeal of Trump. He promises to do that for them, but they don't get that he will use them and then toss them aside when they no longer serve his purposes.
I live in rural America, the rust belt, the land of dwindling opportunities and rising meth production. No they haven't forgotten or don't understand the internment camps. They think it wasn't that bad of an idea, for the Japanese-Americans or anyone else perceived as an enemy of them. The way to try to climb to the top of the heap is to make sure you knock everyone else down. That's the appeal of Trump. He promises to do that for them, but they don't get that he will use them and then toss them aside when they no longer serve his purposes.
This editorial is the closest one yet to address the fact that the Republicans ,in
general, are on the 'brink of fascism.' It goes on to talk about the candidates for the Presidency and the Governors of 31 states. The really disturbing fact is,
these Governors were elected by the people. Putting names to the
national tendency is a step, but just a step in pointing out that the
silent majority is not so silent anymore.
general, are on the 'brink of fascism.' It goes on to talk about the candidates for the Presidency and the Governors of 31 states. The really disturbing fact is,
these Governors were elected by the people. Putting names to the
national tendency is a step, but just a step in pointing out that the
silent majority is not so silent anymore.
1
From Article- "Mr. Cruz has introduced legislation to allow states to opt out of refugee resettlement." -One of the tenets of Cruz' candidacy, is returning power back to individual states, where is rightfully belongs. This is not a bad thing.
From Article- "The Republican rivals rushing to distance themselves from his latest inflammatory proposal." -Ted Cruz hasn't distanced himself, but has made it crystal clear that he does not agree with Trumps 'Muslim' proposal, but believes that, as Jimmy Carter did, that there should be a temporary moratorium on immigration from particular countries in the middle east, at least until we get a handle on the vetting process. We all saw what happened in San Bernadino.
It's despicable for anyone to play the race card when national security is at stake. People are losing their lives.
From Article- "The Republican rivals rushing to distance themselves from his latest inflammatory proposal." -Ted Cruz hasn't distanced himself, but has made it crystal clear that he does not agree with Trumps 'Muslim' proposal, but believes that, as Jimmy Carter did, that there should be a temporary moratorium on immigration from particular countries in the middle east, at least until we get a handle on the vetting process. We all saw what happened in San Bernadino.
It's despicable for anyone to play the race card when national security is at stake. People are losing their lives.
3
Most of the other Republican candidates act as if they had no idea
that the views Donald Trump espouses was prevalent in the
Republican Party. He doesn't represent our values, blah, blah,
blah. He won't win the nomination, blah, blah, blah.
Well, I have news for them. He does represent the party, and he
will be the nominee. And all the other Republicans will support Thump
because they don't have the guts not to.
that the views Donald Trump espouses was prevalent in the
Republican Party. He doesn't represent our values, blah, blah,
blah. He won't win the nomination, blah, blah, blah.
Well, I have news for them. He does represent the party, and he
will be the nominee. And all the other Republicans will support Thump
because they don't have the guts not to.
1
The party of hate and intolerance has spawned its very own ugly American candidate. It's shocking that so many Americans buy into Trump's brand and scary that they believe he could possibly lead this country into anything other than disaster.
All Americans have plenty diversity around them. We get to speak to foreign folks to get product support and retail sales.
In San Berno, the office represented America and its vast diversity.
H1Bs are used to drive down salaries.
Now we need people in burkas walking our neighborhoods to really improve our lives!
In San Berno, the office represented America and its vast diversity.
H1Bs are used to drive down salaries.
Now we need people in burkas walking our neighborhoods to really improve our lives!
4
It is one thing to hold Trump in contempt, it is another to hold all of the people ,for whom he is the only voice, in contempt. There are a lot of people whose interests are not represented in the current political process; writing them off as stupid or scared is not only a mistake but an invitation to disaster. Let us start with the assumption that the people who support Trump only because he is "not politically correct" have legitimate concerns and a right to be heard.
4
Yes, New York Times editorial board, absolutely correct, and very well written. Yes, the Republican Party has stoked for decades the racist paranoia Trump now surfs to high poll numbers Yes, Republicans could have and should have denounced his racist, immigrant-bashing ideas immediately, as soon as he announced them.
He is the creation of decades of Fox and Republican blathering. His supporters have been pandered to and inflamed by every bigot and wild-eyed paranoiac who's posited a conspiracy theory, and nurtured by our systematic tearing down of the American educational system that might (might!) have taught them critical thinking skills.
It should give us all comfort to remember that you and I and Santa Claus have won as many state primaries as Mr Trump has: none.
He is the creation of decades of Fox and Republican blathering. His supporters have been pandered to and inflamed by every bigot and wild-eyed paranoiac who's posited a conspiracy theory, and nurtured by our systematic tearing down of the American educational system that might (might!) have taught them critical thinking skills.
It should give us all comfort to remember that you and I and Santa Claus have won as many state primaries as Mr Trump has: none.
Beyond being contrary to American values, Mr Trump's proposed ban on Muslims places the best strategy to combat ISIS and American soldiers lives at unnecessarily greater risk.
The best strategy (and Sun Tzu would have agreed) is to share the war against ISIS with all its allies, and, the most effective ally, in this case, is the majority moderate Muslims.
Nobody is calling for appeasement, and, the small minority of the Muslims who supports ISIS must be identified and dealt with.
But the majority of Muslims are moderates and are against ISIS. They must be won over to be allies against ISIS, by a respectful, effective and fair relationship.
In a sense, the conflict in Syria can be seen as a proxy power struggle mainly between the Sunnis and the Shiites Muslims, compounded by the West against Russian geopolitical struggle.
One can only hope that a peaceful power sharing agreement can be achieved in the near future, as far too much blood have already being spilled.
The best strategy (and Sun Tzu would have agreed) is to share the war against ISIS with all its allies, and, the most effective ally, in this case, is the majority moderate Muslims.
Nobody is calling for appeasement, and, the small minority of the Muslims who supports ISIS must be identified and dealt with.
But the majority of Muslims are moderates and are against ISIS. They must be won over to be allies against ISIS, by a respectful, effective and fair relationship.
In a sense, the conflict in Syria can be seen as a proxy power struggle mainly between the Sunnis and the Shiites Muslims, compounded by the West against Russian geopolitical struggle.
One can only hope that a peaceful power sharing agreement can be achieved in the near future, as far too much blood have already being spilled.
I think it's wise to keep the possibility of a Trump presidency open to possibility and to treat it accordingly instead of laughing it off as a complete joke. When a country is kept in the dark about real facts & instead fed misinformation about the dangers that face them whether it be the alarmist fear of Ebola, over exaggeration of the threat of Islamic terrorism in the US, fear of illegal aliens coming to our country to take our jobs, rape the women & spread disease, or the simplistic view of global trade as a conspiracy by China to take all of our jobs, is just irrational, uneducated & hate mongering exploitation of people's fears through the media & the GOP party. The same type of cheap propaganda was used during the Cold War to create an unusual & distorted fear & hatred of Russia or an misguided & distorted interpretation of Fidel Castro & hatred of Cuba.
The easiest way to control a population is to keep them confused, fearful & uncertain of the facts. When this occurs in combination with a media that sensationalizes & distorts information to form a Nationalist & nativist agenda, it is quite natural for a demagogue to rise to power. Even voting for George Bush during the second term is unfathomable given that his administration lied to the American people although by using fear tactics of a shadowy Muslim terrorist threat, George Bush was able to single handedly keep his grip on power. Trump is just building on that legacy although much more out front & direct.
The easiest way to control a population is to keep them confused, fearful & uncertain of the facts. When this occurs in combination with a media that sensationalizes & distorts information to form a Nationalist & nativist agenda, it is quite natural for a demagogue to rise to power. Even voting for George Bush during the second term is unfathomable given that his administration lied to the American people although by using fear tactics of a shadowy Muslim terrorist threat, George Bush was able to single handedly keep his grip on power. Trump is just building on that legacy although much more out front & direct.
2
Trump is the Rosetta Stone of Republican code language. All of the others are just dialects of the same tongue.
1
As I predicted yesterday, the Times would rather use Trump as a proxy for bashing Republicans rather than treating him as the cartoon character that he is and fulfilling their journalistic responsibility by giving appropriate coverage to ALL the candidates.
Trump is not a creation of the Republican Party - he is a creation of media carnival barkers like the Times.
Trump is not a creation of the Republican Party - he is a creation of media carnival barkers like the Times.
3
How many Germans or Japanese where allowed into the U.S. during WW II? Not many. And because Isil is not a "state" or "nation," how do we protect ourselves in this time of actual war when we are not fighting a nation state; rather we are fighting a radical religious ideology. It's different this time...and so the rules of engagement must also be different to accept this new reality.
No one is talking internment camps, which is the misleading fact of this story, rather protecting our borders from 300 million radicals out of 1.5 billion who seek the utter destruction of America; More than the entire U.S. population.
So yes, I would say to protect my American family, friends, and neighbors and ban all those coming from those countries into the U.S. until this war is over. Not intern anyone, which would be so wrong, rather just not let them in until ISIL is destroyed and this war is over.
And when I see the “peaceful” 1.2 billion Muslims stand up in a true and meaningful way to stop the 300 million radical ones, my opinion might change as well.
Remember, if the intruder can’t get into your house, they can’t rob or kill you or your family. So why let the intruder into your house to begin with?
No one is talking internment camps, which is the misleading fact of this story, rather protecting our borders from 300 million radicals out of 1.5 billion who seek the utter destruction of America; More than the entire U.S. population.
So yes, I would say to protect my American family, friends, and neighbors and ban all those coming from those countries into the U.S. until this war is over. Not intern anyone, which would be so wrong, rather just not let them in until ISIL is destroyed and this war is over.
And when I see the “peaceful” 1.2 billion Muslims stand up in a true and meaningful way to stop the 300 million radical ones, my opinion might change as well.
Remember, if the intruder can’t get into your house, they can’t rob or kill you or your family. So why let the intruder into your house to begin with?
3
So how many people who say they support Trump will actually turn out and vote for him a few weeks from now in Iowa and New Hampshire? Something in my gut tells me: not as many as the pundits think. This whole disgusting Trump episode in American Politics may very well end not with a bang, but a whimper. And deservedly so.
And the other Republican candidates who try to sound like "The Donald" will suddenly be forced to rediscover reason and decency.
And the other Republican candidates who try to sound like "The Donald" will suddenly be forced to rediscover reason and decency.
I find it utterly astonishing that the NYTimes (and other reporters) haven't realized the obvious: as thin-skinned and over-sensitive as Trump is, not to mention vindictive and petty, who's to say, as President, he won't eagerly use the US Government and all those billions of tax-payer money to silence reporters (and others) he feels don't treat him "properly"?
The monster you've helped create in the pursuit of ratings, revenue and website clicks will without hesitation turn on you in a heartbeat and absolutely kill any sort of Freedom of Speech when it comes to reporting about Our Dear Leader. Unless what you write is a glowing account of how amazing he is, you WILL end up in jail. Or worse.
How can you not see this? Trump in the Oval Office will put Nixon and his Enemies List to shame.
The monster you've helped create in the pursuit of ratings, revenue and website clicks will without hesitation turn on you in a heartbeat and absolutely kill any sort of Freedom of Speech when it comes to reporting about Our Dear Leader. Unless what you write is a glowing account of how amazing he is, you WILL end up in jail. Or worse.
How can you not see this? Trump in the Oval Office will put Nixon and his Enemies List to shame.
This may sound off-base from the editorial, but I think of the need for good teachers to impart the values inherent in the foundation of this nation. And then I think of the proliferation of guns and the anger of these uneducated voters - toward the educated teachers, whom we depend on to impart the values of the Republic. In sad contrast the values of some parents.
I taught young children in the 70's. Then trained as a psychologist. By the end of my time teaching, I wished I taught in a school where the values children needed to learn were consistent with values the parents also espoused. But on the cusp of the 80's it was evident that these working class parents, many of them, were angry at society. That they would storm into my classroom or phone me at home to complain. I understood at the time that I, as an elementary teacher, was the only "official" who represented "social authority" whom they interacted with and could complain to.
The point I'm leading to is this: Angry folk, armed with guns, responding to a teacher's lessons on civics, might today lead to murder.
Who is going to teach civics to the children, the middle-schoolers, the high school students, even the college students - in the face of armed "insurrection" AGAINST the very values upon which this nation was founded?
Trump is fueling an already waiting backlash - against our core values. So who will teach the children? Who will stand up to these armed thugs voting GOP?
I taught young children in the 70's. Then trained as a psychologist. By the end of my time teaching, I wished I taught in a school where the values children needed to learn were consistent with values the parents also espoused. But on the cusp of the 80's it was evident that these working class parents, many of them, were angry at society. That they would storm into my classroom or phone me at home to complain. I understood at the time that I, as an elementary teacher, was the only "official" who represented "social authority" whom they interacted with and could complain to.
The point I'm leading to is this: Angry folk, armed with guns, responding to a teacher's lessons on civics, might today lead to murder.
Who is going to teach civics to the children, the middle-schoolers, the high school students, even the college students - in the face of armed "insurrection" AGAINST the very values upon which this nation was founded?
Trump is fueling an already waiting backlash - against our core values. So who will teach the children? Who will stand up to these armed thugs voting GOP?
3
First they came for the Muslims....
4
The trailer the the Colorado shooter lived in had a cross on it. Those who most adamantly oppose abortion do so on religious grounds. They assert religion as a basis for their terrorism. No Republican condemns Christian fanatics. I think of Mr. Trump as the mirror, in the Cabaret stage play. His outrageousness is his strength. He shows us how the Republicans really think.
3
Every American is either an immigrant, the descendant of immigrants or other migrants like African-Americans descendant from slaves brought here against their will. Even First Nations people are descendant from people who migrated to the Americas from Asia.
Each new generation of migrants, refugees and their offspring have mightily contributed to America, it's culture and people. So many of the great inventors, innovators, entrepreneurs, authors, artists, thinkers and teachers were the first generation off of the boat or the next. Bernie Sanders' father was a migrant whose relatives perished in the Shoah - now he is an accomplished US Senator contending for the Presidency. Senator Ted Cruz is the son of a migrant from Cuba. The list goes on.
We need to open our nation to these people or take the Statue of Liberty down and return it to France. It is that simple, people.
A Generation ago America allowed the Vietnamese Boat People refuge. One family I know of came here with nothing and the 5 children they came with are now all Doctors - 4 Ob/Gyn's and a Radiologist. Hardly a drag on society.
A fresh influx of these migrants relocated into our declining small towns and decaying cities could help both the migrants and the communities. These people will return to America far more than we will give them. All they seek is a safe place to live and build a life in peace.
The Axis of Ignorance is largely Republican and they should be ashamed of themselves.
Each new generation of migrants, refugees and their offspring have mightily contributed to America, it's culture and people. So many of the great inventors, innovators, entrepreneurs, authors, artists, thinkers and teachers were the first generation off of the boat or the next. Bernie Sanders' father was a migrant whose relatives perished in the Shoah - now he is an accomplished US Senator contending for the Presidency. Senator Ted Cruz is the son of a migrant from Cuba. The list goes on.
We need to open our nation to these people or take the Statue of Liberty down and return it to France. It is that simple, people.
A Generation ago America allowed the Vietnamese Boat People refuge. One family I know of came here with nothing and the 5 children they came with are now all Doctors - 4 Ob/Gyn's and a Radiologist. Hardly a drag on society.
A fresh influx of these migrants relocated into our declining small towns and decaying cities could help both the migrants and the communities. These people will return to America far more than we will give them. All they seek is a safe place to live and build a life in peace.
The Axis of Ignorance is largely Republican and they should be ashamed of themselves.
1
The NYT can publish any editorial it wants but I don't tailor my beliefs or votes to the NYT. Mostly I oppose the NYT opinion - especially in matter of my vote.
What Trump is saying rings true to a lot of people including me. I want our borders secure so that anyone who feels like can't stroll across. I want deportations increased. I don't want any more immigrants or refugees admitted.
I am sick and tired of people who come and then settle in enclaves and try to impose their culture on their locale - I am sick of these people being given refuge in the US while their children go off to fight for ISIS or AL Shabab - they should be stripped of their citizenship and deported.
In case you forget to mention it, one of the Paris attackers go into the country disguised as a refugee. Many who claim asylum do so by slipping across our Southern border, the OTMs- other than Mexicans. That has included people from Syria.
The couple in San Bernadino were terrorist long before the murder of our citizen. The wife, despite lies which should have raised red flags, go in on ad K1 (fiance visa).
I agree with Trump we don't want these people. We have admitted we can't screen refugees from Syria that well, so why are we taking them instead of providing more money for the refugee camps.
Spend our money to keep refugees in camps in the Middle East - don't bring them here. Stop those from Central America too. We are turning this country into a Third World Slum.
What Trump is saying rings true to a lot of people including me. I want our borders secure so that anyone who feels like can't stroll across. I want deportations increased. I don't want any more immigrants or refugees admitted.
I am sick and tired of people who come and then settle in enclaves and try to impose their culture on their locale - I am sick of these people being given refuge in the US while their children go off to fight for ISIS or AL Shabab - they should be stripped of their citizenship and deported.
In case you forget to mention it, one of the Paris attackers go into the country disguised as a refugee. Many who claim asylum do so by slipping across our Southern border, the OTMs- other than Mexicans. That has included people from Syria.
The couple in San Bernadino were terrorist long before the murder of our citizen. The wife, despite lies which should have raised red flags, go in on ad K1 (fiance visa).
I agree with Trump we don't want these people. We have admitted we can't screen refugees from Syria that well, so why are we taking them instead of providing more money for the refugee camps.
Spend our money to keep refugees in camps in the Middle East - don't bring them here. Stop those from Central America too. We are turning this country into a Third World Slum.
5
Beware of the kinder, gentler, compassionate conservatives that are going to take Trump's place.
It's a trap.
It's a trap.
4
You all need to think thiings through and do a little bit of research rather than just react emotionally. Pew Research polls on Muslim beliefs: 50% believe in death for person who leaves the faith. 60% in stoning for adultery or homosexuality - alarming 8% support ISIS! That's millions of people not 1% number being thrown around. We should NOT bring this into our country. It's suicide!
5
Trump has been making outrageous over the top pronouncements long before he became a presidential candidate. While his recent statements about banning Muslims from entering our country is odious, you fail to understand, or choose not to write about, where his support is coming from.
In my opinion, his support is coming from the economic anxiety that continues to grip our nation. One of your top 50 articles this year was about Disney’s use of the visa program to replace American jobs with foreign replacements. That one story resonates with so many of us who see the middle class in decline. Trump is simply filling the void created by the Democratic and Republican parties which are both owned by the wealthy.
In my opinion, his support is coming from the economic anxiety that continues to grip our nation. One of your top 50 articles this year was about Disney’s use of the visa program to replace American jobs with foreign replacements. That one story resonates with so many of us who see the middle class in decline. Trump is simply filling the void created by the Democratic and Republican parties which are both owned by the wealthy.
4
"Mr. Trump has not deported anyone, nor locked up or otherwise brutalized any Muslims, immigrants or others." In your fevered imaginings, maybe. Clearly President Obama has killed a lot more muslims than Trump has. I'll wager that Trump has never killed a muslim, nor is he advocating that. Regarding bombing of ISIS he's in favor of letting Russia do it! If radical Islam were a car defect that had caused 136 fatalities in 2 months time, the twitterverse would be alight and the maker would be crushed by demands to recall the vehicle. Yet ISIS operatives can kill 136 Parisians and Americans in the same time period, and the response is 'ho hum'. Something here is not right.
3
The NYT Editorial Board needs to take a long look in the mirror if they want to understand the appeal of Donald Trump. Tom Edsall's column last week and Mark Krikorian's comments in Room for Debate are the most illuminating I have read on the subject. As with the European migration crisis, the NYT is conflating journalism with advocacy in the case of Trump's latest remarks, and it is most distasteful. I would never vote for Mr. Trump and I think Fox News is an abomination, but a bunch of wealthy, highly-educated elites calling people who do not agree with their open-border policy xenophobes, racists, bigots, nativists, etc is not going to get you anywhere. You are addressing people who have seen what has happened to the integrity of their documents (like New Mexico drivers licenses not accepted as legitimate ID); the jobs that used to provide a decent wage (union trades like carpentry); public schools (already troubled now wasting money on multilingual teachers, interpreters, and teaching English to 16 year old Honduran young men); local hospitals bankrupt (force to provide maternity services to single, unwed, undocumented women availing themselves of the 14th amendment); and the list goes on. No doubt this post will be subject to much derision but I do not care nor do the people who support Trump because you cannot change the facts on the ground ordinary people are experiencing. Is much of the anger and resentment misplaced? Perhaps, yet try walking in their shoes.
5
Trump is only voicing what the GOP implicitly (if not explicitly) endorses. That's why it really doesn't matter which of the GOP misogynist bigots wins the nomination. Every single one of those candidates, without exception, would try to strip away the rights of women, minorities, the LGBT community, and immigrants--all while attempting to legislate protections for the wealthy and to mandate their own religious beliefs. Trump lays bare the ugly face of the GOP, while the rest of the candidates try to hide behind "civility."
I'm sorry to say but Liberal Democrats, especially Obama, have helped fuel right wing frustration to the point that Trump has gained such an audience. Polarization between the parties, strengthening of secular perspectives over moral issues, and Obama sitting on his hands toward ISIS or giving in to Iran, and doing so while half the country is excluded from the process, is feeding this frenzy. There is plenty of blame to go around and Trump only represents the frustration that conservatives feel.
4
Part of me can accept that Trump’s messaging appeals to the insecurities and fears of a certain portion of the electorate. What I can’t for the life of me figure out is why that electorate goes for Trump the man, since he has nothing but disdain for the people who would form his constituency (he even said as much in Iowa). Intellectually, he’s a pretty dim candle on the birthday cake, and he has developed his business in fluff areas like gambling and luxury real estate with no history of public service of any kind. He flaunts his helicopters, jets, properties, etc. as the primary evidence of his worthiness to lead. Really, this kind of person is going to care about the common person? Compare Trump to someone like Bill Gates, who is a bona fide genius, started a business that revolutionized human communication and the global economy, and has devoted a large portion of his wealth to advance health in areas of unmet need around the world. I’m not saying the Gates is the best choice for President, but I would vote for him in a heartbeat over Trump. But I guess he doesn’t shout loudly enough.
46
Herman Cain and Michelle Bachmann were blips on the radar four years ago. Maybe we could call Sara Palin a blip eight years ago. If these are data points and we connect dots and look for trends, Trump and the blessedly faded Carson are the iterations of this trend in the current election cycle. If it grows at the rate we can plausibly infer, just based on trend, an outsider crazy person WILL be the nominee in the NEXT cycle (four years from now) at the latest.
This is dismaying in the same way that we look with horror at the melting of the glaciers. It's hard to have any faith that anything will occur to reverse either process.
This is dismaying in the same way that we look with horror at the melting of the glaciers. It's hard to have any faith that anything will occur to reverse either process.
2
The editors conflate the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII with the republican calls to tighten immigration procedures which may lend themselves to exploitation by Islamic terrorists. That is both intellectually and morally dishonest.
The Japanese Americans were here and most of them were citizens of the United States at the outbreak of WWII. Their internment was certainly racist even in the context of the time. There is no comparable movement today to intern Americans who are Muslims.
The situation today involves whether or how to allow immigrants and / or visa holders from Arab Islamic lands to enter the United States. That is very different from rounding up and interring Americans based on their racial characteristics. The very fact that they are not American citizens means that they are not being discriminated against under American law.
Let's be clear.
The theocratic and cultural norms of Arab Islamic states are antithetical to the value systems of western democracies. Try building a Catholic cathedral in Riyadh or Mecca.
Arab Wahhabists who have been subjected to cradle to grave indoctrination of those values through the theocratic auspices of those governments have proven highly resistant to assimilate western democratic values.
Mr Trump is a blowhard and, ironically, presents a mirror image of the conflation practiced by the editors. The editors should know better than indulge in their own form of demagoguery.
The Japanese Americans were here and most of them were citizens of the United States at the outbreak of WWII. Their internment was certainly racist even in the context of the time. There is no comparable movement today to intern Americans who are Muslims.
The situation today involves whether or how to allow immigrants and / or visa holders from Arab Islamic lands to enter the United States. That is very different from rounding up and interring Americans based on their racial characteristics. The very fact that they are not American citizens means that they are not being discriminated against under American law.
Let's be clear.
The theocratic and cultural norms of Arab Islamic states are antithetical to the value systems of western democracies. Try building a Catholic cathedral in Riyadh or Mecca.
Arab Wahhabists who have been subjected to cradle to grave indoctrination of those values through the theocratic auspices of those governments have proven highly resistant to assimilate western democratic values.
Mr Trump is a blowhard and, ironically, presents a mirror image of the conflation practiced by the editors. The editors should know better than indulge in their own form of demagoguery.
6
During World War II the U.S. also rounded up more than 2,000 Japanese-Latin American citizens (mostly from Peru, but from other countries as well) and brought them to the U.S. internment camps. In 1998, after law suits were filed by the survivors. a settlement was reached with the Justice Department. Formal apology was made and monetary reparations were paid.
1
To the extent that Trump and the other 2016 Republican candidates speak for and are supported by Americans then that is civil secular plural egalitarian democracy in action. Beyond the public opinion polls there will be primary elections and a party nomination process then a general election. In an America that twice delivered popular and electoral vote majorities for Barack Hussein Obama to be President of the United States things are not so simple nor clear about what is or will happen when it really matters when the voters wield their power of election.
1
The fear factor is working. I almost always vote third-party, but in 2016 I will vote for a Democratic candidate no matter who he or she is.
3
So all these days while New York Times was writing sermons on India, on Asia, on Africa about "tolerance" and the xenophobia that they accused people in power there of exhibiting - they ignored Trump and their own backyard. I wonder if Schadenfreude and derision is the appropriate response from all the people whom the NYT has been busy hectoring these past few months? But I guess those people atleast appreciate the irony of the situation.
1
Trump is an idiot, we agree.
However the damage this joker has done to our country pales in comparison of what our president has done. The only reason the fool gets anyone to listen to one word is his polar opposition to Barack the weak.
The GOP deserves the blame for getting President Obama elected, as the blame for Trump even being on the radar lays with President Obama and his many failings.
However the damage this joker has done to our country pales in comparison of what our president has done. The only reason the fool gets anyone to listen to one word is his polar opposition to Barack the weak.
The GOP deserves the blame for getting President Obama elected, as the blame for Trump even being on the radar lays with President Obama and his many failings.
1
Sad to say it, but it takes two establishments to create this level of hate. Did any Democratic leaders call out the GOP inquisitors of Sotomayor when they grilled her over whether or not she would let "foreign law" - that is code for Sharia Law, promoted by Gaffney's Center for Security Policy? No. They just looked at there feet while the crowd threw rocks.
1
Sad to say it, but it takes two establishments to create this level of hate. Did any Democratic leaders call out the GOP inquisitors of Sotomayor when they grilled her over whether or not she would let "foreign law" - that is code for Sharia Law, promoted by Gaffney's Center for Security Policy- influence her decisions? No. They just looked at there feet while the crowd threw rocks.
Trump's appeal to fundamentalist christians is one of his more dangerous positions.
The fundamentalists have forgotten one quote that could make all the difference to themselves: "Vengeance is mine, saith the lord".
Thinking people know what this means.
The fundamentalists have forgotten one quote that could make all the difference to themselves: "Vengeance is mine, saith the lord".
Thinking people know what this means.
1
The editorialist writing here makes all good points. However, the New York Times bears more than a little responsibility for elevating Mr. Trump to the stature he enjoys today. NYT has given him a free and easily-manipulated platform for self-promotion for decades. He is rich and he lives in New York. That is enough for NYT to have covered his every twitch and gurgle for at least 30 years. No entity is more responsible than yours for the position we find ourselves in today regarding Mr. Trump. Your editorial would carry much more weight if you would acknowledge your own complicity in promoting this narcissistic demigod.
1
Trump is a blustering, egomaniacal opportunist. There's no doubt of that. And if we could find some legal way of preventing people as bigoted and intolerant as him from entering the country we should do it. We don't need more bigotry here. We don't need people who think women are property and gays are criminals. We don't need people who despise anyone who dresses differently from the way they dress themselves, or worships differently from the way they worship themselves. We don't need people who approve of violence as a way of settling almost any dispute. And we don't need people who glorify suicide in service to their religion.
We shouldn't ban Muslims from entering the country. But we SHOULD ban much of what they practice.
We shouldn't ban Muslims from entering the country. But we SHOULD ban much of what they practice.
3
I am grateful to Donald Trump for finally bringing a disease that has been festering underground for decades to the surface.
You buried McCarthyism but it took took root and its roots are well established throughout American society. Every once in a while shoots appeared above the ground but were dismissed as inconsequential . Barry Goldwater. George Wallace. The Southern Strategy. Ronald Reagan. Newt Gingrich,. Rush Limbaugh. Glenn Beck. Jerry Falwell.FOX News.Dick Cheney. Mitch McConnell. Rand Paul. Ted Cruz. Marco Rubio. etc etc
Thank goodness for Donald Trump for putting it on display 24/07/365. Donald Trump is not the disease he is simply the first major impossible to ignore manifestation. Thank you Donald.
You buried McCarthyism but it took took root and its roots are well established throughout American society. Every once in a while shoots appeared above the ground but were dismissed as inconsequential . Barry Goldwater. George Wallace. The Southern Strategy. Ronald Reagan. Newt Gingrich,. Rush Limbaugh. Glenn Beck. Jerry Falwell.FOX News.Dick Cheney. Mitch McConnell. Rand Paul. Ted Cruz. Marco Rubio. etc etc
Thank goodness for Donald Trump for putting it on display 24/07/365. Donald Trump is not the disease he is simply the first major impossible to ignore manifestation. Thank you Donald.
5
Donald Trump has uncorked a cesspool of racism and xenophobia seething for decades just beneath the surface of the political landscape. He's enlisting a legion of foot soldiers who have been waiting for their leader to appear. And they are all now feasting on the carcass of the Party that invited them to the table.
8
The other GOP presidential candidates are only distancing themselves from Donald Trump's outrageous, bigoted remark--not because they disagree with what Trump says but because they hope it will lower his poll numbers, knock him out of the running, and give them a better chance. Now many of them are out there making all kinds of bigoted statements--Cruz especially.
Bigotry sells in the Republican party--at least the GOP candidates seem to think so--and Fox News and the right-wing media have been cultivating stereotyping, prejudice, outrage, and ridiculous simple-minded solutions for years.
However, maybe it is not selling as much as the politics-as-horserace media leads us to believe. Trumps negatives are very high, which tells me Trump has a small but devoted group of disgruntled followers who don't care about experience, competence, or accountability in who they choose for President.
Trump may be able to win in GOP primaries--after all, the other GOP contenders come across as pretty dull. But, he won't be able to carry a national election--as long as the majority who find Tump "unfavorable" get out and vote. Voting turnout will be the key in the 2016 election.
Bigotry sells in the Republican party--at least the GOP candidates seem to think so--and Fox News and the right-wing media have been cultivating stereotyping, prejudice, outrage, and ridiculous simple-minded solutions for years.
However, maybe it is not selling as much as the politics-as-horserace media leads us to believe. Trumps negatives are very high, which tells me Trump has a small but devoted group of disgruntled followers who don't care about experience, competence, or accountability in who they choose for President.
Trump may be able to win in GOP primaries--after all, the other GOP contenders come across as pretty dull. But, he won't be able to carry a national election--as long as the majority who find Tump "unfavorable" get out and vote. Voting turnout will be the key in the 2016 election.
5
The NYTimes editorial board is staffed with a bunch of frightened weenies. That you hate Trump means you hate the vast number of Americans who support him. Shame on you for hating Americans you don't understand as much as you love foreigners you don't don't understand. It's pathetic.
6
Wow, quite a parcel of straw men here. First, where is there fear in saying we should admit refugees fleeing tyranny? That is honorable, not cowardly. The fear is saying we should turn all of them away because a few of their number may commit violent acts in the next decades. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of our own are already killed in shootings, and more domestic white terrorists kill Americans domestically than do Islamic terrorists. When viewed within the big picture, these refugees represent a tiny potential threat. But the fear is from those who oppose admitting them.
Second, this piece didn't express hate of Trump or those who support him (is this use of "hate" a consequence of that vapid "Haters" song, where anybody who doesn't enthusiastically endorse you is a "hater?"). It strongly criticized Trump's expressed position. That's politics.
Third, the number of Americans supporting Trump is apparently large, but I wouldn't go so far as to say "vast." Oceans are vast. The population of China is vast. 25% of far right potential voters polled cannot be said to be vast.
Fourth, where did they say they hate America? They deplore Fascism, a dangerous ideology I think every American should understand, particularly now.
Fifth,I didn't see love of foreigners here, but rather compassion for those oppressed by Islamic extremism. We have ahistory of accepting refugees from regions where we warred, notably from Vietnam and SE Asia in the early-mid 70s. That turned out well.
Second, this piece didn't express hate of Trump or those who support him (is this use of "hate" a consequence of that vapid "Haters" song, where anybody who doesn't enthusiastically endorse you is a "hater?"). It strongly criticized Trump's expressed position. That's politics.
Third, the number of Americans supporting Trump is apparently large, but I wouldn't go so far as to say "vast." Oceans are vast. The population of China is vast. 25% of far right potential voters polled cannot be said to be vast.
Fourth, where did they say they hate America? They deplore Fascism, a dangerous ideology I think every American should understand, particularly now.
Fifth,I didn't see love of foreigners here, but rather compassion for those oppressed by Islamic extremism. We have ahistory of accepting refugees from regions where we warred, notably from Vietnam and SE Asia in the early-mid 70s. That turned out well.
4
Susan Swindell Day,
I am one of those "foreigners" that you hate. I moved to the United States legally 40 years ago, was admitted to Stanford and MIT (are you familiar with these institutions), have an advanced degree and use my considerable intellect to advance the economy of the Northeast of United States, my country. Thanks to people like yourself, talented foreigners like myself will never, ever help economic advancement of the Southern states.
I am one of those "foreigners" that you hate. I moved to the United States legally 40 years ago, was admitted to Stanford and MIT (are you familiar with these institutions), have an advanced degree and use my considerable intellect to advance the economy of the Northeast of United States, my country. Thanks to people like yourself, talented foreigners like myself will never, ever help economic advancement of the Southern states.
2
It's curious that you think the NYTimes - "frightened weenies" (?) or otherwise - "hate" Trump or his supporters, simply because they are pointing out that Donald Trump is running on a negative, bigoted, racist (also class-ist) agenda. I don't think they "hate" him as much as they find what he stands for abhorrent and dangerous. Also curious that you believe they don't "understand" Trump or his supporters, who are, by the way, not at all hard to understand. The NYTimes editorial board gets it - believe me, and so do the rest of us. We - who disagree with Trump and his supporters, don't hate them - we oppose them because they are hurting the country. See? Easy to understand.
3
Dear NY Times. How HARD you must have worked in that phrase 'A faith based wall around the country' - what a clever image. How awful it sounds.
When in fact all that is proposed is a ban on people who profess a religion with a LARGE SUBSET that has openly declared war upon the west.
You speak only for yourself and your deluded ideologues. You seem to realize this. You can scream abuse and invective at Trump all you like.
Very few people are listening to you any more.
When in fact all that is proposed is a ban on people who profess a religion with a LARGE SUBSET that has openly declared war upon the west.
You speak only for yourself and your deluded ideologues. You seem to realize this. You can scream abuse and invective at Trump all you like.
Very few people are listening to you any more.
5
It's actually a very tiny subset. In contrast, the many peaceful Muslims in the area I worm, skilled scientists all, are fearful because of the paranoid rhetoric. You could even call the rhetoric itself bordering on terrorism.
1
Brown shirts, black shirts, high capacity magazines, ammunition, and semiautomatic weapons are now back ordered till way past Xmas.
What can I get for that delusional relative that hears voices?
A Donald Trump tatoo..................
What can I get for that delusional relative that hears voices?
A Donald Trump tatoo..................
Trump is Reagan without the halo.
2
Trump is not Reagan. I don't believe Trump would ever betray his friends and supporters to the FBI and the House UnAmerican Inquiisition for 30 pieces of silver.
This is the state of our Country. The cognitive dissonance is mind blowing.
Republicans on the San Bernadino shooting:"OMG Muslim terrorists-- we must act. It's all the Muslims. We must do something. Forget about the First Amendment. Safety is more important than our Consitutional protections."
Republicans on every other mass shooting: "Sorry, Second Amendment. Nothing we can do. It wasn't our lies against Planned Parenthood. Or, it wasn't our systemic treatment of blacks that caused a shooting in a black Church. It is always a lone wolf, unless it is a Muslim"
Same for every mass shooting. The hypocrisy knows no bounds. The Republican party is so lost, that it may never recover. At this point I am beginning to think that anyone that votes Republican has lost all sense of reason. (And I have voted Republican, but unlikely ever again.)
Fear is the greatest enemy of reason.
Republicans on the San Bernadino shooting:"OMG Muslim terrorists-- we must act. It's all the Muslims. We must do something. Forget about the First Amendment. Safety is more important than our Consitutional protections."
Republicans on every other mass shooting: "Sorry, Second Amendment. Nothing we can do. It wasn't our lies against Planned Parenthood. Or, it wasn't our systemic treatment of blacks that caused a shooting in a black Church. It is always a lone wolf, unless it is a Muslim"
Same for every mass shooting. The hypocrisy knows no bounds. The Republican party is so lost, that it may never recover. At this point I am beginning to think that anyone that votes Republican has lost all sense of reason. (And I have voted Republican, but unlikely ever again.)
Fear is the greatest enemy of reason.
4
"And the danger right now is allowing him to legitimize the hatred that he so skillfully exploits"...
Even more worrisome to me is that the next two on the Republican list might do what Trump talks about. The rudderless one from Florida would go along. The ruthless one from Texas might go even beyond Trump's talk.
Even more worrisome to me is that the next two on the Republican list might do what Trump talks about. The rudderless one from Florida would go along. The ruthless one from Texas might go even beyond Trump's talk.
1
Bravo!
Since the launch of the vile Trump campaign, and even before during his knowingly unsubstantiated birther carnival during which GOP leadership remained mute, I have seen Trump simply channeling the dominant mindset of the Republican Party, the petri dish for Trumpism. Now that the toxic brew of bigotry is bubbling out of control, ciphers like Jeb Bush, Matco Rubio and Chris Christie cry crocodile tears of condemnation.
Give us a break, GOP. And while you're at it, how about a demand for Trump's long-form birth certificate? Who knows? He may have been born on another planet. People are saying....
www.endthemadnessnow.org
Since the launch of the vile Trump campaign, and even before during his knowingly unsubstantiated birther carnival during which GOP leadership remained mute, I have seen Trump simply channeling the dominant mindset of the Republican Party, the petri dish for Trumpism. Now that the toxic brew of bigotry is bubbling out of control, ciphers like Jeb Bush, Matco Rubio and Chris Christie cry crocodile tears of condemnation.
Give us a break, GOP. And while you're at it, how about a demand for Trump's long-form birth certificate? Who knows? He may have been born on another planet. People are saying....
www.endthemadnessnow.org
3
The internment of the Japanese during World War II was a dark episode in American history, but it is one that Democrats like to forget, or at least forget the perpetrator, the Progressive FDR, just as the NYT has done here. They also like to forget that Germans and Italians were also interned because that muddies the message that it was purely racial. And they like to forget that Wilson interned Germans during World War I because it was committed by another Progressive. Donald Trump is just another in a long string of Progressives who have wanted to violate rights for the sake of security. But let us also not forget that we are being attacked by Muslims. So, while Trump's "solutions" are not to be adopted, there is an underlying problem that the NYT refuses to acknowledge.
3
Proportionally, FAR fewer German- and Italian-Americans were interred than Japanese. My grandfather was a skilled laborer in his 30s during WWII (he came to the US in 1922). He did experience some discriminatory language because of his German accent, but he also got a good job in a munitions factory during the war.
1
Yes, Donal Trump expounds fascistic ideas. For those of you who do not hear hate in his words, please read some history books and look up the defifinition of fascism - always seeming so attractive in times of fear and uncertainty throughout history. But for the rest of us who are not interested in electing this bloviating wannabe Trumperor, let us not resort to name-calling and hate in response. Let us look into the eyes of everyone around us regardless of race and religion, and get to know each other. Let us support interfaith rallies and speak succor to those who are targeted by bigoted acts. Only by example can we turn this frightening tide back.
1
Fairly easy choice - are you more afraid of Trump and his fascism or ISIS with a nuclear weapon?
2
Too many think that American ideals start and finish with displaying the flag and wearing American flag pins. However, our ideals were originally framed in the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution. Our founding fathers were brilliant men, quite often reinforced at home by intelligent women. They weren't crazed by religion either. From the beginning there have been many Americans who have never believed in the Constitution. And at various junctures in our history the craziness has burst forth. We are at that point again. The question is will we survive this outbreak?
1
I truly believe that at this point, Mr. Trump is running against himself. He will be the ultimate power broker at the Republican convention, and to get him to quit, he'll be offered an unspeakable prize. Perhaps development rights to that part of Wyoming that Dick Cheney doesn't own. Or Texas, perhaps. The thought of him as President has now gone beyond laughable. But the thought of his being the ultimate power broker? Scarier than even the Koch brothers.
1
We can't counter Trump's viewpoints by simply telling Americans it is not right to be afraid of Muslims. The FBI is now telling us the Colorado couple were radicalized a long time ago, but their family all supposedly had no clue?? Either they are all lying, or else you can't tell the good Muslims from the bad Muslims, even in your own family?
This all makes this issue very confusing and scary, and hard for ordinary people to grasp.
This all makes this issue very confusing and scary, and hard for ordinary people to grasp.
7
Trump, with his asinine faux ideas and blurts, has certainly appealed to the "Right"-Wing element of the GOP--the component that definitely turns out voters in the Primaries. He has solidified the Party into a populist union of loyal followers—albeit brain-dead to many observers. And Trump has assumed the role of their sort of the Anti-Christ.
As the editorial states, every bit of nonsense that comes from his mouth has been bandied about the Republican Party--even if only subliminally--for decades. Whites only, ditto for Christians, secure the border (only the southern one, mind you) since we don't want more of "them", send someone else's kids off to war (poor preferred), and lets keep the po' folk who don't look like "Us" from living in our neighborhoods.
There is not a thing that Trump says that has not been insinuated--if not spoken outright--by GOPers for a long, long time. Apparently, they want to re-establish the Party in their own obtuse image. But, now that the GOP has created a Monster of extreme proportions out of its own image, how does it put IT back under the rug?
http://thetruthoncommonsense.com
As the editorial states, every bit of nonsense that comes from his mouth has been bandied about the Republican Party--even if only subliminally--for decades. Whites only, ditto for Christians, secure the border (only the southern one, mind you) since we don't want more of "them", send someone else's kids off to war (poor preferred), and lets keep the po' folk who don't look like "Us" from living in our neighborhoods.
There is not a thing that Trump says that has not been insinuated--if not spoken outright--by GOPers for a long, long time. Apparently, they want to re-establish the Party in their own obtuse image. But, now that the GOP has created a Monster of extreme proportions out of its own image, how does it put IT back under the rug?
http://thetruthoncommonsense.com
4
Bravo for painting all of the Republican candidates with the Trump brush. It is commentary I am seeing more and more from divergent sources because it's the truth of the matter. The same stripe runs down all of their backs, and it's yellow.
4
With the ugly rhetoric escalating against Muslims and immigrants, it can't be long before we'll see aggressive language against other scapegoats from the mainstreeam. Black Americans, women, and of course "liberal democrats".
4
Finally the f-word appears in a NYT editorial, and that right at the end of the first paragraph.
Ever since President Obama got elected, the whole of the Republican party and its base, starting with the tea-party, have moved straight to abyss of fascism pure.
To paraphrase the title of Sinclair Lewis' satirical novel, 'It has already happened here'.
As a naturalized citizen from Germany, I am afraid, very afraid.
Ever since President Obama got elected, the whole of the Republican party and its base, starting with the tea-party, have moved straight to abyss of fascism pure.
To paraphrase the title of Sinclair Lewis' satirical novel, 'It has already happened here'.
As a naturalized citizen from Germany, I am afraid, very afraid.
4
The "we need another Pearl Harbor" Neocon Fascist element has not disappeared. San Bernardino was their new "Pearl Harbor". We tend to forget, but Jeb Bush is just one of them.
1
Campaigns boasting with their pants on fire
Most are dropping in the polls
Talking points read by a consummate liar
Dressed up but still Pincocchios
Striking quite a pose a perky little
Deputy helps to wash the record white
Voters cringe they are done with this binge
Can’t wait till all these creeps take flight
They want the ranters on their way
So take your party and your claims
Of how you pray
And all those histories
You tried to ply, would sell
When pigs really know how to fly
Just go, please spare us the embarrassment
Before you cause more injury
And when you have left we can finally say
Merry Christmas to me
Most are dropping in the polls
Talking points read by a consummate liar
Dressed up but still Pincocchios
Striking quite a pose a perky little
Deputy helps to wash the record white
Voters cringe they are done with this binge
Can’t wait till all these creeps take flight
They want the ranters on their way
So take your party and your claims
Of how you pray
And all those histories
You tried to ply, would sell
When pigs really know how to fly
Just go, please spare us the embarrassment
Before you cause more injury
And when you have left we can finally say
Merry Christmas to me
Lets put things in perspective. To begin with, Trump is not a bigot, & he is not a Politician, and does not have the slickness of a Politician . He speaks like a street Kid which endears him to the common people.He has a major disadvantage running for President,as he does not have any governmental background. The only way he could get attention is to feed off the fear of the public.Unfortunately, this approach has been used by despotic tyrants since time began. He is put himself in the company of some of the most hated people in History, where he doesn't belong.If he would have presented himself as what he really is, his profile would be quite different than what he is depicted by his rivals & the media.He is a master builder, he is secular, & he is progressive, one would say he's more of a Democrat then a Republican.
He like many of the Democrats I know, have become disenchanted with the radical liberalism that has taken over the Democratic Party, especially since Obama took office.If the Republicans were wise they would embrace him. He may not get the minority vote , but he would get the majority of the independent vote & the moderate Democrat vote, which will more than make up for the loss of the minorities, who would not vote Republican anyway.As a life long Democrat I would vote for my fellow New Yorker Donald Trump.I must have touch a New York Times nerve, they won't let me submit my comments.
He like many of the Democrats I know, have become disenchanted with the radical liberalism that has taken over the Democratic Party, especially since Obama took office.If the Republicans were wise they would embrace him. He may not get the minority vote , but he would get the majority of the independent vote & the moderate Democrat vote, which will more than make up for the loss of the minorities, who would not vote Republican anyway.As a life long Democrat I would vote for my fellow New Yorker Donald Trump.I must have touch a New York Times nerve, they won't let me submit my comments.
14
Well, very good, let's continue to advocate for the devil, Ultraliberal, and see how far beyond this perspective folks are truly willing to go. Granted, our Constitution provides for the separation of church and state, although its First Amendment guarantees the free practice of any creed. Nevertheless, let us extend the supposed secularism of Donald Trump fairly and equally to all before the law, as the service of true justice demands of us.
In other words, let us not only outlaw those who might potentially act as self-proclaimed radical Islamists. Let us also apply justice to those who transgress our political compact by giving priority of place to their role as right-to-life or born-again Christians, for example. Or to orthodox or conservative Jews who would put the policies of Israel before any U.S. concerns.
We do live in a democratic rather than a theocratic republic, after all. Who in today's Republican Party could possibly have a problem with this proposal?!
In other words, let us not only outlaw those who might potentially act as self-proclaimed radical Islamists. Let us also apply justice to those who transgress our political compact by giving priority of place to their role as right-to-life or born-again Christians, for example. Or to orthodox or conservative Jews who would put the policies of Israel before any U.S. concerns.
We do live in a democratic rather than a theocratic republic, after all. Who in today's Republican Party could possibly have a problem with this proposal?!
"Radical Liberalism?????" What country do you live in? I guess it's the country that buys guns out of a fear that Obama will take them away, even though there has been no restriction----none, zero, zilch----on the right to own guns. If not that, it's the country where only certain people are allowed to live--- I mean, have health care. Or, perhaps, you live in the country where going to war is always the preferred solution. As for the "progressive" Trump, isn't he the one who questioned Obama's place of birth? May I please see your birth certificate "Ultraliberal?"
1
I really think you need to step back and reconsider your world view. There is no "Radical liberalism that has taken over the Democratic Party" in the U.S. During the last decades the country has moved so much to the right that you do not have a left wing anymore.
I am German-American and live in both countries. Chancellor Angela Merkel's party is the conservative party in Germany (kind of what the Republican Party in the U.S. used to be before Reagan), yet she and her party are way to the left of Obama.
I am German-American and live in both countries. Chancellor Angela Merkel's party is the conservative party in Germany (kind of what the Republican Party in the U.S. used to be before Reagan), yet she and her party are way to the left of Obama.
1
Sorry, but although it's gratifying to read this editorial, it is too little too late. Where were you four years ago, when Trump and other "mainstream" Republicans--led by Donald Trump--were spewing their disgusting "birther" lies? I'll tell you where you were: Responding with a pablum-like policy of always treating "all sides" equally. While many of us saw years ago that the Republican Party had morphed into a danger and a threat to our nation, the Times acted as if it were still the party of Eisenhower, and left criticism of Republicans to the soft and comic Maureen Dowd and Gail Collins.
If you want to take a stand, declare that you will not endorse any of the current crop of Republican candidates. That would be an editorial that would really make a few waves.
If you want to take a stand, declare that you will not endorse any of the current crop of Republican candidates. That would be an editorial that would really make a few waves.
3
the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Immigration Law Center and the Southern Poverty Law Center - these have long ceased being creditable organizations.
I form my own opinions about Donald Trump, thank you very much.
I form my own opinions about Donald Trump, thank you very much.
2
All Trump has done is throw a few matches on a huge pile of wood that the GOP has built up over years of bigotry, code words, xenophobia, and voting restriction. The wood was bone dry and had been liberally drenched in gasoline. Trump threw his matches and justified it over and over as standing up against political correctness. Trump has "normalized" bad behavior and his crowds eat it up. As the Times correctly points out, the other candidates are participating in the light and heat - despite their denials.
Woe unto us!
Woe unto us!
4
I read this morning that Stormfront, the white supremacist web site had to increase its servers, because traffic has increased tremendously. Trump has unleashed and given permission for all the racists and bigots that have been too embarrassed to say what they felt, to speak freely about their hate of "the other". What had been considered uncivilized to say, is now mainstream.
Words have significance. Clearly the Planned Parenthood shootings had some relationship to the lies and deceit being spouted by those who object to a woman's right to choose.
What pandemonium will Trump's words inspire? For now, we know that attacks on Muslims are on the increase. This rests squarely on the shoulders of Trump and his fellow Republicans who will not forcefully speak against his hateful rhetoric.
People of good faith must stand up against these divisive words of the Right Wing. We must speak up. We can no longer remain silent. If you do not speak out, you are now part of the problem
Words have significance. Clearly the Planned Parenthood shootings had some relationship to the lies and deceit being spouted by those who object to a woman's right to choose.
What pandemonium will Trump's words inspire? For now, we know that attacks on Muslims are on the increase. This rests squarely on the shoulders of Trump and his fellow Republicans who will not forcefully speak against his hateful rhetoric.
People of good faith must stand up against these divisive words of the Right Wing. We must speak up. We can no longer remain silent. If you do not speak out, you are now part of the problem
4
This election is a stunning demonstration that the power of fear remains our greatest human weakness. Republicans who wield it as their leading point of focus are able to hold unbending sway over nearly forty percent of the electorate. The leading Republican candidate is running on a platform based on the premise that any person who doesn't look, think or pray exactly like you simply can't be trusted. Replacing the white hoods of yesterday with the veil of a professed love for other races and religions is his newly perfected form of verbal jujutsu, allowing followers to self-justify their embrace of humanity's ugliest instincts. So powerful is the force of fear, much of blue collar America has come to follow its shrill call directly away from their own self interests. The anti-union, social security bashing party of billionaire tax dodgers has now skillfully managed to shift the blame for stagnant wages away from themselves. The very people that worked hardest to shift jobs overseas, cut worker benefits and hold global business harmless are now beloved by many of their greatest victims. Fear is a most powerful force indeed.
4
Th last time I checked the Japanese-American internment during WWII was authorized by a liberal, progressive Democrat, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
3
and how is that even relevant? which Democrat today is calling for internment or outright banning of any particular ethnic or religious group?
1
In an article entitled, “Donald Trump Puts Off Israel Trip and Meeting With Benjamin Netanyahu,” the NYTimes reports today:
“Donald J. Trump announced on Thursday that he was postponing the trip he planned to take to Israel later this month. He said he would instead meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he becomes president.
Mr. Trump, who once campaigned for Mr. Netanyahu, suggested that he was doing him a favor by dropping the visit.”
I think that Mr. Netanyahu should help Mr. Trump as a return favor. In my opinion, they are "birds of a feather."
“Donald J. Trump announced on Thursday that he was postponing the trip he planned to take to Israel later this month. He said he would instead meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he becomes president.
Mr. Trump, who once campaigned for Mr. Netanyahu, suggested that he was doing him a favor by dropping the visit.”
I think that Mr. Netanyahu should help Mr. Trump as a return favor. In my opinion, they are "birds of a feather."
I believe this statement--"In 31 states, governors — most but not all Republicans — have formed an axis of ignorance, declaring their borders closed to refugees fleeing the Islamic State in Syri"--would be more accurate if it said "In 31 states, governors — ALL BUT ONE Republicans — have formed an axis of ignorance, declaring their borders closed to refugees fleeing the Islamic State in Syria."
Either way--for a party that pays so much lip service to notions like "the rule of law" and "adhering to the Constitution"--it seems worth noting that their position is not just xenophobic and nativist-it violates both the law and the Constitution.
Either way--for a party that pays so much lip service to notions like "the rule of law" and "adhering to the Constitution"--it seems worth noting that their position is not just xenophobic and nativist-it violates both the law and the Constitution.
1
What Trump is doing is nothing new, our own government with the help of the mainstream media demonizes what ever government or people we plan to wage war with in order to win support of the American people. It has been going on since the beginning, Paul in the book of Titus talks about vain talkers whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, one of whom said, the Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. Rebuke them, those who talk that way, sharply etc. I like this part where Paul say's, Unto the pure all things are pure, but unto the defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure.
And the NYT was as complicit, if not more, in its inexhaustible coverage of a man unworthy of serious consideration. They are not alone; the press long ago abrogated their responsibility as truth seekers and truth tellers in favor of false equivalencies. We all now suffer the consequences.
Physical laws are hard to apply to complex communities, but some analogies may be allowed. Nature abhors a vacuum; systems tend to greater randomness or chaos--entropy increases. Life exists as manifestations of neg-entropy--in which some order is maintained for a time by inputs of energy. One way to describe the malaise of western civilization is that insufficient energy has been expended on maintaining community spirit, esprit de corps.
Landowners and other capitalists used to have an interest in maintaining a relatively content work-force and relatively willing recruits for the dirty work of war etc. This is no longer the prevailing model of societal relationships. Now, capitalists seek profit wherever it suits them, and bedamned to their one-time workers. If any instruction can be derived from the Brit upper-class shows on TV, other than the amusement value of old manners, it is that the earls and lords had a sense of looking after their tenants. In our greed for the last farthing of profit that sense of responsibility has not been replaced by anything that serves communities. Trump and his ilk pretend to fill that gap. That so many buy that is one mark of their neediness and of the degradation of society.
The terrifying question is “can a broken democratic system reverse that degradation?”
Landowners and other capitalists used to have an interest in maintaining a relatively content work-force and relatively willing recruits for the dirty work of war etc. This is no longer the prevailing model of societal relationships. Now, capitalists seek profit wherever it suits them, and bedamned to their one-time workers. If any instruction can be derived from the Brit upper-class shows on TV, other than the amusement value of old manners, it is that the earls and lords had a sense of looking after their tenants. In our greed for the last farthing of profit that sense of responsibility has not been replaced by anything that serves communities. Trump and his ilk pretend to fill that gap. That so many buy that is one mark of their neediness and of the degradation of society.
The terrifying question is “can a broken democratic system reverse that degradation?”
Trump is the one out there yelling the loudest and speaking the most and the media is giving him all the coverage he wants and allowing his message, wrong as it is, to be heard over and over. He is a walking soundbite and has you all eating out of his hand.
Even scarier than his rhetoric is his standing in the polls, this message is clearly resonating somewhere.
Even scarier than his rhetoric is his standing in the polls, this message is clearly resonating somewhere.
1
It is my understanding that Trump is proposing a pause in the visa control system to enter US for people from islamic regions. Time and again, it has been demonstrated that visa controls do not work for them, and islamic jihadists slip thru and cause mass murder of Americans. The latest example is the young woman Tashfeen Malik (from Pakistan) who was given a K-1 visa while she was already a radicalized jihadist. If Trumps reforms were in place, Ms. Malik would never have slipped thru, and the San Bernardino murders would not have happened. It is normal in civilized society when system fails repeatedly, you pause, examine and repair it. I do not understand why the main stream media is attacking Trump, and misrepresenting his ideas as "banning all Muslims" from entering the US, and that he is using a religious test. This is primarily a safety procedure, and a pause on a bankrupt visa system before repair. It is coincidental that Trump's procedure has a religious component to it. But it is irresponsible journalism to misrepresent and mislead people about what Trump has told, giving the erroneous impression that he is banning muslims to enter the US permanently. I do not support Trump or his candidacy, but one has to be fair. The main stream media has been brutally unfair to him.
4
Trump is spewing hate. It is a hate crime. He should be charged, arrested and prosecuted.
1
Thinking like this will get him elected.
1
Editors, you may want to do a bit of research on the Know-Nothing Party of the 1850s. Then remind readers that the "outsiders" who were supposed to be excluded from immigrating and who were destroying the country were Germans and Irish. I wonder how many of those calling for excluding Muslims and Hispanics today are of German or Irish descent?
1
One minute Obama is refusing to listen to concerns from his own security heads about the Syrian refugee vetting process. The next minute jihadists are passing through our security vetting process with flying colors and going on a killing spree.
It doesn't take a Trump to see that our system for preventing jihadists from entering the country has holes in it. The Trump effect allows people to actually discuss problems like this openly and frankly. It provides a space where speech is not stifled by politically correct rules dictating what can and cannot be said.
When it comes to national security, this is particularly important because political correctness can actually be harmful if it hampers law enforcement to avoid offense. When an FBI agent has to stop following a known AQ operative because he has entered a mosque, which is now a no-go zone, it's a problem.
You might say Trump is the champion of free speech that too many are trying to silence for his micro- and macro-aggressions.
It doesn't take a Trump to see that our system for preventing jihadists from entering the country has holes in it. The Trump effect allows people to actually discuss problems like this openly and frankly. It provides a space where speech is not stifled by politically correct rules dictating what can and cannot be said.
When it comes to national security, this is particularly important because political correctness can actually be harmful if it hampers law enforcement to avoid offense. When an FBI agent has to stop following a known AQ operative because he has entered a mosque, which is now a no-go zone, it's a problem.
You might say Trump is the champion of free speech that too many are trying to silence for his micro- and macro-aggressions.
5
NYT editors: there are many more issues of the day that "trump" Trump. You and your columnists obsession with him demeans a great paper; alienates the intellectual reader your business relies upon; and gives him publicity with the neanderthals that promote him and who may vote for him. Please stop.
1
Some republicans are now saying that Donald Trump does not represented the party and his conservatives values (Speaker Ryan). If it is the case they should disqualified Donald Trump from running to be the presidential nominee of the GOP. After all action speaks louder than words,
3
Multi-billionaires and democracy do not mix. Just saying.
Trump gets away with saying what he says because the ill-informed, fearful, and hateful people always turn to a strongman demagogue when they are scared. And the republican party has been ginning up this fear for at least three decades.
Trump is probably the least dangerous of the republican circus, because he is such a caricature that most voters will be able to see through. But Cruz almost seems reasonable when compared with Trump and Cruz is much more of a dangerous demagogue because he is a real true believer.
There are those who will suggest that America is a center right Nation, but our populations are so diverse that what we really see is a center right proclivity in rural and isolated areas and a center left proclivity in urban and coastal areas.
But those who support Trump are not center right, they are far right. And extremism is not in our best national interests.
Trump gets away with saying what he says because the ill-informed, fearful, and hateful people always turn to a strongman demagogue when they are scared. And the republican party has been ginning up this fear for at least three decades.
Trump is probably the least dangerous of the republican circus, because he is such a caricature that most voters will be able to see through. But Cruz almost seems reasonable when compared with Trump and Cruz is much more of a dangerous demagogue because he is a real true believer.
There are those who will suggest that America is a center right Nation, but our populations are so diverse that what we really see is a center right proclivity in rural and isolated areas and a center left proclivity in urban and coastal areas.
But those who support Trump are not center right, they are far right. And extremism is not in our best national interests.
5
I think we should thank Mr. Trump. His temper tantrums and bigotry are forcing us to take a hard look at what we value as a country and what we look for in a leader of our country.
For my part I want a leader that rejects the politics of fear and division, one who inspires our country to be better than we are now, who knows that it is our diversity that makes us stronger than we would be separately. A leader that knows that it is service to our country which is important in the job of President, not an opportunity to fill his/her ego or bank account. A leader that accepts that equal opportunity, not necessarily equal outcomes, is a founding principle of our nation. A leader that will defend the weak and succor the needy, both at home and abroad. Where others around the world use their differences to tear their nation apart and export fear and hatred, we know that like a steel alloy, it is our differences that make us strong. What may seem to others to be a acrimonious argument, is how we air differing views and arrive at consensus.
I utterly reject the politics of fear, hatred, separatism, and me first. I want a leader who sees all of our faults and knows we can be better anyway. One who will demand that we fulfill the promise our our founding fathers 'with liberty and justice for all.'
For my part I want a leader that rejects the politics of fear and division, one who inspires our country to be better than we are now, who knows that it is our diversity that makes us stronger than we would be separately. A leader that knows that it is service to our country which is important in the job of President, not an opportunity to fill his/her ego or bank account. A leader that accepts that equal opportunity, not necessarily equal outcomes, is a founding principle of our nation. A leader that will defend the weak and succor the needy, both at home and abroad. Where others around the world use their differences to tear their nation apart and export fear and hatred, we know that like a steel alloy, it is our differences that make us strong. What may seem to others to be a acrimonious argument, is how we air differing views and arrive at consensus.
I utterly reject the politics of fear, hatred, separatism, and me first. I want a leader who sees all of our faults and knows we can be better anyway. One who will demand that we fulfill the promise our our founding fathers 'with liberty and justice for all.'
70
Bravo! You said it!
Your insistence for a feel good candidate is a vote to repeat the past. A politician is skilled at the double talk of voicing hope while knowing such promises are never kept. Why keep repeating a history that fuels outrage? Simply stated: People are tired of broken promises. We want action, not words !
1
Doesn't most of the country read at approx. a 5th grade level? Only 34% of adults even have a college degree. Do you expect the masses to know what fascism even means? It highlights what Ivory Towers you all live in that you think this characterization will resonate what-so-ever.
2
The reason this guy is leading the polls is because of the amount of air time the news outlets are giving him. This is no different than in marketing -- the brand who has the largest share of voice has the largest share of market. He is "seen as speaking for America" because everyone is constantly "seeing" him on TV. Time to pull the plug.
Why does the new coverage not follow the numbers?
According to polls, Mr. Trump has the support of about 30% of Republican voters. According to polls, Senator Sanders has the support of about 30% of Democratic voters. There are more Democratic voters than Republican voters. Therefore, it is demonstrably clear that more Americans support Senator Sanders than Mr. Trump.
Repeat: more Americans support Senator Sanders than Mr. Trump.
By the same elemental arithmetic, more Americans support Senator Sanders than they do any of the Republican candidates.
Why, then, do the American media, including the NYTimes, make it seem that Presidential campaign is all about Mr. Trump and his fellow Republican candidates, and that the campaign of Senator Sanders is reported upon to a vastly lesser degree?
According to polls, Mr. Trump has the support of about 30% of Republican voters. According to polls, Senator Sanders has the support of about 30% of Democratic voters. There are more Democratic voters than Republican voters. Therefore, it is demonstrably clear that more Americans support Senator Sanders than Mr. Trump.
Repeat: more Americans support Senator Sanders than Mr. Trump.
By the same elemental arithmetic, more Americans support Senator Sanders than they do any of the Republican candidates.
Why, then, do the American media, including the NYTimes, make it seem that Presidential campaign is all about Mr. Trump and his fellow Republican candidates, and that the campaign of Senator Sanders is reported upon to a vastly lesser degree?
4
Trump: "Ban Muslims from entering the US!"
Democrats: "We disagree, that's horrible!!"
Republicans: "We disagree, that's horrible!!"
NYT Ed Board: "No, Republicans! You can't say you disagree with Trump!! How can we demonize you if you disagree with Trump!! Tell you what, we're going to accuse you of agreeing with Trump anyway, cuz that's how we roll."
Democrats: "We disagree, that's horrible!!"
Republicans: "We disagree, that's horrible!!"
NYT Ed Board: "No, Republicans! You can't say you disagree with Trump!! How can we demonize you if you disagree with Trump!! Tell you what, we're going to accuse you of agreeing with Trump anyway, cuz that's how we roll."
4
I wish that the Times and other respectable sources of news would impose a moratorium on coverage of Trump. These near daily editorials and columns are doing nothing but feeding the flames of the narcissist. Enough is enough.
The Trump Effect is visible for all to see and is not created in a vacumn. You can get rid of Trump (treat the symptom) and Cruz, Rubio, Bush, Carson, will pop up to take his place. Better to look at the cause or system that has created and supported the environment and events that allow and promote this strategy of distruction, division and fear. I find that if you "follow the money" down the rabbit hole and look behind the doors you will find many policies, procedures and process of our Democracy that have been bent to the point of breaking by the Coalition of The Willing Billionaires who now own and control our political system. A good starting point for current responsibility might start with the joining of forces of Koch Industries/Bradley Foundation whose fathers co-founded The John Birch Society. They have created a system and pipeline that targets, supports and educates politicians from cradle to grave. Paul Ryan, Scott Walker, Marco Rubio, and many of the Republican Govs. who came to power in 2010 are examples. If you dig far enough you will find finger prints on the birth of The Tea Party.
The NYT is spreading hatred. It hates Republicans. A fair number of its editorial writers despise Americans and American values.
This editorial is as ridiculous, unAmerican and dishonest as all of the nonsense being spouted by Donald Trump.
That isn't surprising. The NYT speaks for Obama and Clinton who are just like Trump. They all lie, cheat, mislead, bully and act like Mussolini fascists who co-opted crony capitalists and demonized and silenced their critics and opponents.
Because Christians are being exterminated in Syria, Iraq and much of the Middle East, Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz recommended giving Christian refugees special treatment in the screening process. They were well meaning, not fear mongering like Trump is when he calls for banning Muslims.
Since Trump called for banning Muslims, a lot of Americans have objected to any kind of screening that is based on religion. Instead, we must screen based on behavior, political affiliations, travel patterns, character and a person's education and health status.
Meanwhile, #DumpTrump. He has declared his independence of the GOP, and it should tell him that the party won't let him bring down Republicans and America in 2016. He is a loser, and the Trump Party will be, too.
This editorial is as ridiculous, unAmerican and dishonest as all of the nonsense being spouted by Donald Trump.
That isn't surprising. The NYT speaks for Obama and Clinton who are just like Trump. They all lie, cheat, mislead, bully and act like Mussolini fascists who co-opted crony capitalists and demonized and silenced their critics and opponents.
Because Christians are being exterminated in Syria, Iraq and much of the Middle East, Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz recommended giving Christian refugees special treatment in the screening process. They were well meaning, not fear mongering like Trump is when he calls for banning Muslims.
Since Trump called for banning Muslims, a lot of Americans have objected to any kind of screening that is based on religion. Instead, we must screen based on behavior, political affiliations, travel patterns, character and a person's education and health status.
Meanwhile, #DumpTrump. He has declared his independence of the GOP, and it should tell him that the party won't let him bring down Republicans and America in 2016. He is a loser, and the Trump Party will be, too.
3
Republicans seem to believe that we would have no problems if we were all the same little family: look the same, speak the same language, and practice the same religion. That is not a world where I would want to live. Republicans are boring, and the former V.P. proved that even boring people can shoot one another.
1
How many Middle East refugees live in the Editorial Board's neighborhoods? How many Middle East refugees attend their children's schools? Easy to be noble and a humanitarian when the deluge doesn't impact your life or standard of living.
5
Mr. Trump just articulates better than anyone else what the Republican Party is all about - thus, his climb to the top in the GOP. Latest polls show him at his highest level of support at 35% with the highest percentage of all the candidates having "firm" support - the other candidates have support which is soft.
This is the GOP
This IS the GOP
The GOP is fundamentally a racist organization - Trump realizes that and he does not speak in "GOP approved code" - thus why he will be the nominee
===
My comment on the situation beyond the obvious above is that Mr. Obama's "leadership" (and I voted for him twice and I will NEVER vote for a Republican at any level ever) on ISIS is deplorable. 80% of our bombing sorties come back without have dropped a bomb in Iraq/Syria against ISIS. And ISIS is not contained as SecDef Carter said yesterday contrary to PBO's statements to the contrary. Obama really lacks credibility on the issue and his refusal to say "Islamic Terrorism" (which it is - fact) just has created a vacuum which Trump is exploiting. PBO ignored then SecState Clinton to be tougher on ISIS. We should simply bomb them out of existance. Raqqa should be made inhabitable. Obama is just kicking the can to the next Pres- they can be destroyed in that timeframe and we can make an area of Syria safe for refugees.
This is the GOP
This IS the GOP
The GOP is fundamentally a racist organization - Trump realizes that and he does not speak in "GOP approved code" - thus why he will be the nominee
===
My comment on the situation beyond the obvious above is that Mr. Obama's "leadership" (and I voted for him twice and I will NEVER vote for a Republican at any level ever) on ISIS is deplorable. 80% of our bombing sorties come back without have dropped a bomb in Iraq/Syria against ISIS. And ISIS is not contained as SecDef Carter said yesterday contrary to PBO's statements to the contrary. Obama really lacks credibility on the issue and his refusal to say "Islamic Terrorism" (which it is - fact) just has created a vacuum which Trump is exploiting. PBO ignored then SecState Clinton to be tougher on ISIS. We should simply bomb them out of existance. Raqqa should be made inhabitable. Obama is just kicking the can to the next Pres- they can be destroyed in that timeframe and we can make an area of Syria safe for refugees.
Trump is sticking his finger in the wound. Americans have seen their leaders speak out of both sides of their mouths to get elected and the problems continue to mount. Under Obama, ISIS went from a relatively minor fringe insurgency to a worldwide phenomenon, and he still insists that his failed policy will succeed. The Republicans on the other hand just spout off stupidity after stupidity in order to get the stupid vote. Now, they have a dysfunctional party that may not survive this election.
Although i disagree with Trump, i think he is reminding the political leaders of this country how incompetent they are and warning them that unless we have honorable leadership that provides real solutions, we will see some kind of dictatorship in this country.
Although i disagree with Trump, i think he is reminding the political leaders of this country how incompetent they are and warning them that unless we have honorable leadership that provides real solutions, we will see some kind of dictatorship in this country.
3
It has been plain for some time that the danger of Trump to the GOP, whether he wins or not, is in the manifest rebranding of the party as an intolerant, xenophobic pressure group. That has happened in three ways. First, in Trump's comments. Second, in his extraordinary poll numbers, which suggest that the majority of the party grassroots agrees with him. Third, in the tepid and -- dare I say tolerant -- responses to his "positions" of most of the other candidates. They don't dare to repudiate him strongly because they want to harvest his supporters when he leaves the field. Lindsey Graham is the one exception, very much to his credit. But, of course, he knows he has no chance of winning anyway. The longer this goes on, the bigger the disaster for the GOP. The damage is being done every day.
Thank you New York Times for finally, FINALLY giving Donald Trump the coverage he deserves. I mean these past months it's like you were deliberately trying to ignore him. I realize there are a lot of candidates running and the Times is scrupulous about giving equal coverage to all of them but lets face it your coverage of Mr Trump has been scant at best. Reading the Times one would never even know this man was in the race Thank you for finally giving him a few meager column inches.
BTW I'm still waiting for the transcript of the Editorial Board's sit down with Senator Sanders. Or was the just pick one out of a hat insult all we're likely to see?
BTW I'm still waiting for the transcript of the Editorial Board's sit down with Senator Sanders. Or was the just pick one out of a hat insult all we're likely to see?
1
The Republicans continue to demonstrate a very un-American attitude towards the poor, refugees, non-whites, rational approach to gun purchase and ownership, ideas and bills put forth by the President and Democrats, and a total lack of understanding about the Middle East and issues of Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds, Assad, ISIL, the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Cruz, one of the more despises government know-nothings, is going to "carpet-bomb the Middle East". Who is he going to bomb? And his ridiculous comment about "making the sand glow" is an obvious reference to the use of nukes. Is this the face of America that we want to project? We need to get these fools out of government and return to the civility of the 1950's and 1960's. We must engage the population of these countries, first with SOF to train the Syrian rebels, then civil-military advisors to assist in standing up a legitimate government IF their is motivation and support from host nation personnel. I am reminded of a quote by Douglas Pike, an expert of Vietnam who spent 15 years in-country:
“God helps those that help themselves
He will help only those who help themselves
He cannot help those who do not help themselves
Outsiders can contribute but cannot win an unconventional war by themselves.”
Douglas Pike
“God helps those that help themselves
He will help only those who help themselves
He cannot help those who do not help themselves
Outsiders can contribute but cannot win an unconventional war by themselves.”
Douglas Pike
1
It would be bad enough if the problem was limited to the topic of the editorial. But it goes deeper. Did you hear Justice Scalia suggest that blacks (as a "people" apparently) are simply not capable of succeeding at the best colleges and universities? And it doesn't stop with this. Constant barrages also "remind" us that we are a Christian country and our laws should reflect (at least some sub-set of) Christian beliefs -- we are a sort of Christian "sharia state". And then there are the issues of health care and sciencel -- no need to bring that up again? Trumpism is the crafted package of innuendo, declarations, and bravado that has long woven its way through segments of the American public, usually discredited by others, and now rearing its ugly head as the platform of a major political party. It's time for everyone, despite your hesitation about the purity or viability of Trumpism's opposition among the Democrats, to vote, assert yourselves calmly but with determination, and join together in a full-throated repudiation of this.
4
Six editorials on the Opinion page of The Times today. Five are explicitly anti-Republican. The more things change, the more they remain the same. "All the news that's fit to print" should be replaced with "We hate Republicans, and we'll make that fact known daily".
4
Put into historical context, the Reagan years were terrible for America both socially and economically. The reasons for that assertion are myriad and I'm not going to list them individually. The Reagan agenda was, however, definable and in stark contrast to that of Carter and Mondale whom he ran against and defeated. There were 2 parties with differing views of the world, the economy and society and yet once elected Reagan was able to work with Congress in a way that accomplished many of his goals without destroying the fiber of American politics. Tip O'Neill recognized the mandate that Reagan had won and moderated some of the more extreme elements of Reagan's agenda and the government continued functioning. With this current campaign, political civility has been shattered beyond recognition. While it was on it's last legs starting with the stolen 2001 election, any pretense of respect and decency from the GOP towards their opponents is GONE GONE GONE. Our political discourse has sunk into the abyss and I for one can't wait for it to be OVER. I only wish I could tune out entirely but, alas, I'm BOMBARDED continually with every ugly detail, making each day's news as unpleasant as could possibly be. Hateful comments are being thrown around with abandon (Mexican rapists). Lies are being reported as truths (911 celebrations). Our democratic model is a national disgrace. Has American unity, always tenuous, been forever broken?
6
The next US President Donald J. Trump has my vote.
2
Trump's overheated rhetoric and the NYT's equally overheated response - are both reactions to the current administration inexplicable policies and tone deaf messaging. The President's speech was essentially:
1) Status quo on approach to "ISIL"
2) Isn't it terrible about home grown terrorism, let's do something about guns
3) Oh by way, love your Muslim neighbors because, chances are, they have nothing to do with terrorism (not that the government would know one way or the other)
Not only that - we are improving relations with Iran, except that we are opposite sides when it comes to Assad in Syria and in Yemen. Our Sunni allies pour billions into Islamic radicalism and give lukewarm support (if not just lip service) to us; Libya is out of control and so on. And yet we are led to believe amateur videos and now Trump's rhetoric are behind this turmoil - not the incompetence of this and the prior administration.
Trump is the primal scream of the electorate.
1) Status quo on approach to "ISIL"
2) Isn't it terrible about home grown terrorism, let's do something about guns
3) Oh by way, love your Muslim neighbors because, chances are, they have nothing to do with terrorism (not that the government would know one way or the other)
Not only that - we are improving relations with Iran, except that we are opposite sides when it comes to Assad in Syria and in Yemen. Our Sunni allies pour billions into Islamic radicalism and give lukewarm support (if not just lip service) to us; Libya is out of control and so on. And yet we are led to believe amateur videos and now Trump's rhetoric are behind this turmoil - not the incompetence of this and the prior administration.
Trump is the primal scream of the electorate.
5
As a Torontonian, I trust that the current popularity of Donald Trump will lead to an apology from each and every American who made fun of us when Rob Ford was our mayor. Mr. Ford, for all of his failings, at least apologized when caught making racists remarks indicating the capacity to feel shame.
It is ironic that Korematsu v. United States, in which the Supreme Court upheld the Japanese internment, will shortly be used by the same Supreme Court to strike down the University of Texas's efforts to admit an ethnically diverse student body. It's OK to put folks in concentration camps based on their race, but it's not OK to take race into account in university admissions.
1
Through all the rhetoric. let us remember, the very powerful GOP has lost the past two elections!
1
Trump's latest proposal could be considered as a way to bargain for more monitoring of suspected terrorists. An area larger than US is out of bounds for American tourists in the world now, due to fear of kidnapping and murder in many Muslim majority countries-- Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, most of North-Africa (Egypt, Libya, Nigeria, Tunisia, etc), Bangladesh, Afghanistan, much of middle-east, etc. There are frequent travel advisories on not to travel to those regions, even preventing Americans from visiting the pyramids of Egypt. Even within US and Europe, there is some fear while attending public gatherings, for concerts, games, etc. There is also a worldwide fear of freely expressing views as Charlie Hebdo recently and Salman Rushdie decades ago tried to do. There is a field of fear extending across time and space. Trump's proposal is a blunt instrument to address this fear within US. Can the "American Values" that originated around 250 years ago trump "ISIS Values" that originated around 1400 years ago?
5
From reading these comments it is a sure thing Trump won't win in NY City. Talk about hatred!
2
For a guy like Trump whose been very fortunate in life to always be this doom and gloom guy is troubling...He should AT LEAST attempt to speak and act at campaign evenrs in uplifting terms, not this "woe is me" "woe is the US"...
All he does is light fuel to the fire and further pits Americans against one another..
The party of Dwight D Eisenhower has been replaced by demagogues like Trump, Cruz, Carson...
All he does is light fuel to the fire and further pits Americans against one another..
The party of Dwight D Eisenhower has been replaced by demagogues like Trump, Cruz, Carson...
When the GOP and its media partners declared a war on facts and shared American values, they created a sub-culture based on beliefs and opinions. As they are now discovering, these are harder to control, and subject to demagoguery by a skilled personality. Reaping the whirlwind.
Which candidate do you most trust to prevent ISIS from getting a nuclear weapon? Trump leads on that issue by a margin of 4-1 nationwide over any candidate from any party.
3
It is not that Trump, a historical buffoon with The bouffant scares us with pronouncements, it is the joy that his adoring fans cheer any mad ideas that he dishes out that should alarm us. We should ask ourselves, what if tomorrow he would say that bringing the Iron Maiden might be a way to make Muslims "look like losers", or perhaps apply Vlad the Impaler's method of deterrent...?! What effect would that have on his supporters? We should worry of what we have become!
The GOP knows the kabuki is finished, kaput. The core of the Republican party is now reactionary, fundamentalist, paranoid and xenophobic but the RNC was able to conceal this reality using coded language that provided cover. Trump has the audacity to speak in bold non-coded language that 2/3's of the party agrees with. The conundrum the RNC faces is the cosmetic camouflage of reasonableness carefully crafted to appeal to a broader base has been ripped away; kind of like the faux-gold plating on Trump's properties.
4
By the numbers, Trump has the potential to destoy the Republican party.
The Country is pretty much 50/50 Dem/Rep. In a recent snap pole 65% of Republicans support Trump's view regarding Muslims entering the US. If the Republican establishment is successful in defeating him as their candidate, and he deems his treatment as "unfair", he will likely run as a 3rd party candidate (after all he is a self proclaimed "winner" who "doesn't like losers" and, apparently, he has the money to do it). If he can garner just 45% of now former Republicans to his side he will 1) lose the the general election and 2) relagate the Republican party to minor party status for years to come.
The Country is pretty much 50/50 Dem/Rep. In a recent snap pole 65% of Republicans support Trump's view regarding Muslims entering the US. If the Republican establishment is successful in defeating him as their candidate, and he deems his treatment as "unfair", he will likely run as a 3rd party candidate (after all he is a self proclaimed "winner" who "doesn't like losers" and, apparently, he has the money to do it). If he can garner just 45% of now former Republicans to his side he will 1) lose the the general election and 2) relagate the Republican party to minor party status for years to come.
This is a serious examination of a serious phenomenon. But to say that a family was forced to seek refuge in Connecticut makes the Nutmeg State seem very dangerous indeed.
1
Actually it makes Indiana a dangerous place as it underscores the ignorance of the entire Republican population. We have some very dark days ahead of us. What with the current crop of GOP candidates and a Republican party composed of bigoted ignoramuses cheering them on.
1
Donald J. Trump equates the value of an idea with the size of a crowd, no matter. His is a ratings game pure and simple.
JJ
JJ
I am very pleased by Donald Trump and his explosive, unpleasant tirades. He gives loud and constant voice to the very worst of the Republican Party and forces them out from under the carpet. He forces that party to respond to his commentary and, as you point out, their responses are--with few exceptions--unequivocally equivocal.
As for the candidates, his candidacy is a constant reminder of the base they feel they cannot let go of--the old line America Firsters.
In the end, Trump reminds me of the Porter in Macbeth, holding up a mirror to the audience.
As for the candidates, his candidacy is a constant reminder of the base they feel they cannot let go of--the old line America Firsters.
In the end, Trump reminds me of the Porter in Macbeth, holding up a mirror to the audience.
3
I hope to retire in within the next couple of years. If all goes as planned I will be leaving this country for good. The USA isn't what it used to be....not even close.
We seem to have a frightening amount in common with 1930's Germany. I am seriously considering becoming an expat, whether Trump is elected or not. A substantial number of my compatriots seem to be driven by hate, fear, xenophobia, and acceptance of violence. Trump doesn't scare me nearly as much as his supporters do.
Calling for a moratorium on immigration to this country until we can get a handle on this of the people who brought us the 2/26/93 World Trade center bombing, San Bernardino, Paris, Barcelona bombing, Lindon train bombing, the shoot-up at LAX, the Boston Marathon bombing, the shoe bomber, the JFK fuel lines sabotage, the proposed Riverdale synagogue bombing, the Times Square bomber, Fort Hood, and 9/11 makes some sense.
However, I would restrict the moratorium to Muslim Arabs and Pakistanis. I have never heard of a Muslim from Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim state, engaging in any of this terrorism.
The way things are now, it's inevitable that ISIS members would slip in with legitimate refugees and that those cute little kids will go onto computers, check out ISIS websites, become radicalized and cause trouble.
Let us recall that this is OUR country. They have no right whatsoever to come here. They come here solely at our discretion.
My Christian and Jewish and Hindu friends, try immigrating to one of their countries. See where that gets you.
However, I would restrict the moratorium to Muslim Arabs and Pakistanis. I have never heard of a Muslim from Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim state, engaging in any of this terrorism.
The way things are now, it's inevitable that ISIS members would slip in with legitimate refugees and that those cute little kids will go onto computers, check out ISIS websites, become radicalized and cause trouble.
Let us recall that this is OUR country. They have no right whatsoever to come here. They come here solely at our discretion.
My Christian and Jewish and Hindu friends, try immigrating to one of their countries. See where that gets you.
4
Check out Trump's approach to opposition in the videos "You've Been Trumped" and 'A Dangerous Game" which deal with his investments in Scotland. Greed, the power of money, bombast, and bullying underlie his brand of operation along with his choice of propaganda: the "Big Lie" repeated over and over again. How different would he be as the chief executive of the United States? A shameful state of affairs for this country to live down.
Last night on the History Channel was a documentary on the rise of the Nazi party in Germany in the 1930's and how Hitler came to power. The rhetoric of his dialogue, in a way, runs parallel to some of the things Trump spews forth.
It is a very scary. There have been articles in many papers on how Trump and Cruz follow the playbook of fascism, and can almost be called real Fascists.
This is not America of the 1930's and its ignorance of what was happening in Germany and Japan. Who was it said that if we do not recognize history we are doomed to repeat it?
It is a very scary. There have been articles in many papers on how Trump and Cruz follow the playbook of fascism, and can almost be called real Fascists.
This is not America of the 1930's and its ignorance of what was happening in Germany and Japan. Who was it said that if we do not recognize history we are doomed to repeat it?
4
I want to applaud the NYT for saying what needs to be said not only about Donald Trump and his candidacy, but the Republican Party as a whole. The fearmongering and inciendiary speech is not new to our culture or history, but it is absolutely unacceptable. Yesterday on NPR was an interview of a Japanese man who was interned with his family for 4 years during World War II. Hearing his story moved me to tears. Donald Trump's rhetoric is taking us to that dark place once again. I have to believe the American people will rise up and loudly and unequivocally say no.
75
The scary part is that people are buying into this stuff. Are they brainwashed? We keep waiting for people to come to their senses and HOPE they will vote with some reasonable thought. Where is critical thinking?
1
The title of your editorial is how the Trump effect spreads. In my humble opinion you are being extremely timid. Trump's views spread like an air-borne virus. The more air (time) you give him, the more he feels empowered to spreads his views.
We are two months from the first primaries in a Presidential election cycle. We have fourteen Republicans and three Democrats running, and all you can talk about is Mr.Trump's views?
Meanwhile, Messrs. Rubio, Cruz, and co. are busy dismantling the ACA. Mr. Bernie Sanders is the first man offering some real progressive solutions to the problems of the country. Mrs. Clinton has presented over five major position papers on matters of domestic and foreign policy. The Obama administration is slowly but surely positioning itself to get us back to war in the Middle East, and all these developments are being ignored by the so-called progressive NYT, which instead, like and other media outlets, is busy covering Mr.Trump's insanities. Enough please. I am beginning to have dreams of orange-colored orangutans swinging on the White House lawn.
We are two months from the first primaries in a Presidential election cycle. We have fourteen Republicans and three Democrats running, and all you can talk about is Mr.Trump's views?
Meanwhile, Messrs. Rubio, Cruz, and co. are busy dismantling the ACA. Mr. Bernie Sanders is the first man offering some real progressive solutions to the problems of the country. Mrs. Clinton has presented over five major position papers on matters of domestic and foreign policy. The Obama administration is slowly but surely positioning itself to get us back to war in the Middle East, and all these developments are being ignored by the so-called progressive NYT, which instead, like and other media outlets, is busy covering Mr.Trump's insanities. Enough please. I am beginning to have dreams of orange-colored orangutans swinging on the White House lawn.
3
There is nothing too outrageous that Mr. Trump has said or done that has changed the game as of yet. His poll numbers rise, and his followers are becoming more--dare I say it?--radicalized. Heck, he even has a few Black ministers extolling his Christian virtues, including the woman he made famous on his reality show, all in exchange for 15 minutes of face time and 30 pieces of silver to add to their churches' building funds.
I thought I had seen it all when Sarah Palin's rallies devolved into what resembled Klan rallies. Now, we're watching Trump's campaign rallies incorporate the elements of rallies that occurred in the 1930's in Germany, including thuggish followers (i.e., brown shirts) who beat up protesters while others enthusiastically cheer them on. Oh, and as an added bonus, a neo-Nazi organization, as well as David Duke, support Trump.
I find it fascinating that the GOP leaders are only speaking out now. They have no one but themselves to blame for the dilemma they are in now. For years, they ramped up the foolery with their coded racism. That includes Speaker Ryan, who was among the attendees at a dinner meeting the night of President Obama's first inaugural and conspired to thwart the new president at every turn. There is definitely fear in the air, and its among the party's leaders.
I thought I had seen it all when Sarah Palin's rallies devolved into what resembled Klan rallies. Now, we're watching Trump's campaign rallies incorporate the elements of rallies that occurred in the 1930's in Germany, including thuggish followers (i.e., brown shirts) who beat up protesters while others enthusiastically cheer them on. Oh, and as an added bonus, a neo-Nazi organization, as well as David Duke, support Trump.
I find it fascinating that the GOP leaders are only speaking out now. They have no one but themselves to blame for the dilemma they are in now. For years, they ramped up the foolery with their coded racism. That includes Speaker Ryan, who was among the attendees at a dinner meeting the night of President Obama's first inaugural and conspired to thwart the new president at every turn. There is definitely fear in the air, and its among the party's leaders.
4
Finally, the New York Times has focused attention on the xenophobia and religious discrimination of the Republican presidential candidates as a group. Ben the "moderates" would
Yes Trump's views are extreme and in some cases (particularly his views on Muslim immigrants) over the top.
That said his rise in popularity is a sign that the alternative (the left/Obama's viewpoint) is just as ludicrous. Given Obama's choice to bury his head in the sand and hope it goes away, Trump's approach, while extreme, is appealing. At least he acknowledges the enemy.
ISIS does want to kill us.
ISIS does forcibly take over territory killing those who don't agree with it's crazy beliefs.
ISIS condones rape.
ISIS has attacked any and all that believe in free speech.
Yet Obama does virtually nothing. We have sent all of 50 people over to train middle east forces that oppose ISIS. He says we are running a air/bombing campaign but the rules of engagement require zero innocent civilians be killed. How much material do you think can be destroyed if the requirement is no civilians be killed?
We could be providing far more support (arms/logistical/training) to the Syrian and Kurdish rebels. Obama just sits on his hands.
Obama presents the false narrative that the only two choices are a) the very light touch he is giving this, and b) a ground war. People see the folly of this false narrative. There are many other paths.
That said his rise in popularity is a sign that the alternative (the left/Obama's viewpoint) is just as ludicrous. Given Obama's choice to bury his head in the sand and hope it goes away, Trump's approach, while extreme, is appealing. At least he acknowledges the enemy.
ISIS does want to kill us.
ISIS does forcibly take over territory killing those who don't agree with it's crazy beliefs.
ISIS condones rape.
ISIS has attacked any and all that believe in free speech.
Yet Obama does virtually nothing. We have sent all of 50 people over to train middle east forces that oppose ISIS. He says we are running a air/bombing campaign but the rules of engagement require zero innocent civilians be killed. How much material do you think can be destroyed if the requirement is no civilians be killed?
We could be providing far more support (arms/logistical/training) to the Syrian and Kurdish rebels. Obama just sits on his hands.
Obama presents the false narrative that the only two choices are a) the very light touch he is giving this, and b) a ground war. People see the folly of this false narrative. There are many other paths.
4
One thing is for certain. We have to get past the infantile branding, such as describing Trump's proposal as "appeals to exclusion and hatred". Are you serious?
After the recent Paris and California attacks, can't the Times at least be honest enough to admit that Trump's proposal on Muslims coming to the country stems from a valid concern shared by millions that there is a serious potential problem building that could adversely affect this nation tremendously? I guess it is just easier to call him a hater and hope he shuts up.
After the recent Paris and California attacks, can't the Times at least be honest enough to admit that Trump's proposal on Muslims coming to the country stems from a valid concern shared by millions that there is a serious potential problem building that could adversely affect this nation tremendously? I guess it is just easier to call him a hater and hope he shuts up.
1
The Republican party blames immigrants for low pay and crowded schools to distract us from the fact that Republican leadership has refused for the last seven years to do anything on behalf of the working class -- not a jobs program, not healthcare, not minimum wage, nothing -- to undermine the Democratic party and to hurt President Obama. The Trump Effect is the result.
2
Donald Trump has a huge problem. He needs to protect the Trump brand name, and at the same time he has to promote his political points of view. According to his website, the Trump Organization's standards are "best-in-class talent, white glove service, superior quality, attention to detail and innovation" Particularly appealing is the "white glove service" promise. Immigrants would love it.
Despite our new world media's plethora of choices probably the large majority of Americans sponge their ' news' from a few sources ... sensationalist and banal and coded with fear. EG.... The Republican ' Ministry of Information ' , aka FOX NEWS , is a font of nationalist vitriol, barely concealed racism and right wing hysteria. American socioeconomic conditions , driven by global corporate capitalism and our rapacious plutocracy, have a lot of us in a vice and left feeling insecure and alienated at best and desperate at worst. This situation breeds glorious opportunity for guys like Trump and exposes many of the current crop of leadership pretenders as experienced cynical demagogues. Didnt Lenin say something about lumpen proletariat and useful idiots ?
Thank you, NYT, for bearing clear witness to the dangers of our current political situation. May your call serve to galvanize us to preserve the fundamental values of our country.
4
And how many of these issues -- Trump's rise, the fear that he is exploiting, the difficulty the Republican Party leaders have in containing this -- can be laid at the door of the White House? Surely Syrian refugees in Europe, we might agree, are not Mr. Trump's fault (although I eagerly await your somehow making Trump or the Republican Party responsible for Marianne Le Pen), but aren't they in large measure contributed to (if not caused) by the Administration's foreign policy?
In 1988 President Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act issuing the nation’s apology and compensation to Japanese-Americans for their incarceration in internment camps during World War II. The Congressional commission tasked with investigating the camps and the bill approving the act said the internment policy "was caused by racial prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership."
We are living with the same conditions now, and we seem to have learned nothing. America’s history of racial prejudice, hysteria and weak politicians rears it’s ugly head again.
We are living with the same conditions now, and we seem to have learned nothing. America’s history of racial prejudice, hysteria and weak politicians rears it’s ugly head again.
4
Trump's candidacy is shining a very bright light onto the xenophobic, homophobic, anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, misogynistic darkness that is now much of the right wing in this country.
The "Trump Effect" is not spreading. Quite opposite. It's a coalescing of every awful thing about the right in a single man with a big voice.
Trump simply says out loud (and loudly) what the majority of republican politicians and voters are thinking. They created him, and make no mistake, will support him should he secure the nomination.
Trump is the natural product of 40 years of hate that started with Gingrich's Contract On America.
The "Trump Effect" is not spreading. Quite opposite. It's a coalescing of every awful thing about the right in a single man with a big voice.
Trump simply says out loud (and loudly) what the majority of republican politicians and voters are thinking. They created him, and make no mistake, will support him should he secure the nomination.
Trump is the natural product of 40 years of hate that started with Gingrich's Contract On America.
5
The Left, as evidenced by the Editorial Board, seems to believe there are only two emotional “speeds” regarding illegal immigration: (1) welcoming compassion or (2) hateful, racist hysteria. Ergo, anyone clueless enough to find it problematic for our president to unilaterally (who cares what congress thinks?) import 10,000-plus essentially backgroundless Muslim Middle Easterners (MMEs) is – what else – a hateful, hysterical racist.
Well, I guess I qualify. Besides being fertile grounds for breeding terrorism, enclaves of MMEs scattered throughout Europe have proven themselves to be virtually unassimilatable. They have demonstrated time and again that even though they flock to Western nations for the freedoms and quality of life, they nevertheless do so with the intention of building their "new" lives based on the dysfunctional, undemocratic values of their countries of origin.
But, what do I know? I'm just some clueless, hateful, hysterical racist.
Well, I guess I qualify. Besides being fertile grounds for breeding terrorism, enclaves of MMEs scattered throughout Europe have proven themselves to be virtually unassimilatable. They have demonstrated time and again that even though they flock to Western nations for the freedoms and quality of life, they nevertheless do so with the intention of building their "new" lives based on the dysfunctional, undemocratic values of their countries of origin.
But, what do I know? I'm just some clueless, hateful, hysterical racist.
2
My grandmother in South Dakota was born 50 years too soon. Donald Trump is speaking the "common sense" she taught me in the mid '50s. Trump is a phenomenon, but his core supporters have always believed what he espouses. I listen to Trump, and I hear my grandmother. "We" made America great; "they" are dirty lazy breeders who will pull America down. Hard working Protestant farmers from England were the only immigrants that should have been allowed in. Cities and immigrants are the sources of all our problems. Trump has simply given this great swath of America a voice they've longed for.
1
“Go ahead, deplore Donald Trump. Despise his message. Reject his appeals to exclusion and hatred. But do not make the mistake of treating him as a solitary phenomenon, a singular celebrity narcissist who has somehow, all alone, brought his party and its politics to the brink of fascism.”
A great paragraph, for indeed Donald Trump is not “a solitary phenomenon.” He is not only a misguided and “leading Republican candidate for president,” with a despicable message, he is above all America’s son, born and nourished in its culture, its racism, its violence, its glorification of costly and destructive wars, its sensational television programs, its indifference to the plight of millions of its poor and its unawareness.
Donald Trump did not bring “his party and its politics to the brink of fascism” alone. America’s decadent institutions, its corrupt political system, its dis-functional branches of government, its misguided and destructive wars, its greedy lobbies, its screaming media, its elite and exclusive colleges and universities and its uninformed citizens all did.
This election season, perhaps more than any other, should be an eye opener. Unwittingly perhaps, Donald Trump is a reminder that America’s greatest challenges are more internal than they are external.
One day perhaps, America’s youth will respond more to the sane voices of social justice, of economic equality, of universal health care insurance and of free education over the voices of bigotry and hate.
A great paragraph, for indeed Donald Trump is not “a solitary phenomenon.” He is not only a misguided and “leading Republican candidate for president,” with a despicable message, he is above all America’s son, born and nourished in its culture, its racism, its violence, its glorification of costly and destructive wars, its sensational television programs, its indifference to the plight of millions of its poor and its unawareness.
Donald Trump did not bring “his party and its politics to the brink of fascism” alone. America’s decadent institutions, its corrupt political system, its dis-functional branches of government, its misguided and destructive wars, its greedy lobbies, its screaming media, its elite and exclusive colleges and universities and its uninformed citizens all did.
This election season, perhaps more than any other, should be an eye opener. Unwittingly perhaps, Donald Trump is a reminder that America’s greatest challenges are more internal than they are external.
One day perhaps, America’s youth will respond more to the sane voices of social justice, of economic equality, of universal health care insurance and of free education over the voices of bigotry and hate.
2
I am convinced that Trump is running for President for the sole purpose of selling his "brand". Further, it is his intention lose the nomination while apppealing to his fellow bigots.
It is his plan to lose by stating positions that are so extreme that they would poison his chances during a general election, while provide red meat to his "fans".
To this end, he has insulted veterans, Mexicans, Jews and the disabled. However, now I suspect he is panicking. These issues should have destroyed his candidacy, but they have made him the favorite of his target audience. Doubtless in proposing a religious test for immigrants, he thought he'd found the silver bullet, wherein he could fail with righteous dignity.
Trump is a monster fed by the electorate's total frustration to Washington's corruption. At this point, the situation seems to parallel Hiltler's rise to power, where an exhausted German population believed the ranting of a charismatic egomaniac.
Wake up America ! Men of good will cannot remain silent.
It is his plan to lose by stating positions that are so extreme that they would poison his chances during a general election, while provide red meat to his "fans".
To this end, he has insulted veterans, Mexicans, Jews and the disabled. However, now I suspect he is panicking. These issues should have destroyed his candidacy, but they have made him the favorite of his target audience. Doubtless in proposing a religious test for immigrants, he thought he'd found the silver bullet, wherein he could fail with righteous dignity.
Trump is a monster fed by the electorate's total frustration to Washington's corruption. At this point, the situation seems to parallel Hiltler's rise to power, where an exhausted German population believed the ranting of a charismatic egomaniac.
Wake up America ! Men of good will cannot remain silent.
1
They’re Beginning to Look a Lot Like Isis
They’re beginning to look a lot like Isis
Everywhere they go
Take a look at Trump’s face, railing about race
With hatred and bigotry aglow
They’re beginning to look a lot like Isis
Guns in every hand
But the scariest sight to see is the Donald on a spree
All across this great land
A pair of Cabela’s boots and a pistol that shoots
Is the wish of Donald and Jeb
Drones that will stalk and will hunt like a hawk
Is the hope of Carly and Ted
They’re beginning to look a lot like Isis
Everywhere they show
They attack Planned Parenthood, and would end it if they could
For their base is rigidly absolutist as they go
They’re beginning to look a lot like Isis
Soon they’ll go too far
And what will make them pause is if Donald lacks applause
That’s how sorry they all are.
They’re beginning to look a lot like Isis
Guns in every hand
But the scariest sight to see is the Donald on a spree
All across this great land
They’re beginning to look a lot like Isis
Everywhere they go
Take a look at Trump’s face, railing about race
With hatred and bigotry aglow
They’re beginning to look a lot like Isis
Guns in every hand
But the scariest sight to see is the Donald on a spree
All across this great land
A pair of Cabela’s boots and a pistol that shoots
Is the wish of Donald and Jeb
Drones that will stalk and will hunt like a hawk
Is the hope of Carly and Ted
They’re beginning to look a lot like Isis
Everywhere they show
They attack Planned Parenthood, and would end it if they could
For their base is rigidly absolutist as they go
They’re beginning to look a lot like Isis
Soon they’ll go too far
And what will make them pause is if Donald lacks applause
That’s how sorry they all are.
They’re beginning to look a lot like Isis
Guns in every hand
But the scariest sight to see is the Donald on a spree
All across this great land
1
The NYT is right on target with this, but the problem goes way beyond the selective examples of nativism the Times cites. Think of the whole storm around Obama's birth certificate or the persistent belief that he is a Muslim (time to recall Colin Powell asking why it should even matter). I understand that citizens are fearful, and I wish my fellow citizens would understand the fears of those of us who feel terrorized by all mass shootings whoever is behind the gun. But, the fear driving Trump's followers wasn't born from the recent terrorist attacks or rise of ISIS, or even from a post-9/11 psychosis, it's a deep fear of a changing America, racially, ethnically, and religiously; culturally; economically. Leadership should be about smoothing the way for change and making sure people are not left behind or isolated. It shouldn't be about stoking fear for personal and political gain.
103
James:
I cannot help but remember the sixties when three very iconic people, JFK,RFK and MLK all lost their lives and of course everyone thinks the individual that did it was just some deranged loner. All of these people made it quite clear and going forward they wanted to turn the country in a different direction and ultimately the lost their lives and the country has never been the same since, only dreams of what could have been.
In their cases, lone assassins? Coincidence? I think not and frankly, this group of fear mongers in the Republican Party remind me of those times when no doubt, I would be quite fearful for someone like Bernie Sanders should he ever become President.
I cannot help but remember the sixties when three very iconic people, JFK,RFK and MLK all lost their lives and of course everyone thinks the individual that did it was just some deranged loner. All of these people made it quite clear and going forward they wanted to turn the country in a different direction and ultimately the lost their lives and the country has never been the same since, only dreams of what could have been.
In their cases, lone assassins? Coincidence? I think not and frankly, this group of fear mongers in the Republican Party remind me of those times when no doubt, I would be quite fearful for someone like Bernie Sanders should he ever become President.
One more Muslim shooting in the U.S. and Trump looks like a genius, get's the nomination, and maybe the Presidency.
The Muslim mass shootings have been front and center for a month. The chances of getting involved in one, for an American, are infinitesimally small. It doesn't matter, Americans are afraid and buying assault rifles like Barbie dolls in December. If another one happens, Trump looks, in a word, prophetic. Sure, we all know he's a narcissist, but how do you lose if you are a prophet?
Who does ISIS most want as President? Donald Trump.
The Muslim mass shootings have been front and center for a month. The chances of getting involved in one, for an American, are infinitesimally small. It doesn't matter, Americans are afraid and buying assault rifles like Barbie dolls in December. If another one happens, Trump looks, in a word, prophetic. Sure, we all know he's a narcissist, but how do you lose if you are a prophet?
Who does ISIS most want as President? Donald Trump.
3
I watched part of CNN"s interview of Trump by Don Lemon. Why do they give Trump a bigger venue than the other candidates? RATINGS. Why does a journalist like Lemon not fully challenge Trump and his "ideas"? RATINGS. Why does CNN advertise the upcoming Republican debate as if it were a UFC prizefight? RATINGS.
The other Republicans candidates pretend to be offended by Trump but in he end they want his potential voters. They want to reassure them that they also hate the same people these voters do.
The other Republicans candidates pretend to be offended by Trump but in he end they want his potential voters. They want to reassure them that they also hate the same people these voters do.
I would claim it is no surprise that Trump find his greatest support in rightwing talk radio.
If Trump actually becomes president (I don't think it will happen, but I never thought we'd reach where we are now either), I will no longer vote, pay taxes, answer a jury summons, etc. I may stop using currency and just take what I please. I will encourage others to do the same. Its as much my society as his or anyone else. I will not be part of a deformed society led by one like him.
What a hack job. Trump is using common sense not the fantasy thought of the left. He has no intention of establishing camps for Muslins or anything of the like. What he is intent on is protecting all of us from radical Islam, yes even your whinny butt. If Trump is a fascist then George Takei is an alien. And if you think the US is anational disgrace, then leave and go live in some enlightened country where you can say what you wish, have a Bill of Rights, and well live the American dream. Oh, that's right. America is the country that's a national disgrace. I believe Islam in the middle east does not have a Bill of Rights, religious tolerance, or treat women as equals. Maybe you would be happy there.
1
As long as the NYT, CNN, etc., continue to demonize Trump, the more I like him and the more I consider voting for him. The media has continuously given Obama and this administration a hall pass and his lack of leadership is what has the U.S. in this position today. Someone who speaks the truth and isn't afraid to make the tough decisions is refreshing.
What is upsetting the GOP about Trump is that when they aim low, he aims lower.
They want to be tough on the undcoumented folks. Trump was tougher: deport every one of them *and* build a wall to keep out anyone coming through Mexico.
They want to be tough on Syrian refugees. Trump was tougher: keep *all* the Muslims out.
Trump won't be outdone and that is upsetting to the GOP, but not upsetting enough to offend him to the point where he'll run as an independent candidate and kill GOP's chances to win the White House.
Win-at-any-cost-strategy of the GOP may cost them dearly this time.
They want to be tough on the undcoumented folks. Trump was tougher: deport every one of them *and* build a wall to keep out anyone coming through Mexico.
They want to be tough on Syrian refugees. Trump was tougher: keep *all* the Muslims out.
Trump won't be outdone and that is upsetting to the GOP, but not upsetting enough to offend him to the point where he'll run as an independent candidate and kill GOP's chances to win the White House.
Win-at-any-cost-strategy of the GOP may cost them dearly this time.
You reap what you sow.
The news media have been playing up the Islamic terrorist attacks on Americans, and playing down the home-grown gun homicides since 9/11, which have resulted in about 2,000 times the carnage.
The news media has advocated every stupid war we fought in the past 60 plus years, but scratches its head when there is blowback. This is disingenuous. We have wasted tens of Trillions of dollars, and lost the lives of hundreds of thousands of valiant Americans, and what do we have to show for it? One thing we have reaped is being the target of terrorists.
Sure, Trump makes us look bad. But the media created him long before he ran for President. If the Donald was never born, someone else would have taken his place.
The news media have been playing up the Islamic terrorist attacks on Americans, and playing down the home-grown gun homicides since 9/11, which have resulted in about 2,000 times the carnage.
The news media has advocated every stupid war we fought in the past 60 plus years, but scratches its head when there is blowback. This is disingenuous. We have wasted tens of Trillions of dollars, and lost the lives of hundreds of thousands of valiant Americans, and what do we have to show for it? One thing we have reaped is being the target of terrorists.
Sure, Trump makes us look bad. But the media created him long before he ran for President. If the Donald was never born, someone else would have taken his place.
Long ago, my father used to preface conversations about things that frustrated him with 'If only I were dictator, I would...'. Now I get similar thoughts sometimes, and recall with nostalgia Boris Yelsin's banning of the Soviet Communist Party. I wonder whether the President has daydreams like this.
Editorial Board, please consider how you contribute. Your continuing articles on issues that have no meaning for most of America (transgender rights, for example), and your tacit support of the .1% (immigration is great! refugees are harmless! we need more H1Bs! college education is the key to success!) I am a dyed in the wool Democrat living in a solid red state and his tough talk is appealing to me! (I'd never vote for him, but you treat Bernie Sanders as a joke, the same joke as Donald.) People don't feel safe, it's been years since they've felt safe economically, and we are ripe for a daddy figure who can fix everything. Find a path for the Democrats to be that daddy or we're all in for a nasty shock.
1
Donald Trump is a snake-oil salesman who lives by the old adage that any attention is good attention. He will say anything to keep his name in the headlines.
He is painting himself into a corner, however. The only way he can keep grabbing more attention is by becoming more and more outrageous. Since he is pandering to a xenophobic racist base, he can only keep going further to the right. This base was conveniently created for him by years of Republican fear mongering and red meat. His rhetoric can only become more bombastic and extreme. Its all about keeping his name in lights. He wants to be able to sell his brand. His brand, however, is now toxic.
He is painting himself into a corner, however. The only way he can keep grabbing more attention is by becoming more and more outrageous. Since he is pandering to a xenophobic racist base, he can only keep going further to the right. This base was conveniently created for him by years of Republican fear mongering and red meat. His rhetoric can only become more bombastic and extreme. Its all about keeping his name in lights. He wants to be able to sell his brand. His brand, however, is now toxic.
I'm just wondering how many commenters here simply punch the "reader's picks" button and read and vote for their favorite guest columnists? I wonder how many never venture into the "all" column and read, and digest the views of the opposition, in the 3-4 recommended range 200 comments under the sea?
If you never rub elbows with the hoi polloi, you will completely miss the fact Trump supporters are gaining ground in the NY Times' hallowed ground. Many more of them sound logical and reasonable and state their cases and opinions in an ostensibly sane and rational manner.
It's easy to call Republicans loonies and fools, but they are your neighbors and relatives and coworkers and government employees and cops and judges. They are embracing a demagog and venting their hatred right here, right under your noses.
If you never rub elbows with the hoi polloi, you will completely miss the fact Trump supporters are gaining ground in the NY Times' hallowed ground. Many more of them sound logical and reasonable and state their cases and opinions in an ostensibly sane and rational manner.
It's easy to call Republicans loonies and fools, but they are your neighbors and relatives and coworkers and government employees and cops and judges. They are embracing a demagog and venting their hatred right here, right under your noses.
Trump=GOP
3
It's chilling to me that every time a crisis arises in our country, the GOP responds by wanting to enact laws that are unconstitutional, or go to war.
1
Amen. Now if only the Fourth estate would only do its job and call out lies and obfuscations in it's reporting, not just by editorializing. The relativistic false equating between truth and fiction, whereby trash-talk is given the same weight as governing in news coverage has to stop if there is any hope for the survival of our democracy.
1
Stop. talking. about. Trump. (Please.)
Messrs. Bush and Cruz would require that refugees be Christians in order to be admitted. If the President of the United States cannot convince Republicans that he is a Christian, how is a refugee going to do it?
1
This is what the Republican Party has become, and it is a great American tragedy. It is the outgrowth of years of encouraging implicit racism against the first black president. All of the nod, nod, wink, wink about the fictional birth in Kenya combined with the fictional Muslim religion of the president were encouraged to incite the base and to get votes. This was combined racism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia - a toxic mix.
Building on these years of sanctioned racism and bigotry where the entire campaign was always about hatred for President Obama and his policies, the current poison was created, drop by drop.
The Republican leaders who should have strongly condemned all of the bigotry against President Obama continuously encouraged it. They never denied he was not born in this country; they did not deny that he was a Muslim. The current candidates have just expanded this slander.
The two Congressional leaders - Ryan and Mc Connell - have just condemned Trump's outrageous policy to exclude all Muslims from the country, but then said they would support him as candidate. They have spent literally years obstructing every single policy of the president's, sight unseen, before they were even released. This is the height of anti-Americanism.
Have you no shame, Republican Party? Where is your soul? Where is your conscience?
Building on these years of sanctioned racism and bigotry where the entire campaign was always about hatred for President Obama and his policies, the current poison was created, drop by drop.
The Republican leaders who should have strongly condemned all of the bigotry against President Obama continuously encouraged it. They never denied he was not born in this country; they did not deny that he was a Muslim. The current candidates have just expanded this slander.
The two Congressional leaders - Ryan and Mc Connell - have just condemned Trump's outrageous policy to exclude all Muslims from the country, but then said they would support him as candidate. They have spent literally years obstructing every single policy of the president's, sight unseen, before they were even released. This is the height of anti-Americanism.
Have you no shame, Republican Party? Where is your soul? Where is your conscience?
3
I agree that Trump's solutions are blatantly racist, but I agree with him when he says we have to take a break and figure out what's going on. Starting now, we should suspend awarding visas for most everyone until we do come up with a solution on who and who should not be entering this country.
1
I compare the Republican primaries to a bicycle race. The main field wants to stay in Trumps slipstream. Not so far up front that they have to pedal into the wind themselves, and not so far behind as to lose the slipstream. Trump's attack on Muslims is his attempt to shake off the field in the mountains. No longer able to keep up, the others now allege doping.
My point is, that the current Republican condemnations of Trump are 100% tactical, and 0% moral (well maybe 99% to 1%).
My point is, that the current Republican condemnations of Trump are 100% tactical, and 0% moral (well maybe 99% to 1%).
The Donald is merely shouting what the mainstream GOP has been whispering for decades. Their real problem with Trump is that he has destroyed their deniability of using bigotry and hate for power.
1
In an interview with CNN Tonight on Wednesday, Mr. Trump said he was “doing good for the Muslims.”
“Many Muslim friends of mine are in agreement with me,” he added. “They say, ‘Donald, you brought something up to the fore that is so brilliant and so fantastic.’ ”
Mr. Trump said that “one of the most important people in Middle East” had called him on Wednesday to say “Donald, you’re doing a great service.”
Donald Trump should be made to provide the names of these "Muslim friends" and "most important people in Middle East".
If he refuses or cannot he risks being viewed as certifiably deranged.
“Many Muslim friends of mine are in agreement with me,” he added. “They say, ‘Donald, you brought something up to the fore that is so brilliant and so fantastic.’ ”
Mr. Trump said that “one of the most important people in Middle East” had called him on Wednesday to say “Donald, you’re doing a great service.”
Donald Trump should be made to provide the names of these "Muslim friends" and "most important people in Middle East".
If he refuses or cannot he risks being viewed as certifiably deranged.
3
Trunp's proposal to keep certain folks from entering the US is unlikely to work to keep America safe. Instead we should rely on technology which should apply to everyone visiting the US regardless of the country those passport they use. For instance, in addition to a working data base of those folks they should be issued an ankle bracelet which uses GPS technology to track their location and starts to beep when their visa time limit nears.
Mr. Luettgen:
I did crack a dictionary and found the remainder of the definition of fascist that you chose to exclude from your comment:
…extreme right-winger, rightist; nationalist, xenophobe*, racist, jingoistic**…
With these further definitions of words used above:
*Xenophobia: intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries.
**Jingoism: extreme patriotism, especially in the form of aggressive or warlike foreign policy.
While the definition of fascism is: “an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization.”
I our system of government, Mr. Trump alone can not be a dictator, although he does tend to make dictatorial-sounding statements about what he will do if elected.
But add his supporters into the mix, and you have the beginnings of a fascistic movement within the Republican party.
For the record, the antonym for fascist is “liberal."
I did crack a dictionary and found the remainder of the definition of fascist that you chose to exclude from your comment:
…extreme right-winger, rightist; nationalist, xenophobe*, racist, jingoistic**…
With these further definitions of words used above:
*Xenophobia: intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries.
**Jingoism: extreme patriotism, especially in the form of aggressive or warlike foreign policy.
While the definition of fascism is: “an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization.”
I our system of government, Mr. Trump alone can not be a dictator, although he does tend to make dictatorial-sounding statements about what he will do if elected.
But add his supporters into the mix, and you have the beginnings of a fascistic movement within the Republican party.
For the record, the antonym for fascist is “liberal."
1
Absolutely the other Republican candidates have been spreading xenophobia, homophobia, racism, christian fundamentalism, etc. That's what Republicans do to get lower class people to vote for candidates whose purpose is to make the rich richer. But the other candidates have not gotten traction because trump is stealing the spotlight. So they have to feign outrage at Trumps latest statement as a means to get rid of him and get the spotlight back on them. If you think that they don't agree with Trump's sentiments, you haven't been awake.
Perhaps we should consider why Trump is leading in the polls. It has been said that demagogues flourish in the absence of leadership. What Trump is tapping into is the desire across America for leadership - leadership that will again make us proud to be Americans. For whatever his ideological strengths, Mr. Obama is simply not a leader. And Mr. Trump is tapping into that void. I don't believe it is actually what he is saying that matters to people. They see someone who they think can get things done. And that excites them. Trump is unfortunately the inevitable consequence of 8 years of Mr. Obama.
1
Problem is our media is afraid to challenge Trump in strongest terms unlike the past journalist k
Like Ted Coppel, Mike Wallece etc.
Mr Trump drives the agenda and media sucks ip to him. Until that stops he is not going to stop.
Like Ted Coppel, Mike Wallece etc.
Mr Trump drives the agenda and media sucks ip to him. Until that stops he is not going to stop.
Mr. Trump is probably unaware of how difficult it already is for the average person from a Muslim majority country like mine, Pakistan, to enter the US. There is a thorough checking that visa applicants have to go through when applying for a US visa. There are all kinds of documents (proof of income/assets, places where lived and traveled previously etc.) that visa officials in the US embassy/consulate require besides calling all applicants, regardless of their economic status and whether they have previously traveled/lived in the US, for a personal interview. Given the checks in place it’s not surprising that most applicants (especially young males) are rejected out of hand (or do not apply in the first place) unless they can convince the visa official that they are (a) not dangerous jihadists out to murder US citizens and create mayhem and (b) not going to violate the terms of a visit visa. The procedure is rigorous and no doubt for the most part (I’d say close to 100%) screens out those who wish the US harm from entering the country.
Obviously no system is foolproof as when happens when someone who doesn’t fit the profile like a Tashfeen Malik is successful in getting a US visa as the fiancée of a US citizen. (But there is also the overkill aspect as indicated in a recent story in the International New York Times profiling the owner of a landmark book store in Islamabad who has been consistently denied a visit visa despite being a large importer of books from the US.)
Obviously no system is foolproof as when happens when someone who doesn’t fit the profile like a Tashfeen Malik is successful in getting a US visa as the fiancée of a US citizen. (But there is also the overkill aspect as indicated in a recent story in the International New York Times profiling the owner of a landmark book store in Islamabad who has been consistently denied a visit visa despite being a large importer of books from the US.)
1
The subtitle of this editorial says that the other Republican candidates have been peddling xenophobic views. I assume the editors suggest that any supporter of the GOP is therefore a xenophobe, bigot and racists, according to the NYT's as well then? I take extreme exception to this wording and this piece in general. I am sick of this labeling. I am not a Trump supporter, though I understand why he has appeal to so many - and it's largely the progressive left's fault. See the last Room For Debate on Trump, where I've tried to explain.
I happen to be a Rubio supporter. That is to say, someone who is a minority (unless the editors have forgotten...) I support the general GOP platform because I agree with the ideas it represents: protecting our borders, or at least not unrestricted immigration flows; I acknowledge that there are dangers to bringing Muslims from high-risk locations into this country because innocent Americans could be hurt or killed by this policy; I support the right to bear arms - and I don't use radical Islamic terrorism to justify restrictions on that constitutional right; I support the traditional Christian values that Rubio believes in, though I don't believe the religion should dictate our civil laws - nor should any religion.
The NYT's are painting with such a broad brush that it is no wonder that people are flocking to people like Trump. This piece is disgusting. It seems to me that left is the more xenophobic of the two sides. Disgusting.
I happen to be a Rubio supporter. That is to say, someone who is a minority (unless the editors have forgotten...) I support the general GOP platform because I agree with the ideas it represents: protecting our borders, or at least not unrestricted immigration flows; I acknowledge that there are dangers to bringing Muslims from high-risk locations into this country because innocent Americans could be hurt or killed by this policy; I support the right to bear arms - and I don't use radical Islamic terrorism to justify restrictions on that constitutional right; I support the traditional Christian values that Rubio believes in, though I don't believe the religion should dictate our civil laws - nor should any religion.
The NYT's are painting with such a broad brush that it is no wonder that people are flocking to people like Trump. This piece is disgusting. It seems to me that left is the more xenophobic of the two sides. Disgusting.
4
Your editorial points out a chilling reality: This ugliness did not start with Donald Trump. It started years ago when the richest white men in America formed think tanks (i.e. The American Enterprise Institute and many others), bought news organizations (Fox News, need I say more?), created phony "grass roots" (LOL) groups (Tea Party) and started undermining democracy with the long-term goal of brain-washing millions of Americans so they could dismantle unions, New Deal programs, voting-rights laws, etc.
No, Donald Trump doesn't scare me.
What scares me is every person who blindly supports him and says they will vote for him to be my President.
These very same people who scream that the Constitution guarantees their right to own killing machines that shoot hundreds of bullets in a minute (The Constitution does NOT, by the way, guarantee any such thing.) also scream that it's ok to ignore the Constitution's guarantee that every person has an unalienable right to freedom of religion.
American Exceptionalism has become American DECEPTIONALISM.
What would be funny, if it was not so dangerous, is the fact that the group that swallowed this ideology - The Republican Party - is now in danger of being swallowed itself.
The Frankenstein monster has come for its creator.
No, Donald Trump doesn't scare me.
What scares me is every person who blindly supports him and says they will vote for him to be my President.
These very same people who scream that the Constitution guarantees their right to own killing machines that shoot hundreds of bullets in a minute (The Constitution does NOT, by the way, guarantee any such thing.) also scream that it's ok to ignore the Constitution's guarantee that every person has an unalienable right to freedom of religion.
American Exceptionalism has become American DECEPTIONALISM.
What would be funny, if it was not so dangerous, is the fact that the group that swallowed this ideology - The Republican Party - is now in danger of being swallowed itself.
The Frankenstein monster has come for its creator.
2
Today's political climate makes the Southern Strategy look like hippies in Golden Gate Park. Whatever happened to carefully coded language and subtle dog whistle politics? Where is Ronakd Reagan when you need him?
1
The "west" feels compelled to ask the 1 billion + Muslims of the world to take a hard look at their faith, to understand how and why it produces the fanatical Daesh. It's time that we ask ask the conservatives (of both the US and EU countries) how and why fanatics-with-followings like Trump and La Penn develop. Support for Daesh is to the Muslim faith as Trump's support is to the GOP.
1
Donald Trump represents the ultimate "triumph" of the Nixon-era "Southern strategy" with its covert, and not so covert, racist appeal. It was only in the 2014 mid-term elections that the Republican Party became the party of the "solid South" and, in so doing, the voice of the angry, white male anti-black, anti-female, anti-immigrant core constituency in the region. Before that we only had third party candidates like George Wallace and the American Independent Party. Nevertheless, the Republican Party has been capitalizing on this racist heritage for some time with slogans like Ronald Reagan's "welfare queen," and George H.W. Bush's infamous Willie Horton ad. If anything, we may owe Mr. Trump a debt of gratitude for removing the PC mask of bigotry that the Republican Party embraced in Richard Nixon's Faustian bargain for power. Now that we can all see, as you point out, how all that current Republican candidates also bask in this bigotry, it's up to the Democratic candidates and the American people to render judgment on bigotry and intolerance.
1
What is truly frightening is that Trump has tapped into a lynch mob mentality shared by a significant percentage of the American people.
18
Your comment is offensive and racist in its own right. What Trump has done is to speak the truth. President Obama cannot say the words "Islamic terrorism" Ask yourself why. Maybe because he was raised in a culture and religion that preaches death to anyone who will not accept and convert to Islam. Our current president would rather appease than confront, as he recently did by capitulating to every Iranian demand for nuclear weapons. Get over your liberal mindset, and face the reality of terrorism that originates from Muslim nations.
2
No, what's frightening is the NYT/Obama liberal lynch mob accusing Trump and his supporters of being a lynch mob, not realizing they have become precisely what they despise.
1
Donald Trump is refreshing honest and certainly not politically correct. The so called "silent majority" is totally fed up with politicians who repeatedly lie, are hopelessly politically correct and cannot speak without being duplicitous. I personally like Donald trump and know that if he should become the GOP presidential candidate he will tone down his rhetoric and beat the pants off of Hillary Clinton. I know that is a horrible image to conjure up, but I am not politically correct either. PS: I am well educated, MBA, CPA and have been lied to for more than 7 decades by politicians and am fed up with them. I want an honest person who tells it like it is and actually will do something to make America better. That would be Donald Trump.
Xenophobic, fascistic? Perhaps, but, as we see, his rhetoric is playing to millions of voters in our country who feel that the "see no evil, hear no evil" rhetoric of the Democrats is ignoring reality. Many Americans see the American ideal, the dream, slipping away and look around for someone to try to halt that slide.
Most politicians are trying to be politically correct in their messages, trying, I suppose, to prevent voter alienation. I have a surprise for you: The voters are already alienated. I would not vote for Trump simply because he does not have the skills to get things done, but, at least he understands what others may not want to hear.
With respect to the current issue of the immigration of Islamist people, you do not have to be a xenophobe to understand fear of a people who may have criminal intent or may just be a symbol of what we see slipping away, jobs, culture.
We, as Americans, must confront our fears and bring them out into the open, not as the Democrats seem to want to do, saying they do not exist. Only then can we be proud to vote and stand behind our leaders.
Most politicians are trying to be politically correct in their messages, trying, I suppose, to prevent voter alienation. I have a surprise for you: The voters are already alienated. I would not vote for Trump simply because he does not have the skills to get things done, but, at least he understands what others may not want to hear.
With respect to the current issue of the immigration of Islamist people, you do not have to be a xenophobe to understand fear of a people who may have criminal intent or may just be a symbol of what we see slipping away, jobs, culture.
We, as Americans, must confront our fears and bring them out into the open, not as the Democrats seem to want to do, saying they do not exist. Only then can we be proud to vote and stand behind our leaders.
Putting a temporary moratorium on Muslim immigration to this country seems like a prudent thing to do until we can figure out how to separate those who want to kill us from those that don't. I believe most Americans understand that even it the elites in Washington and the media don't.
The refugee crisis is deplorable but it gets its oxygen from a refusal to acknowledge and do something about facts on the ground. Specifically, finding a way to give Syria back to Syrians. Assad has been a second generation dictator and client of nep-Ccommunist Russia for a long time brutalizing his people with impunity. Assad's presence makes Isis possible and the refugee crisis possible. The western alliance is threatened by Russian overreach which is causing these problems. Our real challenge is standing up to Russia which is only too happy to cause problems because we object to its behavior in Ukraine. Why are no candidates or current officials addressing the Russian issue?
Trump isn't doing anything the Republican party hasn't been doing for decades. He is just more honest and forthcoming about it. You could call him the face of the party. The other candidates aren't going to distance themselves from him. NOW, given that, it might be that he is doing the nation a favor by bring this into the open. Whether it acts as a favor or as a curse depends largely on the nations reaction to what he has exposed. And I don't mean just talk, talk and more talk. This nation has had a current of racism toward Native Americans, Africans Americans, Muslim Americans, Jewish Americans, ... since it was formed. And that's minor compared to what it does to foreigners. Do not ask to take the nit from your neighbors eye till you take the log from your own. It is time to grow up or shut up.
1
One of the problems is that the media is, like the Democrats, too passive at times in denouncing these Republicans who spout hateful and inaccurate language. Fact-checking should be increased, and where there is already, it should be more widely disseminated, that way the ignoramuses who support these candidates could learn the truth: they don't actually care about you! They have their own bigoted agenda, and seek to represent the 1%! They're only using fear to convince you that your righteous culture is constantly being attacked, which of course gives you the right to limit everybody else's rights (see: gay, women's, black rights, etc.).
The media could do a much better job of attacking inaccuracies. One time I saw Carly Fiorina simply keep insisting that she saw those videos that she totally made up, and George Stephanopoulos simply did not challenge her enough on the issue. Most of the time, in their quest to be impartial, reporters simply end up sounding like "All right Mr. Completely Wrong About This, if you say so... I mean, you've repeated yourself 20 times - you must be right!"
Additionally, the Democratic Party should stop playing the defensive role. We're constantly under attack, whether it be some blatant lie or an exaggeration. I agree the Democrats do look weak at times - it's like our representatives don't care. That's why Bernie Sanders' anger really gets people going. The Democrats need to attack Republicans on every front, and in a forceful manner.
The media could do a much better job of attacking inaccuracies. One time I saw Carly Fiorina simply keep insisting that she saw those videos that she totally made up, and George Stephanopoulos simply did not challenge her enough on the issue. Most of the time, in their quest to be impartial, reporters simply end up sounding like "All right Mr. Completely Wrong About This, if you say so... I mean, you've repeated yourself 20 times - you must be right!"
Additionally, the Democratic Party should stop playing the defensive role. We're constantly under attack, whether it be some blatant lie or an exaggeration. I agree the Democrats do look weak at times - it's like our representatives don't care. That's why Bernie Sanders' anger really gets people going. The Democrats need to attack Republicans on every front, and in a forceful manner.
1
Why don't you do something useful and write an editorial condemning Islamic extremism?
3
In part the media's silencing of Bernie Sanders, who actually speaks for the people, is just as responsible for Trump's rise as anything.
1
Republicans shedding crocodile tears could care less about what Donald Trump says except that the GOP presidential candidates want to knock him off his front runner status and Congressional Republicans are just worried that he may cost them their seats.
1
The problem with Trump is that he says certain truths about certain fears of certain citizens, but then take these truths to extremes largely without substance. He has taken the GOP hostage between the possibility of him winning the nomination (thus ensure Hillary's victory) or becoming an independent candidate (thus ensure Hillary's victory).
The GOP should take the high road, trading potential long term damage to the party for possibly giving up on 2016, and repudiate Trump and take back the moral high ground.
The GOP should take the high road, trading potential long term damage to the party for possibly giving up on 2016, and repudiate Trump and take back the moral high ground.
I've been shutting it out since Rush Limbaugh first began saying things like this many years ago. Not in denial, I know what they're saying and doing. Listening to it doesn't lift me, make me a better person. My goal is to be a light, and to walk toward the light. It's possible that a republican could shine the light, but unlikely.
1
Not a complete picture. The Japanese of WW2 were quite happy to be US citizens. They did not view themselves vanguards to changing the US into a Japanese outpost. They were loyal & deserved loyalty in return.
I lived in Brooklyn not far from a large mosque. I challenge you to walk past, quietly with a (closed) can of beer, visible, or in a miniskirt. Try the Detroit area too. You won't do it again.
Listen to the large amount of US Muslim support for jihadists and the very little amount of condemnation. Certainly not *every* US Muslim feels that way. Equally certain is the fact that not *all* Germans of WW2 were Nazis. But the vast amount of support for the "cause" lends such movements much power. Look at the large percentage of Muslim charities that funded foreign terrorist groups (Hamas, Hizbollah, Muslim Brotherhood, etc.). Support for terror has zero to do with tolerance or good citizenship. Denying it does not make it go away.
"Au contraire (to quote from the French)!
I was abroad during 9/11 & can honestly testify that many Muslims where I was were literally cheering, dancing & passing out candy in celebration. I was not present to witness what happened or did not happen in Brooklyn. (BTW - I will NOT be voting for Trump).
I lived in Brooklyn not far from a large mosque. I challenge you to walk past, quietly with a (closed) can of beer, visible, or in a miniskirt. Try the Detroit area too. You won't do it again.
Listen to the large amount of US Muslim support for jihadists and the very little amount of condemnation. Certainly not *every* US Muslim feels that way. Equally certain is the fact that not *all* Germans of WW2 were Nazis. But the vast amount of support for the "cause" lends such movements much power. Look at the large percentage of Muslim charities that funded foreign terrorist groups (Hamas, Hizbollah, Muslim Brotherhood, etc.). Support for terror has zero to do with tolerance or good citizenship. Denying it does not make it go away.
"Au contraire (to quote from the French)!
I was abroad during 9/11 & can honestly testify that many Muslims where I was were literally cheering, dancing & passing out candy in celebration. I was not present to witness what happened or did not happen in Brooklyn. (BTW - I will NOT be voting for Trump).
1
I am concermed about US politics and issues that countrynis facing. It seems like biggest enemy of US is some of these poloticians whi lack vision, logic, himanity, and courage. I sincerely hope that people with right mindset never vote them.
The NYT has been guilty of pushing the Democrat agenda at every turn including slanting news and publishing leftist editorials as news. Did you think that you could pretend to be journalists while being so biased? Trump is not a racists nor are his views, instead he is speaking the truth how most Americans feel about radical islam, taxes, open borders and the total government incompetence in international dealings. We are tired of being lied to by Obama and his administration and you will see the reaction in November to the lies. We are sick of the the intrusion into our lives by the government in so many areas and want a drastically smaller government that sticks to its constitutional responsibilities. The root cause of Trump's rise and probably victory is people like those at the NYT.
8
Nope.
It is because of people like you.
It is because of people like you.
1
James, I am amazed they published your comment. The Times moderators rarely include dissenting agenda. Kudos to you for pointing out how shameless and biased the NYT has been this election season. I will be surprised if they publish my response to you.
3
Hey, Editorial Board. This is not Planet Trump!
Trump? All of this outrage about Trump creates a smoke cloud that shields the racist exploitation, the xenophobia, the religious bigotry, the disenfranchisement of women, the hatred of poor that is fundamental to Republican survival. The success of the strategy will play out in a "straw man" scapegoating of Trump by his fellow candidates, who all hope that Trump's followers will come to them. That's right. Republicans want all of Trump's supporters. All of those rabid mob who relish Trump's characterization of women, Mexicans, Blacks, Muslims are the audience that Republicans want in their party. What a stunning revelation!
Name the important American political figure who in the past week has:
--- Advocated forcefully for gun control, placing it close to the very top of the American agenda at a time when most of the American people are preoccupied with the problem of domestic terror.
--- Failed to mention that the recent terror attack in California occurred at a Christmas party.
--- Delivered a major speech to the American people about terrorism without mentioning Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad and the PLO/Palestinian Authority.
--- Tip-toed around the term “Muslim terrorists,” as though it were a hot potato.
--- Conducted himself in a manner designed to downplay the the American people’s legitimate worry about the ability of terrorists to
infiltrate the United States as refugees, thus increasing the likelihood that Donald Trump will succeed in becoming the presidential nominee of the Republican party.
Hint: The correct answer is not Donald Trump.
--- Advocated forcefully for gun control, placing it close to the very top of the American agenda at a time when most of the American people are preoccupied with the problem of domestic terror.
--- Failed to mention that the recent terror attack in California occurred at a Christmas party.
--- Delivered a major speech to the American people about terrorism without mentioning Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad and the PLO/Palestinian Authority.
--- Tip-toed around the term “Muslim terrorists,” as though it were a hot potato.
--- Conducted himself in a manner designed to downplay the the American people’s legitimate worry about the ability of terrorists to
infiltrate the United States as refugees, thus increasing the likelihood that Donald Trump will succeed in becoming the presidential nominee of the Republican party.
Hint: The correct answer is not Donald Trump.
3
Men are nearly twice as likely to support Trump as women are. Another reason to consider restricting voting rights to women, as well as elective office. Come on, it's worth a try!
Trump is saying what most Americans think, but are afraid of saying so.
Trump = Make America Great Again!
Trump = Make America Great Again!
3
Kasich stated in the Dispatch this morning that he would likely not endorse Trump in the general election.
An 'an axis of ignorance' indeed. Heroes overcome fear to reach courage - Republicans and conservatives just embrace fear displaying bluster and cowardice.
The Republican Party's use of dog whistle words to feed its base a steady diet of hate began to fester and grown since at least Reagan. Now those whistle sounds can be heard loud and clear by all.
The Republican Party's use of dog whistle words to feed its base a steady diet of hate began to fester and grown since at least Reagan. Now those whistle sounds can be heard loud and clear by all.
The NYT is putting Republican candidates in an impossible position. If candidates declare that they would reject Trump's candidacy - particularly if he wins the nomination - then what? Then we get a fascist state where only the candidates that politicians and the media find acceptable get to run? What exactly does the NYT Editorial Board want, and what is it espousing? Personally, I would like to get out from under the two party system into a more multi-party system, but so far, Americans have embraced its two parties because they sadly think they get adequate representation.
The Republican party is what it is. Trump's appeal is his bravura, not bigotry. The NYT Editorial Board should not, in my opinion, be suggesting that the Republican party pick and choose its frontrunner over the will of its voters, and want to put Republican candidates in the position of looking petty and vindictive. If Republican candidates rejected a candidate you liked, this editorial would be a scathing condemnation for a very different reason.
The Republican party is what it is. Trump's appeal is his bravura, not bigotry. The NYT Editorial Board should not, in my opinion, be suggesting that the Republican party pick and choose its frontrunner over the will of its voters, and want to put Republican candidates in the position of looking petty and vindictive. If Republican candidates rejected a candidate you liked, this editorial would be a scathing condemnation for a very different reason.
1
For the record, the Southern Poverty Law Center quietly dropped the "non-profit civil rights organization" descriptor from its website in 2014.
It now refers to itself in its press releases and other fundraising materials as "an advocacy group," just like any other partisan think tank.
It now refers to itself in its press releases and other fundraising materials as "an advocacy group," just like any other partisan think tank.
If this asshol@% is ever elected, he will do more damage to foreign relations than all of the our past, senseless wars combined. Yes, it is borderline fascist, so let's not dance around it. It is not a "meme" as one commentor said. It is flat out racism along the lines of McCarthy and Wallace. We truly are a better country than this. But this moron only heightens the hatred that foreigners have towards us by becoming the face of US foreign policy. He is playing right into their hand and "proving" to them that they have been right all along, that America hates Muslims and Islam. Absolutely pathetic and very dangerous.
2
They also contain lies about Jimmy Carter.
1
"Party officials attuned to the power of fear" - really? Republican Party operatives have been fanning the flames of that fear for years and years with little pushback from the media. The Southern Strategy, Reagan's "welfare queens", Lee Atwater and Karl Rove's dirty tricks like push-polls claiming John McCain had fathered a black child (horrors!), demonizing Democrats, on and on. Just because some of those messages were dog whistled or done behind the scenes (push polls) does not mean the Republican base did not hear them. They got that "those people" were out to get them, destroy their religion, take their stuff, etc. The mainstream media has repeatedly ignored the fear mongering.
Even when Republicans in Congress spent taxpayer money investigating Bill Clinton for murder the "liberal" media shrugged it off instead of expressing outrage the way they would have had a President Bush been accused of that. Heck the MSM could not even hold Bush I accountable for lying about his role in Iran Contra.
Today the media downplays the threat of right wing, domestic, often "Christian" terrorism, a threat that both DHS and law enforcement say is at least as dangerous as threats from Islamic extremists, refusing to even label these attacks as terrorism for fear of offending Republicans. When candidates Cruz, Huckabee and Jindahl attended an event hosted by a pastor who says that homosexuals should be killed the media shrugged it off.
Your outrage is far too little and far too late.
Even when Republicans in Congress spent taxpayer money investigating Bill Clinton for murder the "liberal" media shrugged it off instead of expressing outrage the way they would have had a President Bush been accused of that. Heck the MSM could not even hold Bush I accountable for lying about his role in Iran Contra.
Today the media downplays the threat of right wing, domestic, often "Christian" terrorism, a threat that both DHS and law enforcement say is at least as dangerous as threats from Islamic extremists, refusing to even label these attacks as terrorism for fear of offending Republicans. When candidates Cruz, Huckabee and Jindahl attended an event hosted by a pastor who says that homosexuals should be killed the media shrugged it off.
Your outrage is far too little and far too late.
1
The GOP have become terrorism enablers. Originally ignoring an actual threat while pursuing Star Wars defense, they have turned 9/11 into a cottage industry. Keep the country frightened while they fill the coffers of contributors, whether it's defense, gun manufacturers or big oil. If there is opposition, it's unpatriotic, if there's a call for civility, it's weakness. It's perfect, they must be pleased.
Terrorism and 'the war on' is exactly what they need and want to retain the grip, why wouldn't they feed into it with weapons via accessibilty and recruitment via hate speech?
Whether it's handing ISIS want-a-bees assault weapons or Fiorina inciting Dear, they don't suffer from the shooting of innocents, they only benefit while they offer their croc tears and prayers.
Bush creates ISIS, exclaims 'Bring it on!' while sitting behind a desk, departs with all his friends wealthier as the economy collapses and we are left with the mess while being told to stop blaming Bush. It's brilliant.
Lather, rinse, repeat America.
Terrorism and 'the war on' is exactly what they need and want to retain the grip, why wouldn't they feed into it with weapons via accessibilty and recruitment via hate speech?
Whether it's handing ISIS want-a-bees assault weapons or Fiorina inciting Dear, they don't suffer from the shooting of innocents, they only benefit while they offer their croc tears and prayers.
Bush creates ISIS, exclaims 'Bring it on!' while sitting behind a desk, departs with all his friends wealthier as the economy collapses and we are left with the mess while being told to stop blaming Bush. It's brilliant.
Lather, rinse, repeat America.
6
President Obama can take credit for spawning The Donald Effect, or as you call it, The Trump Effect. Many Americans are thinking what Trump is saying, but are afraid to say it aloud. Trump is resonating because the President is unable or unwilling to articulate how he is going to keep Americans safe from the scourge of Islamist terrorism which is engulfing the world. We have lived through 9/11, and we want ISIS stopped (not contained) before we have a dirty bomb delivered and detonated in our homeland. As of today, the polls suggest that many Americans will get to speak their minds in the privacy of the election booth in November.
2
Mr. President has articulated it quite clearly and intelligently.
But obviously too intelligently for some. The Trump crowd likes the grunts and the groans of the hate and fear mongering right wingers who make a living off of this. It is the easy is bell to ring. This is exactly what Mussolini did etc. Unbelievably in the 21st-century it still works very well.
But obviously too intelligently for some. The Trump crowd likes the grunts and the groans of the hate and fear mongering right wingers who make a living off of this. It is the easy is bell to ring. This is exactly what Mussolini did etc. Unbelievably in the 21st-century it still works very well.
1
Name call all you like NYT (and boy howdy, I don't believe I have ever seen a column that does more name calling then this hysterical screed), the FACT remains that Tashfeen Malik made it thru your vaunted "time consuming and thorough" background check process to commit mayhem in Islam's name. Trump wants a halt until the process can be thoroughly looked at since what we have now ain't working, whats so narcissistic, fascistic, inflammatory, nativist, fear mongering, ignorant, disgraceful, toxic, and (phew!) hateful about that?
3
It's simple, why doesn't the GOP look at itself to see how Trump came along. More Bush's in office is as bad as shoe in Hillary. Add to that Obamas failed leadership, and the hole got plugged. Simple.
Fox, Rush, and the rest have been using the Goebbels playbook to create a rabid, racist, xenophobic, hyper-nationalist, open-carrying mob of fascistic white males for decades. Trump is simply brilliantly playing the Fuhrer Lite role their far-far-right propaganda machine has been implicitly calling for all these years--a Rush Limbaugh IN POWER. The Kochs and Murdoch have been the equivalent of Germany's Krupps and company, both groups thinking they could simply play on the dumb mob's anxieties, humiliations, and rage in order to get them to vote for politicians in the pocket of the hyper-capitalists. In both cases, however, a leader arose who the machine the capitalists had backed to outsmart the capitalists and take control out of their hands--much to their baffled dismay. Yet again Frankenstein's monster outsmarts his creator and goes rogue.
8
Fred C. Koch was a founder of the John Birch Society surely you can't believe the monster has overcome its creator.
1
What you write is true.
What is also true is that our failure to deal with the negative externalities of undocumented immigration and national policy of shipping middle class jobs overseas has led to a Know Nothing backlash. Terrorism also fits nicely in this angry stew. But you have offered no quarter and granted no suggestions on how to deal with this mess other than make everyone a citizen.
What is also true is that our failure to deal with the negative externalities of undocumented immigration and national policy of shipping middle class jobs overseas has led to a Know Nothing backlash. Terrorism also fits nicely in this angry stew. But you have offered no quarter and granted no suggestions on how to deal with this mess other than make everyone a citizen.
2
What if these comments don't get published like they never do?
What if the Editorial Board of the NYT was so enmeshed in their own Axis of Ignorance that they couldn't say the right thing and offend the Isis Serpent at their feet?
What if Donald J Trump were speaking the Truth as the little boy did about the Emperor of PC who was wearing no clothes?
What if the problem was Islam itself, and not Fascist or Raving or Out of Control Islam?
What if 'Islam' meant 'Submission' (it does) and required the Submission of everyone and everybody, even the Editorial Board of the NYT?
What if ???????
What if the Editorial Board of the NYT was so enmeshed in their own Axis of Ignorance that they couldn't say the right thing and offend the Isis Serpent at their feet?
What if Donald J Trump were speaking the Truth as the little boy did about the Emperor of PC who was wearing no clothes?
What if the problem was Islam itself, and not Fascist or Raving or Out of Control Islam?
What if 'Islam' meant 'Submission' (it does) and required the Submission of everyone and everybody, even the Editorial Board of the NYT?
What if ???????
3
What if you got a psychiatric examination?
1
Let me be clear. I deplore Trump. I support Sanders and have sent his campaign money. That being said, islamic rufugees play into two deep fears now rampant in America: fear of terrorism and a choking fear of unemployment and poverty. How people respond to these fears may be irrational, but merely ridiculing or lecturing/preaching to them only drives them further in the arms of Trump. How do we address people's fears? By telling them they are wrong, evil and stupid? That won't work.
3
Call them scaredy-cat's and laugh at them they are more likely to be killed by lightning.
Anyone who opposes your position regarding illegal immigrants and Syrian refugees? Call them bigoted, nativistic xenophobes. Your readers know you favor open borders, but your irresponsibility is breathtaking in dealing with America's admission of people from Syria and other areas called by France's president as the greatest terrorist factory in history. Of course, France has to be more practical than you.
3
So now Mr. Trump is a fascist? Oh brother.....I am not sure where I stand on the current crop of candidates but can the Editors just stop the pretense of any objectivity and endorse Mrs. Clinton now. Your paper is and has become a mouth-piece for the Democratic Party. No wonder your circulation has declined----you only report one side of the issues---the left wing side.
4
It is so ironic that one of the main refrains from Trump supporters is that they don't like Pres. Obama because he's unAmerican but they love Trump precisely for his very unAmerican ideas, like closing the doors to America for people based on their religious beliefs.
Unfortunately, I really believe that, for these "Americans", this kind of thing does define America for them, the actual principles and bases of American democracy be darned.
Unfortunately, I really believe that, for these "Americans", this kind of thing does define America for them, the actual principles and bases of American democracy be darned.
1
For anyone who does not subscribe to Trump's vile views, the best thing that could happen actually is for him to win the Republican nomination. He'll get trounced in the general election, will cause the Republicans to lose seats in Congress, and it'll demonstrate just how out of step Trump and his vile views are with the majority of Americans (and humanity generally).
If you're not Republican but you're in a state where you can vote in either primary, vote in the Republican primary for Trump! #pumptrump
If you're not Republican but you're in a state where you can vote in either primary, vote in the Republican primary for Trump! #pumptrump
3
Come on, 55% of all hate crimes in the USA are committed against Jews while 12-15% are committed against Muslims. When was the last time anyone heard about this from our bored, arrogant, pro-Muslim and horribly anti-America President? Move past Trump already and dig into the 7 years of biased, racist and anti-semetic behavior we have had to tolerate from this President. Anyone notice how the middle class and poor have suffered under this guy? How Israel has been treated? How he blames America for climate change, which he then says leads to terrorism? Come on, this leftist, liberal nonsense has hurt America, not Donald Trumps blather, as pathetic as it is.
3
Paul, I care more about how AMERICAN's are treated rather than Israel. I wish the US would cut off every foreign country from our tax dollars if truth be told and put that money to use for AMERICAN's.....Not Egyptians, or Israeli's or any other country sorry. My allegiance is to this country and none other.
NYT, look at the world around you. Our country is not moving forward, we are stuck. Just in the last couple of days there was a report that our middle class has significantly declined (which by the way is ALSO a national security risk, just look at Europe and what socioeconomic class the terrorists there are usually in). The world is deteriorating around us. The "hot spots" which used to be one or two places is now like 40, 50 places around the world. You need to get out of your bubble and look and see WHY the people supporting Trump are supporting him.
2
Trump represents the solidification of everything his party has actually come to stand for. The Republicans brought this upon themselves when they turned their back on integrity. Good luck fools.
1
And yet immigration policy to the US, as Prof. Spiro showed yesterday, seems to reflect more of the Republication immigration ideology than that of the Democrats and as Prof. Spiro also pointed out, even Mr. Trump's views pass constitutional muster.
The vetting process for refugees is quite complex and slow.
I would think that the first order of business would be for those in power to put their house in order. It is not enough to blame the Republican Congress. The administration should have overhauled US immigration policy long ago and the editorial board of the NYT should have been at the forefront of that.
If the policies were different, then Mr. Trump's immigration demands would be a no-starter from the beginning.
The vetting process for refugees is quite complex and slow.
I would think that the first order of business would be for those in power to put their house in order. It is not enough to blame the Republican Congress. The administration should have overhauled US immigration policy long ago and the editorial board of the NYT should have been at the forefront of that.
If the policies were different, then Mr. Trump's immigration demands would be a no-starter from the beginning.
1
It will be interesting to see what Trump does if / when he loses the bid for the Republican nomination. Will he renege on his promise to not run an independent campaign? It's hard to imagine him losing with grace. If he goes down swinging, it's painful to think what other divisive and hateful speech he'll concoct to keep his supporters and validate himself. At this point, i wouldn't even be surprised if he decides to urge his base to revolt and start a civil war so "America Can be Great Again." I remember a time when the idea of another Bush president scared me, but in comparison to Trump, that possibility now almost seems like a ray of light beaming through the clouds. Scary world.
1
What is wrong with being a Trump supporter? Sure, he's a little extreme sometimes, but he has a track record of accomplishment. He is a successful international businessman, but his critics -- including provincial, sequestered New Yorkers -- call him a xenophobe.
All of the other candidates in either party are ineffectual. Americans are heartily sick of ineffectual leaders. The doomsayers of American politics have always been wrong, so why would they now be right about Trump?
All of the other candidates in either party are ineffectual. Americans are heartily sick of ineffectual leaders. The doomsayers of American politics have always been wrong, so why would they now be right about Trump?
2
As long as the NYT continues to wring their hands and get every more shrill in their denouncement of Donald Trump every time Trump says something outrageous, they will lose any argument to the average voter.
And as long as the President continues to lecture Americans in a condescending tone and from a distant platform, not addressing Islamic terrorism out front, there will be a lot of fear and uncertainty for safety in the US, and for our goals/place in the world.
And as long as the NYT, other media, establishment Republicans and Democrats support pro-illegal immigration policies, their comments will be dismissed as having any credibility when calling DT racist and xenophobic.
Ultimately as long as these editorials are about protecting others' rights, instead of analyzing and committing the candidates to policy positions that have relevance to people's lives (like what does Hillary stand for?), they will fall on deaf ears. And it will reinforce to DT's supporters that the media has no relevance to their interests, and thus their lives.
Renounce DT all you want. It doesn't matter. And the sooner you understand that the sooner the NYT can stop printing its endless articles about how shocked, SHOCKED! it is about the latest DT has to say, and get back to the business of informing its readers about the other candidates, and their policies.
And as long as the President continues to lecture Americans in a condescending tone and from a distant platform, not addressing Islamic terrorism out front, there will be a lot of fear and uncertainty for safety in the US, and for our goals/place in the world.
And as long as the NYT, other media, establishment Republicans and Democrats support pro-illegal immigration policies, their comments will be dismissed as having any credibility when calling DT racist and xenophobic.
Ultimately as long as these editorials are about protecting others' rights, instead of analyzing and committing the candidates to policy positions that have relevance to people's lives (like what does Hillary stand for?), they will fall on deaf ears. And it will reinforce to DT's supporters that the media has no relevance to their interests, and thus their lives.
Renounce DT all you want. It doesn't matter. And the sooner you understand that the sooner the NYT can stop printing its endless articles about how shocked, SHOCKED! it is about the latest DT has to say, and get back to the business of informing its readers about the other candidates, and their policies.
2
I just read that Trump's poll numbers are up, yet again. Thanks to his dangerous pronouncements (and the more muted but still troubling comments made by the other Republican candidates), ISIS recruitment numbers are probably going up, too.
I am afraid that trump is just saying without a filter what the GOP thinks. When I talk to my Republican friends they also seem to have similar feelings, and they all hate President Obama. I think things have gotten this way because of the hate message the GOP has spewed for the last seven years. Only they can turn it around before its too late.
3
Last night we were fortunate to have Prof. Henry Louis Gates and Ken Burns come to Charleston as the first stop on their campaign to bring the issues of race to the American people. The auditorium was filled to capacity to hear their very rational comments. The only problem: there was probably no one there who most needed to hear it, certainly none of the Republican officials, and it's safe to assume maybe not a single Republican at all.
1
Yes. This. However, the NYT is complicit in spreading Trump's message and serving as a major free marketing vehicle for his filth.
As so many thoughtful commenters have stated over and over and over again, the horse race political polling and failure to report on the candidates' positions, the factual basis of their assertions, and their qualifications or lack thereof for the office of President is a significant part of why we are where we are today.
I am doing my part to help register as many voters as I can, to continue to hold the media responsible for accurate and comprehensive coverage and for engaging my fellow citizens in active citizenship.
What exactly is the NYT doing other than letting the Editorials finally begin to address the damage being done to our country by bigots and racists spewing messages of hate, fear and violence?
As so many thoughtful commenters have stated over and over and over again, the horse race political polling and failure to report on the candidates' positions, the factual basis of their assertions, and their qualifications or lack thereof for the office of President is a significant part of why we are where we are today.
I am doing my part to help register as many voters as I can, to continue to hold the media responsible for accurate and comprehensive coverage and for engaging my fellow citizens in active citizenship.
What exactly is the NYT doing other than letting the Editorials finally begin to address the damage being done to our country by bigots and racists spewing messages of hate, fear and violence?
Trump is causing so much hatred against Muslims in this country. Muslims are fearful for their safety and their families. The innocent ones are paying the price. A six year old Muslim girl was beaten up by boys in a public school. Trump has to speak up and say to the public that violence is not the answer. The news media should ask him that question.
2
Am I the only one who thinks this is all just a ruse to destroy any chance of a real competitor for the Democrats?... destroy from within, then get extreme right before the exit.
The 'Trump Effect' is a media creation. The man has yet to garner a single vote let alone win any election. There is no legislation bearing his name nor is there any U.S. foriegn policy implemented by his administration. There are no 'red lines' statements he has issued as leader of this country and then backed away from. There are no instances where he has over-ruled military commanders regarding troop levels or rules of engagement. He has not been unable or unwilling to negotiate a new status of forces agreement with Iraq, leading to withdrawal of U.S. troops in a volatile region at a precarious time. He did not refer to ISIS as a 'JV team'. He has not refused to provide military aid to Ukraine and he has not unilaterally withdrawn support for missile sites in Poland and the Czech Republic, angering allies but appeasing Russia. He has not been openly dismissive of Israeli leaders and Israeli security concerns.
And many other instances of "serious damage...being done to the country, to its reputation overseas, by a man who..." fortunately has less than one year remaining in office.
To repeat: Trump has yet to win any elections. He is as close to power as 2004 Democratic presidential nominee Howard Dean was. Oh wait, that was primary candidate Howard Dean, wasn't it, he didn't actually win any elections other than Vermont, did he?
And many other instances of "serious damage...being done to the country, to its reputation overseas, by a man who..." fortunately has less than one year remaining in office.
To repeat: Trump has yet to win any elections. He is as close to power as 2004 Democratic presidential nominee Howard Dean was. Oh wait, that was primary candidate Howard Dean, wasn't it, he didn't actually win any elections other than Vermont, did he?
Using this moment to take righteous umbrage, to declare how aghast they are at Trump's hate speech, the republicans use subterfuge to belie their our racist, xenophobic beliefs. Yes, no one cried in outrage when Trump declared the Mexican immigrants were rapists and drug dealer. Then, he was just speaking 'the truth.' 'Trump is able to say what everyone else is thinking,' many commentators, and his followers, said about him. This is true. Trump did and does say what many other republicans are thinking, and he relieves them of saying what needs to be said to maintain the right wing hegemony. By pointing Trump out as an 'outlier,' mainstream republicans are able to disclaim their out race baiting:
Barbara Bush on Hurricane Katrina victims who moved to Texas: "They're underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them"
Rick Santorum: “I don’t want to make [black] people’s lives better by giving them other people’s money.”
Newt Gingrich: "Black people deserve more than food stamps."
The party that says it wants to widen its umbrella to include 'others,' i.e. non-whites? Methinks the lady doth protest too much. When it comes to indelible racism within the party, all the leaders seem capable of is wandering about in the dark, crying, "Out! Out! damned spot!"
Barbara Bush on Hurricane Katrina victims who moved to Texas: "They're underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them"
Rick Santorum: “I don’t want to make [black] people’s lives better by giving them other people’s money.”
Newt Gingrich: "Black people deserve more than food stamps."
The party that says it wants to widen its umbrella to include 'others,' i.e. non-whites? Methinks the lady doth protest too much. When it comes to indelible racism within the party, all the leaders seem capable of is wandering about in the dark, crying, "Out! Out! damned spot!"
1
Republicans have proven to be an illness in our country (in religious terms, perhaps a curse or punishment for our past sins - native American genocide, slavery, Jim Crow racism, Japanese internment, the Bush Iraq war, etc.). Nevertheless, the offspring of an orangutan is the most prominent, obvious symptom of the illness our country is suffering. He is like a black erupted bubo that alerts us that our body politic has the Bubonic plague.
Radicalized Islamic terrorists are killing us because we do not believe in their way of life so what is the plan to stop it?? Donald Trump is wrong in banning all Muslims but why is he being called Hitler when he trying to stop the killings? Gun control is the answer? Really? Jews were not killing Germans when Hitler came to power. What am I missing? Seriously.
2
Remember NYT readers, you are either in favor of open borders or you are a racist. Somehow the NYT readership is not getting this message. Read the top 25 reader picks in the NYT article linked below.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/13/magazine/the-deported.html?
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/13/magazine/the-deported.html?
3
This editorial exemplifies why so many US citizens revere Mr. Trump. The first reason is that he tells the truth: today, right on the front page of this very paper, is an article how the "demented" couple in California were for years almost flagrant in their actions in the pursuit of mass murder. Yet our own FBI director said that they were not able to detect them. He also testified that ISIS is now able to forge passports that go undetected, and that they are (of course) working to infiltrate the groups Syrian refugees. Yet Mr. Obama insists that we should take in thousands. This paper attempts to brand Mr. Trump xenophobic and almost fascist. More and more this editorial board seems to me to smell like the old Soviet era Pravda -- a propaganda instrument designed to prop up the elite government officials and their dangerous policies.
6
Owen Jones said it well in the Guardian a couple of days ago: "Donald Trump’s real threat is making extreme bigots seem moderate."
3
If I were a Muslim in the USA in these times, I would be strategizing means and methods of communicating my disgust about ISIS and its message of hatred and excusion. I would find a way to get my message disseminated frequently, broadly, and emphatically, thus to demonstrate my conviction that ISIS does not speak for decent citizens and thus to demonstrate unequivocally whose side I am on in this ideological war. There is some evidence this is being done, but not nearly enough.
1
Enough Trump coverage already, negative or otherwise.
1
I can't take credit for this brilliance, but only half-jokingly, a friend of a friend suggested in a comments feed elsewhere that we put Donald Trump and all of his supporters in concentration camps! It's a cheery thought.
1
The world watches in shock as this nasty bigotry unfolds in a US presidential campaign. This great country is on the danger of losing its moral high ground, authority and standing.
Imagine this reactionary, raging, puerile, narcissistic and frankly ignorant bully in the Oval office making important and far-reaching decisions on the country’s behalf.
As Kathleen Parker points out “Trump is the most dangerous person to emerge on the U.S. political scene in decades. As president, he would be the most dangerous man on the planet”. According to Politico, white supremacist website Stormfront founder Don Black predicts that “the white nationalist forces set in motion by Trump will be a legacy that outlives the businessman’s political career”. “He’s certainly creating a movement that will continue independently of him even if he does fold at some point.”
It will be up to the GOP and its supporters to decide if the party of Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt wants a xenophobic demagogue as its standard bearer. It will be up to all of sane citizens of the country, independent, Democrat or Republican, to collectively decide if we want to go down this irreversible path.
Imagine this reactionary, raging, puerile, narcissistic and frankly ignorant bully in the Oval office making important and far-reaching decisions on the country’s behalf.
As Kathleen Parker points out “Trump is the most dangerous person to emerge on the U.S. political scene in decades. As president, he would be the most dangerous man on the planet”. According to Politico, white supremacist website Stormfront founder Don Black predicts that “the white nationalist forces set in motion by Trump will be a legacy that outlives the businessman’s political career”. “He’s certainly creating a movement that will continue independently of him even if he does fold at some point.”
It will be up to the GOP and its supporters to decide if the party of Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt wants a xenophobic demagogue as its standard bearer. It will be up to all of sane citizens of the country, independent, Democrat or Republican, to collectively decide if we want to go down this irreversible path.
1
Is there a significant amount of sympathy in the United States for Muslims in the Mid-East who have been at war with each other since the fall of the Ottoman Empire? I do not think so. The only thing that these Muslims do agree about, Sunni and Shia, is their interest in the destruction of Israel. The Republicans understand that.
United States is under no obligation, legal, moral, or otherwise to admit anyone to the country other than its' own citizens. If anything it is against the interests of American citizens, now living in the United States to grant asylum to groups of individuals that may contain terrorists or criminals; beyond the fact that we will have to support them with our own resources including schools, welfare payments, medical services and criminal justice. These are people who could have just as easily remained in Syria or Iraq if the Obama administration had a coherent policy for "containing" the Islamic State.
Those States like New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont that are willing to resettle these people, should volunteer to assume this financial burden so that the other States can devote their taxpayer resources to the indigent Americans already living in their States. Who would want to live in Indiana, when you can live in Connecticut? If nothing else, the welfare payments are much more generous, and the estates of Fairfield County can be seized under imminent domain for temporary but soon to be permanent public housing.
United States is under no obligation, legal, moral, or otherwise to admit anyone to the country other than its' own citizens. If anything it is against the interests of American citizens, now living in the United States to grant asylum to groups of individuals that may contain terrorists or criminals; beyond the fact that we will have to support them with our own resources including schools, welfare payments, medical services and criminal justice. These are people who could have just as easily remained in Syria or Iraq if the Obama administration had a coherent policy for "containing" the Islamic State.
Those States like New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont that are willing to resettle these people, should volunteer to assume this financial burden so that the other States can devote their taxpayer resources to the indigent Americans already living in their States. Who would want to live in Indiana, when you can live in Connecticut? If nothing else, the welfare payments are much more generous, and the estates of Fairfield County can be seized under imminent domain for temporary but soon to be permanent public housing.
1
FDR once said that we have nothing to fear but fear itself. And fear of the "other", the ones not like us either culturally or faith-wise, are to be feared and to be set aside.
We've been down this road so many times before it should boggle the imagination to try and count them all. Hanging witches, slavery, segregation, lynchings, systematic killing of Native Americans, refusal to allow Asians into our country, signs in factories and hotels "no dogs or Jews or Irish allowed", the interment of Japanese Americans while white people grab their land at pennies on the dollar, McCarthy ruining lives, marriages, jobs, friendships in a desperate attempt to make himself into the great Communist hunter, George Wallace standing at the University door swearing that blacks will never be allowed to enter.
Trump is just one of a line of men who believe that they are of a superior culture, race, religion and have not had to convince others to agree with them. Those who agree with Trump have always believed in their heart what he says out loud, and now they have someone to look up to. Trump is one man, but his followers are far too many. Those are the ones we should fear.
We've been down this road so many times before it should boggle the imagination to try and count them all. Hanging witches, slavery, segregation, lynchings, systematic killing of Native Americans, refusal to allow Asians into our country, signs in factories and hotels "no dogs or Jews or Irish allowed", the interment of Japanese Americans while white people grab their land at pennies on the dollar, McCarthy ruining lives, marriages, jobs, friendships in a desperate attempt to make himself into the great Communist hunter, George Wallace standing at the University door swearing that blacks will never be allowed to enter.
Trump is just one of a line of men who believe that they are of a superior culture, race, religion and have not had to convince others to agree with them. Those who agree with Trump have always believed in their heart what he says out loud, and now they have someone to look up to. Trump is one man, but his followers are far too many. Those are the ones we should fear.
5
Al Qaeda and ISIL have won. Republicans have handed them the victory. These fringe groups have succeeded in dramatically changing the United States --- for the worse. They have managed to do what the Axis Powers in WWII and the Soviet Union could not do. They have made a large part of this country cower in fear and want protection from demagogues. We have embraced preemptive war, torture of prisoners, suspension of the Constitution, wholesale government surveillance and now religious litmus tests. We now have a large part of the country embracing neo-fascist candidates.
This isn't the United States of America any more. During the Vietnam War Canada was looking like a pretty good alternative to this country. It is again.
This isn't the United States of America any more. During the Vietnam War Canada was looking like a pretty good alternative to this country. It is again.
3
here is the voters big chance to reject racism xenophobia and irrational idiocy from a charismatic narcissist but wait a sec, they have 10 more of these morons waiting in the wings to take up that racist fear mongering hate mantle... Trump is totally representative of the GOP parties agenda and it's lip service to fiscal conservatism but only to cut funding to social programs in the wealthiest country. it's irrelevant who runs from that party it's always a race to the bottom within their established premises.
1
In the eyes of the world and here at home, instead of the land of the free and home of the brave are we going to become the land of hatred and the home of shameless cowards?
Top to bottom, this is what the republican party is now selling. It's not just every candidate but McConnell who you know had to have a hand in keeping Blankenship's deadly coal industry out of trouble, Ditto for Scot Walker who stole the states municipal utilities and handed them over to his cronies. Rubio and Cruz have abundant examples of hateful political choices.
What I don't understand is the gleefulness of the delivery of such hateful words. I feel a blow and my chest contracts every time I hear the latest campaign proclamation and find myself automatically looking down even bowing my head that is instinctual response to feeling shame. I am truly mystified at the chest beating crowing of republicans.
This has been sold as the fun part before the party settles down to the real work of selecting a candidate but to me and too many others, this is little more than a gladiator blood sport with collateral damage of global implications.
It's not funny. Not funny at all.
Top to bottom, this is what the republican party is now selling. It's not just every candidate but McConnell who you know had to have a hand in keeping Blankenship's deadly coal industry out of trouble, Ditto for Scot Walker who stole the states municipal utilities and handed them over to his cronies. Rubio and Cruz have abundant examples of hateful political choices.
What I don't understand is the gleefulness of the delivery of such hateful words. I feel a blow and my chest contracts every time I hear the latest campaign proclamation and find myself automatically looking down even bowing my head that is instinctual response to feeling shame. I am truly mystified at the chest beating crowing of republicans.
This has been sold as the fun part before the party settles down to the real work of selecting a candidate but to me and too many others, this is little more than a gladiator blood sport with collateral damage of global implications.
It's not funny. Not funny at all.
1
Scarier than Trump et al are the baffling number of ignorant citizens of the USA that think trash-talk equals strength. The effort to dumb down America and applaud hostile bluster over thoughtful opinion has met its ultimate result, intended or not: an electorate that prizes bullies and hate.
How it spreads is you keep printing stuff about him while ignoring Bernie Sanders, and I'm beginning to think it's all in an attempt to make Hillary look good by comparison.
But lots of people support lower immigration in general and I wish you would quit trying to make that out to be some extreme, racist position. Of course, some of the people pushing for it are racists but so are some of the people pushing for open borders.
But lots of people support lower immigration in general and I wish you would quit trying to make that out to be some extreme, racist position. Of course, some of the people pushing for it are racists but so are some of the people pushing for open borders.
1
Yes the xenophobia and racial animus that appear to be Trump's very purpose have been evident from the day he made his "Mexicans are rapists" entry speech. It has been dispiriting to see him treated as an entertainer, a carnival barker and a novelty act, when he is really the personification of an ugly crest of hatred against people with brown skin. His fellow Republican candidates refuse to disavow him because they see how effective his approach is with their constituency. A bleak moment in American history.
5
Brink of fascism? The only element missing is paramilitary thugs terrorizing the streets. Trump is beyond the brink.
1
The NYT and some of its readers seem to like free speech as long as it agrees with its content. When the views differ, the NYT resorts to name calling and an atomic mushroom of fear inducing labels and inflated words: fascist, racist, xenophobe. Seems pretty desperate and un-elegant to me. In the NYT ideal world we would have an election between 50 shades of same.
2
The propaganda that is consumed every day by the republican "base" is carefully scripted on Fox News and a handful of syndicated radio programs. His talking points are scripted from and derive legitimacy from the continuous misrepresentation of reality provided by those highly compensated pundits. Producing deliberately false facts then repeating them through many mouths has the effect of legitimizing hate.
This is the cancer we allow to prosper at our peril as a nation and is the time honored pathway to fascism.
This is the cancer we allow to prosper at our peril as a nation and is the time honored pathway to fascism.
2
I am a Republican, and I will be voting for the Republican nominee, but I will never vote for Donald Trump. Trump will not be the Republican nominee. I don't have answer your hypothetical, because, well, it's hypothetical; it's not related to the real world. The other Republican candidates don't need to answer your question for the same reason. The Times and the Democrats are just putting forth this hypothetical to try to trap Republicans, because they have already committed to supporting the eventual nominee. You are attempting to create a no-win situation for the Republicans, which only serves to highlight your partisanship .
1
the media gave him this power in their hunt for sensationalism. The media is responsible for the presidential loss of Al Gore among other things by quoting lies about him (I invented the internet). You could have given Trump less power by not blowing him up in the headlines, just as you've chosen to play down Bernie Sanders. Yes, the time to renounce him was when he entered the race, so why didn't you?
1
For all its formulaic finger wagging, the Times ignores its symbiotic relationship with Trump. The Times needs The Donald as grist for its front page more than The Donald necessarily needs the Times. The Man With The World's Greatest Hair has made it an open secret that he regards his candidacy as nothing more than an entertaining lark that benefits his business interests whether he wins or loses. And he takes open delight in triggering over the top outrage from the liberal press. If the Times wants to see how such an outlandish figure as His Excellency Trump continues to get the top billing in the daily news cycle that fuels his popularity, it only has to have its editorial board gather round the conference room table and look at each other.
2
The GOP's Southern Strategy helped create Trump, and just like Frankenstein it will destroy it's creator.
1
Interesting that the NYT has no problem demonizing Mr. Trump, I just don't remember any articles demonizing Hizb ut-Tahrir or the Muslim Brotherhood, people might want to attend one of their Khilafah conferences held every year or so in major American cities. It will make your skin crawl as to what they hope and pray for America and the West.
3
Trump is the Republican "Picture of Dorian Gray", finally out of the attic after many years of coded ugliness.
The Times is usually very insightful, but wow, did you get it wrong here. There has been a net gain of over 1,000 elected seats to Republicans across the country since 2008. That's the country we live in. Trump is merely riding that wave. And he is breaking every rule of politics along the way. Every time the media attempts to shame him or his followers, his popularity grows. The anger at the media is palpable. I mentioned Trumps name to several reliable Democrats and they whispered to me (yes whispered), "you know he is right".
Something is happening in the country right now and if it lasts to November, liberals and Democrats are not going to enjoy the next election.
Something is happening in the country right now and if it lasts to November, liberals and Democrats are not going to enjoy the next election.
3
Because the Republican Party is racist Misogynists?
There will never again be a Republican Party that will destroy or almost destroy the Country like it almost did with your last attempt. . There will be a civil war before that happens.
There will never again be a Republican Party that will destroy or almost destroy the Country like it almost did with your last attempt. . There will be a civil war before that happens.
1
It's very simple. Not everyone in the country is stupid. They know that all the candidates other than Trump are a bunch of mealy mouthed lying cowardly phonies who spew out poll driven scripted responses and comments and couldn't think on their feet if they lives depended on it.
2
Behold Trump ... a man of forceful character driven by a reckless and sombre nature, bent on his own destruction and dragging his immediate world down with him with a despotic and utter disregard of them as individuals … what an amazing spectacle!
No kidding, Editoral Board. The GOP lost their wheels a few decades ago and as was reported years ago, "they tend to cling to their guns and bibles", said by you know who. One does wonder about middle stream GOP types who failed to care or understand that the ideology slipped into paranoiac insanity and dangerous Nationalism. The wheels of the (remainder of the world) are not falling off and there are solid frameworks for power and authority. The GOP needs reengineering or all Wall Street Republican's will become Democrats or technically, a one party system (opposition will be five minor Religiously motivated sects).
The GOP is just embarrassed because Trump does not use the code words and dog whistles of the right to get the base riled up. He comes right out and says exactly how they all think and feel. The GOP created this monster and like Dr. Frankenstein, cannot kill it. The fact that almost every GOP leader (to date) has come out and said they would support Trump if he gets the nomination, speaks volume to the values and ethics of the right.
152
Several of them could not look directly at the camera when they said it.
I would a like a show of hands. How many progressives own assault rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition? Self-proclaimed mentally balanced consumers of right-wing propaganda are the foot soldiers for the fascists inciting civil war under the banner of the Republican party.
13
Scary thought. And one I've had.
1
With the election of Obama the Republicans have found it useful to use fear and bigotry to promote their agenda. Influenced by the formation of the Tea Party and venom spewed by Limbaugh, Beck and the like, they have chosen to put party before country and government disfunction above responsibility. They have encouraged and pandered to the most base elements of their Party. They have created Donald Trump and now they have to live with him. I don't know if it worse to be a bigot or to pander to bigots, but the Republicans have now reaped what they have sown, and whatever bad may happen to them going forward, they have earned it.
15
One problem. They have done reaped what they have sow. But we too are stuck with their sowing and their reaping. And their armed resistance.
We are the terrorists' dream. We are doing exactly what they hoped for, spending treasure and emptying our banks in reaction to their juvenile purification and sick violence. While it's difficult not to react, our reaction is to let them make us more like them.
Time to grow up.
Time to grow up.
21
We are better than this (I hope).
I watch in disbelief and despair as my fellow Americans give in to their basest tendencies.
People aren't even pretending any more. This will not end well.
We are, whether we like it or not, part of the family of humankind, and we will only make it through if we pull together rather than apart. Indulging reactive childish eye for an eye is dangerous.
I watch in disbelief and despair as my fellow Americans give in to their basest tendencies.
People aren't even pretending any more. This will not end well.
We are, whether we like it or not, part of the family of humankind, and we will only make it through if we pull together rather than apart. Indulging reactive childish eye for an eye is dangerous.
22
Perhaps an editorial on actions actually taken by governments confronted with Muslim extremism would be more appropriate than speculating about what one man who has yet to garner one primary vote would do, no?
I refer, of course, to the recent actions by France in response to the Paris attacks. Our supposed European betters have closed several mosques and targeted dozens more. They have conducted several thousand raids on suspected 'extremists' leading to several hundred arrests. The nationalist party has actually won elections, not just headlines.
Trump effect? Hardly. Radical Islam effect.
I refer, of course, to the recent actions by France in response to the Paris attacks. Our supposed European betters have closed several mosques and targeted dozens more. They have conducted several thousand raids on suspected 'extremists' leading to several hundred arrests. The nationalist party has actually won elections, not just headlines.
Trump effect? Hardly. Radical Islam effect.
13
France also reiterated its commitment to settle 30,000 Syrian refugees. Meanwhile, our GOP field cowers in fear (or is it capitalizes on fear?) of victimized displaced persons.
1
The xenophobia described is a symptom of a broader and much more malaise affecting the Country.The overarching issue is the disaffection of the poorly educated and those with less relevant skills with falling living standards and declining social status.For every American who blames immigration we have another American blaming the rigged "game" and Wall Street/Corporations.Neither the Left or the Right appear to be interested in coming clean with this group since that requires stating the obvious,namely that secular trends such as multiculturalism,globalization and technology enabled disintermediation are here and we either adapt or perish.
4
I have a thought experiment: Take all the rabid right GOP supporters who support Trump, Rubio, Cruz, Carson, etc. and let them settle into one part of the country and form their own, separate country with their own constitution, gun laws, education system, etc.
The rest of the population settles in the other half and can pass laws without the obstructionist haters in present day Congress- literally, a separate country that can pass laws and adhere to progressive values.
Given that most of the Red states depend upon the Blue states for their daily dole from the government which they espouse hate for, have the lowest health and education levels, etc- guess which country will be more successful?
I feel burdened by these right wing idiots who support the GOP because of wedge issues like abortion, guns, religions and racism. They are dragging this country down with their willful Fox TV ignorance and hate.
The rest of the population settles in the other half and can pass laws without the obstructionist haters in present day Congress- literally, a separate country that can pass laws and adhere to progressive values.
Given that most of the Red states depend upon the Blue states for their daily dole from the government which they espouse hate for, have the lowest health and education levels, etc- guess which country will be more successful?
I feel burdened by these right wing idiots who support the GOP because of wedge issues like abortion, guns, religions and racism. They are dragging this country down with their willful Fox TV ignorance and hate.
26
How about Florida. And then build a big beautiful wall.
I went to high school and college over 40 years ago. At that time, a thorough study of fascism was part of the curriculum, and was reinforced by public-service documentaries on the four television networks. Further, survivors of the camps were still alive to tell their stories.
Nowadays mayhem is seen as entertainment. My grandson's X-box game (marked by Disney!) is all about destruction of landmark buildings, and is as pernicious as the board game "Juden Raus!" in the Third Reich in inculcating a harmful ideology. Political discourse--especially on Fox "News"--the GOP's Propaganda Ministry--makes Der Stürmer look mild.
The GOP's chickens are coming home to roost, and most Americans are too stupid or ignorant to know what it means to us as a nation.
Nowadays mayhem is seen as entertainment. My grandson's X-box game (marked by Disney!) is all about destruction of landmark buildings, and is as pernicious as the board game "Juden Raus!" in the Third Reich in inculcating a harmful ideology. Political discourse--especially on Fox "News"--the GOP's Propaganda Ministry--makes Der Stürmer look mild.
The GOP's chickens are coming home to roost, and most Americans are too stupid or ignorant to know what it means to us as a nation.
36
Anyone remember the whole "taking America back for real Americans" nonsense spouted by someone w a pleasant face and a disarming smile? Trump is just a slightly more over the top version of that plus his hair isn't as good. Rubio, the likely nominee who looks like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth is just a more user friendly version having tried sense w resp to immigration and having been castigated so roundly for it.
Seriously though, the whole vast right wing network in this country has realized that since demographics are not on their side, the way to win elections is to stir people up so much that they actually come out to vote. couple that w the incessant drumbeat of right wing media, the gerrymandering of districts and a judicial system packed w right wing judges appointed by right wing Presidents and there you have it. The right quaking in their boots, clinging to their soon to be last vestiges of power in this country. Some of it sort of reminds me of So. Africa in the 70s and 80s.
Seriously though, the whole vast right wing network in this country has realized that since demographics are not on their side, the way to win elections is to stir people up so much that they actually come out to vote. couple that w the incessant drumbeat of right wing media, the gerrymandering of districts and a judicial system packed w right wing judges appointed by right wing Presidents and there you have it. The right quaking in their boots, clinging to their soon to be last vestiges of power in this country. Some of it sort of reminds me of So. Africa in the 70s and 80s.
1
I've met so many fine, decent Americans over the years, many of them Republican. It's so hard to reconcile how a narcissist bully like Trump spouting vitriol in every direction could have apparently inspired so much support from a country of mostly good people with strong ethics.
There is so much finger-pointing at Muslims, with Westerners demanding they need to reform their religion and evolve from their mediaeval practices. Yet if Donald Trump gets elected, surely he would drag America into a new Dark Age of sorts.
There is so much finger-pointing at Muslims, with Westerners demanding they need to reform their religion and evolve from their mediaeval practices. Yet if Donald Trump gets elected, surely he would drag America into a new Dark Age of sorts.
1
I think that half of the editorial is half right and the rest three quarters wrong. In the first place, I would find it difficult to truly characterize Trump as a genuine right winger. As a developer and builder whose projects use union labor, at least here in NY, for example, when have you ever heard him denouncing on high the Unions, and the wages and benefits of the workers he indirectly pays for? This anti-labor stance, which true Right Wingers like Scott Walker and Chris Christie made the centerpiece of their campaigns, is the true hallmark of a right wing and ultimately fascist ideology. When have you ever heard other right wing republicans denounce and pledge to end what Trump has labeled the scam of the carried interest tax exemption that Wall Street hedge fund managers and the Mitt Romney's of the nation enjoy? Denounce abortion? Curtail voter's rights? While Trumps remarks on immigration have been truly egregious and outrageous, the reality is that this issue as practiced as policy on the ground by most modern and even progressive liberal nations is in a manner that transcends the usual left - right political bickering. It seems that what's offensive in Trump's remarks stands in contrast to the more extreme open border position that many leftist adopt and mis-characterize as liberal. As for the editorial's hyperbolic assertion that Trump's reactive bluster is the first step in the path toward the unique horrors of WWII, I don't think that it quite equates.
3
Der Fuehrer Trump is a megalomaniac who uses the BIG LIE techniques of Hitler and the Nazis in Germany in the 1930s.
Lie enough time about something, lie more vocieferously when the lie is questioned, and brook no criticism. Soon enough some uninformed people will start to believe the lie because "he couldn't keep saying it if it was not true." Some people agree with the hatefilled, xenophobic ranting that Der Fuehrer Trump spews. That is how it workled in Germany, and Der Fuehrer Trump is doing the same thing here. This is one very dangerous man. What is remarkable is that people fall for this trick even after it has been unmasked.
One thing that may help us is that our form of government makes it difficult to become President. One has to first win the nomination, and then one has to win enough states in the general election to gain an Electoral College majority. (I am deliberately ignoring the possibility of a tie in the Electoral College.)
In a Parliamentary system, even a party with less than a majority can end up appointing the head of the government. That is how Hitler came to power. That would not fly in our system.
Der Fuehrer Trump is out for just one thing ... Donald J. Trump.
Lie enough time about something, lie more vocieferously when the lie is questioned, and brook no criticism. Soon enough some uninformed people will start to believe the lie because "he couldn't keep saying it if it was not true." Some people agree with the hatefilled, xenophobic ranting that Der Fuehrer Trump spews. That is how it workled in Germany, and Der Fuehrer Trump is doing the same thing here. This is one very dangerous man. What is remarkable is that people fall for this trick even after it has been unmasked.
One thing that may help us is that our form of government makes it difficult to become President. One has to first win the nomination, and then one has to win enough states in the general election to gain an Electoral College majority. (I am deliberately ignoring the possibility of a tie in the Electoral College.)
In a Parliamentary system, even a party with less than a majority can end up appointing the head of the government. That is how Hitler came to power. That would not fly in our system.
Der Fuehrer Trump is out for just one thing ... Donald J. Trump.
3
I somehow get the impression that Trump doesn't really want to be president, that he just bargained for being a candidate, for the attention and recognition. He could end up rejecting the Republican nomination saying actually being president is too much aggravation and commitment -- sorry he wants to stay in his current position and take care of his business interests.
2
I think all of us who read the Times and comment on the articles have been a little shell shocked not only by the events of the past week, but by the commentary around it. All of a sudden we have Trump supporters not only getting their comments published in the Times, but getting Times pics, and even more frightening, getting right to the top of the Reader's pics.
I commend the Editorial Board for opening up the comments section to other voices. As much as those voices are chilling, we need to get out of our own echo chamber we have created for ourselves and face the fact Trump's message is resonating with more people than we thought possible in our worst nightmares.
On the left, we have Bernie Sanders who appeals to higher selves, but is speaking to much the same sentiment - the exclusion of a vast majority of everyday Americans to an American way of life. Not just now, but as far down the road as anyone can see. But Bernie Sanders isn't nearly dark enough, nearly reckless enough, nearly angry enough to speak to the smouldering anger that Trump has ignited into this firestorm.
Nothing and nobody has been able to shake the choke hold that Wall Street and the top 1% have on the rest of the country. Hillary Clinton's lame attempt to appease the masses didn't fool anyone. What will it take for the establishment to wake up? A Donald Trump? It seems so.
So be it. I applaud the Times for taking this head on. It's time we all did.
I commend the Editorial Board for opening up the comments section to other voices. As much as those voices are chilling, we need to get out of our own echo chamber we have created for ourselves and face the fact Trump's message is resonating with more people than we thought possible in our worst nightmares.
On the left, we have Bernie Sanders who appeals to higher selves, but is speaking to much the same sentiment - the exclusion of a vast majority of everyday Americans to an American way of life. Not just now, but as far down the road as anyone can see. But Bernie Sanders isn't nearly dark enough, nearly reckless enough, nearly angry enough to speak to the smouldering anger that Trump has ignited into this firestorm.
Nothing and nobody has been able to shake the choke hold that Wall Street and the top 1% have on the rest of the country. Hillary Clinton's lame attempt to appease the masses didn't fool anyone. What will it take for the establishment to wake up? A Donald Trump? It seems so.
So be it. I applaud the Times for taking this head on. It's time we all did.
12
So apparently free speech applies to anyone but those who differ from the leftist agenda. I'm almost positive the Times has censored many comments that have a differing view than theirs but it's their paper so they can cherry pick the ones they want published. Sorry we don't live in your world where everyone has to think like you and have the same opinions as you.
You're in Canada, a sane country. So maybe you never recognized this till now. It's been evident, to me, for some time. There is a huge, huge division here. An unmistakable huge social fissure.
Wish I too were in Canada. Hard to move there at age 70.
Wish I too were in Canada. Hard to move there at age 70.
1
My wife moved here at 68. The Eastern townships and New Brunswick is filled with septuagenarians from the US Germany France but the small towns in Northern Vermont and Northern Maine are desperate for people to fill the empty houses and spur on the local economies. Vermont has great hospitals and doctors which can be accessed from either side of the border.
My wife and I came him from western Michigan so other than the snow winter should be a piece of cake. The food is better and the cost of living is much lower. It doesn't hurt that my Social Security is in US dollars.
My wife and I came him from western Michigan so other than the snow winter should be a piece of cake. The food is better and the cost of living is much lower. It doesn't hurt that my Social Security is in US dollars.
The nativist resentment to immigration is more about economic and cultural assimilation than about religion. Americans are struggling to pay their bills and very uneasy about the present and future. It's all over the comments in this newspaper this week. "How can we afford all this immigration when we can't take good care of our own veterans?" Culturally "How can we trust or get close to someone when all we can see are her eyes?"
Trump is now taking on huge risk for his business enterprises, especially overseas. He may be nuts but I believe he is patriotic. He must know that his empire could now go down in flames. He's risking a lot.
Trump is now taking on huge risk for his business enterprises, especially overseas. He may be nuts but I believe he is patriotic. He must know that his empire could now go down in flames. He's risking a lot.
5
For years the Republican Party has benefited from the support of extremist and racist groups, but not had to pay a political price for receiving that support. By making blatant appeals rather than use dog whistles, Trump has placed an issue before the Republican Party and before the voters - what kind of party will the Republicans be? Will they be a center right conservative party or a party of the extreme right? The question is unavoidable and Republican leaders and candidates must respond to it, a job they have done poorly so far. The answer will be important for everybody, not only Republicans, because there are only two mass parties in the United States, and to have one of them on the extreme right would be a danger to democracy.
9
Trump’s gaining in popularity should not be baffling. It results from media ineffectiveness in challenging his idiotic analyses and outrageous proposals. The public is vulnerable to his propaganda because of fears about terrorism. Media commentaries now go to waste by the end of the news cycle. New ways must be urgently developed to remove him from politics. For example, TV networks might invite him to sessions in which panels of highly reputable people would find ways of interviewing him far more persistently on the reasonableness and feasibility of his proposals, denying him the free rides he now enjoys. Their invitations should be repeated daily. If he dodges them, the networks should follow up with commentaries on the questions he failed to show up to answer. If he accepts, the interviewing panelists should compel him to answer definitively thereby revealing his ignorance and irresponsibility. In general, new ways must be found to effectively challenge this dangerous buffoon and discredit him as a candidate. If the media fail to do so, the only reason for Trump not becoming GOP’s nominee would be his voluntary withdrawal from the race. Indeed, if terrorism against the U.S. escalates dramatically, with one or more episodes reminiscent of, or exceeding, the barbarism of 9/11 occurring in the next few months, Donald Trump might become our next president – a national catastrophe the media must soon find ways to prevent.
5
Mr. Trump is not mowing down innocent civilians with assault weapons. He is cultivating the passionate hatred of anything "other" that has long been festering in the national heart. He is a dangerous man and is doing national and international damage to what he himself might call, "The American Brand." It's time for all of us to start thinking about what we will have in a Trump presidency. I would bet money that he will be the Republican nominee. And put him up against two thoughtful Democratic candidates--one a woman and a Clinton, the other a Jewish man and a Socialist--and it doesn't take too much imagination how it will probably end up. I see a gold-plated white house named Trump Ultimate Destination.
Happily all of us liberals seem to have abandoned the clown car analogy. The biggest clown has stepped out of the limo and is squirting his audience with a lot more than water and honking something much worse than a little horn.
Happily all of us liberals seem to have abandoned the clown car analogy. The biggest clown has stepped out of the limo and is squirting his audience with a lot more than water and honking something much worse than a little horn.
4
I think we are seeing the result of our tolerance for not educating our children.
The reduction in Civics, the inability to teach secular values and the tolerance of very high drop-out rates and sub-par performance of our elementary and secondary schools.
Shame on Trump and the Republican fear mongers; but shame on us too.
The reduction in Civics, the inability to teach secular values and the tolerance of very high drop-out rates and sub-par performance of our elementary and secondary schools.
Shame on Trump and the Republican fear mongers; but shame on us too.
9
I have been a registered Republican since I was at 18, and this party doesnt reflect my views anymore. We are a great country that has flourished due to immigration, attracting the best and the brightest. The vitriol expressed by Trump, and implicitly endorsed by most of the field is detestable. If its Ms. Clinton versus Mr. Trump, it wont be a close vote for me. I am not a fascist and I wont aid and abet the election of a fascist.
265
The question is, why are you still a registered Republican? Why is anyone?
1
You certainly swallow everything the NYT tells you. What has ruined this country is the admission of many refugees who must be supported their entire life. They never learn the language and instead of deporting them when they refuse to assimilate we just keep supporting them with taxpayer money and taking in more of the Third World Losers.
1
I have been a registered Republican since 1976. I haven't voted for many in the GOP for the past 10 years or so. The party left me. When Bill Clinton was President, if someone had told me I'd seriously consider ever voting for Hillary, I'd have laughed myself silly. Not laughing any longer.
1
Trump is saying what many are feeling. This, in the eyes of those who are feeling that way, makes him a viable candidate. The GOP candidates take whatever positions will get them ahead in the race to become the nominee. Trump has not yet gone too far. Even his statements about barring all Muslims from America echo what many Americans are feeling. Whether those feelings are right or wrong doesn't matter. What matters is what we do with them.
The GOP has a long history of saying outrageous things to see how they fly and then exploiting the feelings that come out. Rather than appealing to reason, the Grandstanding Odious Poltroons appeal to bigotry and ignorance. Never mind the fact that many of their "top" people have gone to elite colleges; learning and knowledge are not for the masses. We aren't supposed to think. The GOP will do that for us. They will tell us that internment camps were a good thing, keeping out Jewish refugees during WWII was the right thing, and doing it to Muslims today is perfectly fine.
What the GOP won't do is subject themselves to the same rules they force on us. Their women will be able to get abortions. Their children will not be in debt. They will have good lives. We'll have nothing.
The GOP has a long history of saying outrageous things to see how they fly and then exploiting the feelings that come out. Rather than appealing to reason, the Grandstanding Odious Poltroons appeal to bigotry and ignorance. Never mind the fact that many of their "top" people have gone to elite colleges; learning and knowledge are not for the masses. We aren't supposed to think. The GOP will do that for us. They will tell us that internment camps were a good thing, keeping out Jewish refugees during WWII was the right thing, and doing it to Muslims today is perfectly fine.
What the GOP won't do is subject themselves to the same rules they force on us. Their women will be able to get abortions. Their children will not be in debt. They will have good lives. We'll have nothing.
4
Republicans & their media have spent the last few generations telling their followers that all their unexamined assumptions are wisdom, that science and research are lies, that journalism is liberal propaganda. Anyone who disagrees with them is given a label like "politically correct" or "relativist" and met with childish mockery and fingers in the ears. They've created an audience that sees democracy as an entitlement to have its prejudices confirmed and its moralism praised. It works for the Republicans not because they want to serve the public, but because the pandering allows them to deliver their followers over to the oligarchs in the backrooms.
Trump is different but inevitable--someone who's in it for himself instead of the lobbyists. This is how his followers mistake his corruption for independence and his narcissism for integrity. Because he doesn't believe in anything except his own voice, he can follow his followers into the depths of their infantile impulses. His temper tantrums convert the public's temper tantrums into obedience. We need to stand up to more than Trump; we need to stand up to the political sewer of AM radio, the internet hoax-mongers and fake research institutes to which the Republicans are addicted. They have deprived us of serious political conversation--including a serious conservative voice--for too long.
Trump is different but inevitable--someone who's in it for himself instead of the lobbyists. This is how his followers mistake his corruption for independence and his narcissism for integrity. Because he doesn't believe in anything except his own voice, he can follow his followers into the depths of their infantile impulses. His temper tantrums convert the public's temper tantrums into obedience. We need to stand up to more than Trump; we need to stand up to the political sewer of AM radio, the internet hoax-mongers and fake research institutes to which the Republicans are addicted. They have deprived us of serious political conversation--including a serious conservative voice--for too long.
10
Sober assessment of the popularity of republican demagogues nowadays, exploiting the fears of a given segment of the population, enhancing it, and exploiting their gains to mark the U.S. as an anti-immigrant country, ready to pound on innocent victims actually escaping from the terror of extremists. If Mr. Trump comes to pass, and takes the helms, there will be no one but ourselves to blame, buyers' remorse notwithstanding, an outrage in the making. And then, the real pain and suffering may start, and the crying, and no relief in sight. Are we that stupid?
1
Let us not forget, also, the additional conditions that make this kind of hatred even more potent: gerrymandering and the ongoing effort to restrict voter rights. As a result, our voting districts have been drawn to create right-wing majorities where moderate electorates should have held sway. Republican efforts continue to place undue burdens on low-income and minority citizens attempting to register to vote. In the current environment, voter intimidation is also a very real threat.
In the past, reasonable, moderate Americans could take comfort in the fact that our system of representative government would inoculate us from the rise of demagoguery. Now that the system has been gamed, that comfort and confidence is very much in danger.
In the past, reasonable, moderate Americans could take comfort in the fact that our system of representative government would inoculate us from the rise of demagoguery. Now that the system has been gamed, that comfort and confidence is very much in danger.
165
Agreed. Also Citizens United, which ironically grants the xenophobic financial fetishists' more political power than all of us put together. It must go. Only the right Democrat in the Whitehouse stands a chance to make that happen. Feel the Bern.
Paul Ryan got on TV and said that that hateful racist rhetoric was not the republican party but it is.
It is the only thing that has kept the republicans from evaporating into the either, it is the only thing that has kept that party viable for the last 40 years starting with Nixon's Southern Strategy. It is the only thing that will keep it alive for the next couple decades because they have absolutely nothing to offer and Nixon knew that.
Republicans have caused at least 90% of all the harm to this country, they are horrible with money, they are blood thirsty and savage in their pursuit of ever more wars for fun and profit, they caused the Great Depression and the Great Recession and both times democrats had to clean up the mess.
There is not a single thing that the republicans do that benefit this country or the vast majority of its citizens, they have tried to destroy the post office, social security, medicare, medicaid, food stamps, pretty much anything that does not put money in the pockets of the rich and powerful.
There is not a single legitimate reason to ever vote for a republican unless you are a millionaire.
If it were not for racism and bigotry, the republicans would never get enough votes to even run for dog catcher.
Like a wise man once siad, The democrats are not perfect but the republicans are insane!
It is the only thing that has kept the republicans from evaporating into the either, it is the only thing that has kept that party viable for the last 40 years starting with Nixon's Southern Strategy. It is the only thing that will keep it alive for the next couple decades because they have absolutely nothing to offer and Nixon knew that.
Republicans have caused at least 90% of all the harm to this country, they are horrible with money, they are blood thirsty and savage in their pursuit of ever more wars for fun and profit, they caused the Great Depression and the Great Recession and both times democrats had to clean up the mess.
There is not a single thing that the republicans do that benefit this country or the vast majority of its citizens, they have tried to destroy the post office, social security, medicare, medicaid, food stamps, pretty much anything that does not put money in the pockets of the rich and powerful.
There is not a single legitimate reason to ever vote for a republican unless you are a millionaire.
If it were not for racism and bigotry, the republicans would never get enough votes to even run for dog catcher.
Like a wise man once siad, The democrats are not perfect but the republicans are insane!
4
If the Times was hoping to open the eyes of potential Trump voters to the dangers Trump poses (and not just preach to the choir), I think it's taken an ineffective route. You don't start the conversation by practically calling Trump a fascist and any person who would support him a racist and a bigot.
You instead acknowledge that besides the reptilian appeal of his courser statements, his appeal is also built on the failings of a stagnating and largely corrupt political system, four presidential terms worth of either miguided or uninspired leadership, and a suffocating climate of political correctness that makes even recognizing reality difficult, much less dealing with its problems.
Trump is the anti -establishment, anti-pc candidate. That is the key to "The Trump Effect" and the thing that does in fact give his candidacy legimacy with voters, not his over-the-top statements which are taken with several grains of salt. Until the Times starts to understand The Trump Effect in much broader terms, it will continue to sell the candidate and the voters short by reminding us that he is just a bad man, a very bad man.
You instead acknowledge that besides the reptilian appeal of his courser statements, his appeal is also built on the failings of a stagnating and largely corrupt political system, four presidential terms worth of either miguided or uninspired leadership, and a suffocating climate of political correctness that makes even recognizing reality difficult, much less dealing with its problems.
Trump is the anti -establishment, anti-pc candidate. That is the key to "The Trump Effect" and the thing that does in fact give his candidacy legimacy with voters, not his over-the-top statements which are taken with several grains of salt. Until the Times starts to understand The Trump Effect in much broader terms, it will continue to sell the candidate and the voters short by reminding us that he is just a bad man, a very bad man.
4
We have a fantasy about ourselves that we are a noble nation that has always defended the oppressed or really believes that "all men are created equal". There have been moments when it looked like that but even the great noble effort to defeat fascism in WWII is saddled with American nativism. The internment camps and a segregated army not to mention the decision not to bomb any concentration camps for fear that we would lose airmen in a battle to save "jews". The president made a speech commemorating the end of slavery and we still hear defenders of that institution.
The election of Barack Obama has drawn out the worst in so many of us. He can barely lead because he is not allowed to. He is the other, that future America that will have mixed race people. A large part of the electorate engages in merely dehumanizing the weak, the Central American mother escaping horrible gang violence, black lives, gay lives or Syrian children.
This paranoia was present before the San Bernardino shootings and not limited to muslims. The lack of concern for the victims of the Colorado shootings is distressing.
The President struck the right tone. It may not satisfy fully the human tendency to vilify out of fear. The massacre in San Bernardino is scary and we will have to find a way to keep us safe while not reducing ourselves to the level of the enemy. Keeping children out of school in Georgia will not keep us safe.
The election of Barack Obama has drawn out the worst in so many of us. He can barely lead because he is not allowed to. He is the other, that future America that will have mixed race people. A large part of the electorate engages in merely dehumanizing the weak, the Central American mother escaping horrible gang violence, black lives, gay lives or Syrian children.
This paranoia was present before the San Bernardino shootings and not limited to muslims. The lack of concern for the victims of the Colorado shootings is distressing.
The President struck the right tone. It may not satisfy fully the human tendency to vilify out of fear. The massacre in San Bernardino is scary and we will have to find a way to keep us safe while not reducing ourselves to the level of the enemy. Keeping children out of school in Georgia will not keep us safe.
2
Let us deal with what is exactly going on here. It is not the distrust of Muslims or Mexicans. It is not patriotism. It is not xenophobia. It is fear of someone taking what you have away from you. For the last 30+ years regular Americans have watched the American dream crumble. Their children go to college but cannot get better paying jobs than the factory jobs they had. Many have lost their homes and jobs in the recessions and massive plant closings sending good jobs to China. Those jobs were replaced with McJobs that do not pay well or have good benefits.
This is about having and keeping stuff. For the last 30+ years the Republicans and their press have been able to misdirect the public from the real culprits of their loss of stuff, the big banks and greedy corporations. While the rich have pulled the rug out from under the general public they used slight of hand to misdirect middle America's attention to the less unfortunate (produced by the rich) even while middle American taxes pay for the errors of the rich.
Trump is the culmination of this strategy. Even as one of those that destroyed many middle class lives, he is exalted as the savior of the middle class. Republicans have been too successful at their slight of hand, their audience no longer sees reality. Everyone is a taker except them and their rich idols. It's not about race or religion it is about stuff, having stuff and the fear of the loss of stuff.
This is about having and keeping stuff. For the last 30+ years the Republicans and their press have been able to misdirect the public from the real culprits of their loss of stuff, the big banks and greedy corporations. While the rich have pulled the rug out from under the general public they used slight of hand to misdirect middle America's attention to the less unfortunate (produced by the rich) even while middle American taxes pay for the errors of the rich.
Trump is the culmination of this strategy. Even as one of those that destroyed many middle class lives, he is exalted as the savior of the middle class. Republicans have been too successful at their slight of hand, their audience no longer sees reality. Everyone is a taker except them and their rich idols. It's not about race or religion it is about stuff, having stuff and the fear of the loss of stuff.
Trump is Frankenstein creation of mismatched impulses and intentions--fear, bigotry, rage, misogyny. He has been animated by a frenzied electorate that right wing pundits have long cultivated in the mistaken notion that they would be easily controlled.
Suddenly, he appears: the huge, strangely-formed menace looming at the front of an angry mob. He speaks, declaiming in plain and vulgar language what had previously said in coded innuendo. The mob roars its approval and waves their pitchforks.
And his creators--those who have fomented hate and division--recoil in confusion. What have they wrought, what indeed? The horror, the horror.
Suddenly, he appears: the huge, strangely-formed menace looming at the front of an angry mob. He speaks, declaiming in plain and vulgar language what had previously said in coded innuendo. The mob roars its approval and waves their pitchforks.
And his creators--those who have fomented hate and division--recoil in confusion. What have they wrought, what indeed? The horror, the horror.
1
Trump is the true voice of the republican party. To deny it is, well, to deny reality.
The numbers don't lie. They reflect the views of most people who will vote republican and despite denials to the contrary are quietly supported by the other republican candidates.
Trump may one day make the other republican candidates appear "moderate" by comparison, but much of what he has said,not only about immigrants, but his aggressive attitude toward other nations reflects another long held republican
"value".
His message of fear is being exacerbated by the relentless media exposure he is receiving (with relatively little coverage of candidates from the Democratic Party.) It would be nice to hear what Anybody else's position might be on whatever topic Trump addresses.
As it is, Trump is beginning to make George W. Bush appear to have been "competent" by comparison. That should be enough to create concern about the cliff up ahead and whether we would like to go over it.
The numbers don't lie. They reflect the views of most people who will vote republican and despite denials to the contrary are quietly supported by the other republican candidates.
Trump may one day make the other republican candidates appear "moderate" by comparison, but much of what he has said,not only about immigrants, but his aggressive attitude toward other nations reflects another long held republican
"value".
His message of fear is being exacerbated by the relentless media exposure he is receiving (with relatively little coverage of candidates from the Democratic Party.) It would be nice to hear what Anybody else's position might be on whatever topic Trump addresses.
As it is, Trump is beginning to make George W. Bush appear to have been "competent" by comparison. That should be enough to create concern about the cliff up ahead and whether we would like to go over it.
2
For years, the GOP has worked hard to avoid being labeled the party of choice for xenophobic Americans. It has done its best to sanitize party rhetoric, distance itself from the irredeemably racist camps within the party, and make some attempts to reach out to Blacks, Latinos, and Asian communities. It has been a systemic effort to present the party as a viable choice for all Americans. Trump has unlocked the party's dirty secret and given the long-muzzled members of the GOP permission to come out in the open.
2
I though that once the Republican Party self-destructed and was replaced with something more moderate, or at least sane, that we would once again have a country that worked for everyone. I thought that all those people voting Republican was largely a result of a successful 40-year G.O.P. campaign to instill fear and hate in otherwise loving people but with the Republican Party as we knew it gone, the "old" American values would be restored and the better angels of our nature would triumph.
I was dreaming and I've done the Republican Party a great disservice. The G.O.P. simply tapped into fear and hate that has been present in these United States since its birth but is now rapidly growing with the demographic shifts. That someone like Donald Trump, who sounds more and more like a totalitarian politician with each passing day, who has so many of us with our mouths open in shocking disbelief, can still be having this much support from so many Americans is the real sickening story.
I doubt Trump will get the nomination. With some luck, the Republicans won't win the White House. But there is a cancer growing in this country.
I was dreaming and I've done the Republican Party a great disservice. The G.O.P. simply tapped into fear and hate that has been present in these United States since its birth but is now rapidly growing with the demographic shifts. That someone like Donald Trump, who sounds more and more like a totalitarian politician with each passing day, who has so many of us with our mouths open in shocking disbelief, can still be having this much support from so many Americans is the real sickening story.
I doubt Trump will get the nomination. With some luck, the Republicans won't win the White House. But there is a cancer growing in this country.
2
Trump is verbal, cubed. The rejecting response to his words, extensive. Yet so little light is is focused on actions and words by others. The stand of the thirty one states mentioned in this article is hard to find in news reports. There was minimal discussion of Bush's statement that refugees from Syria could be admitted if they were Christian. Would Trump have the success he has if there was confidence that the leadership of our country was able to or was intent on protecting us or if those running for president would be if they won the election. None of the other candidate have confronted and expressed willingness or ability to deal decisively with the danger. So you have on one side a leading candidate who is not trusted and on the other side one who is outrageous and neither one has a serious challenger. It is scary.
The media, and that includes the Times, is complicit in Trump's ascension in their all-Trump-all-the-time coverage of his every inanity, covering him as though he were the presumptive Republican candidate.This extravagant attention only feeds his "celebrity narcissism," as well as poisoning the candidacies of his GOP rivals and relegating the Democratic candidates, especially Bernie Sanders, to footnotes. The mega coverage even puts President Obama in the shade, sidelining the discussion that should have followed his excellent speech on responding to terrorism the other night. That said, this is a much-needed editorial. Not only have NO Republican leaders said they would not vote from if he were nominated, but as far as I know none of the organizations that partake of his glitziness - the golfers who patronize his golf courses, the charitable and cultural groups who hold benefits and concerts at his palatial estate Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach - have taken their business away from him. Would they continue to do so if he put a sign on his doors that said "No Jews and no blacks allowed on these premises?" I wonder.
1
It’s unfair to expect Republicans to renounce the pledge to support whomever the nominee is when they were all bullied into signing the pledge in the first place by the party, when it still seemed unlikely the Trump would ultimately emerge as the nominee. Nobody wants to take that step yet because it would mean conceding that Trump is in a leading position to win the nomination. If he starts winning primary states and acquiring enough delegates to make that an imminent reality, then of course you will start seeing Republicans renouncing their pledge. The party itself will probably render the pledge null and void; it was only ever an unenforceable political ploy anyway.
It is true that most of the candidates have disappointed when offering their own plans for immigration reform and in dealing with the refugee crisis, but a few of them, like John Kasich and Lindsey Graham, have indeed made clear their support for reform and compassion. The media just ignores them, because they are lagging in the polls, and they don’t get the same ratings that blustering fools like Trump, Cruz, and Carson do.
It is true that most of the candidates have disappointed when offering their own plans for immigration reform and in dealing with the refugee crisis, but a few of them, like John Kasich and Lindsey Graham, have indeed made clear their support for reform and compassion. The media just ignores them, because they are lagging in the polls, and they don’t get the same ratings that blustering fools like Trump, Cruz, and Carson do.
The right wing allowed all the illegal Mexicans to come through porous borders for decades from the 50's through the 90's to work cheaply on farms and in factories in Texas, Arizona, California, New Mexico and Arizona. And, to work as domestics, but that included left wing luminaries like Lani Guinier and Zoe Baird. Candidate Trump's call for exclusion of Mexican illegals now and the dangerous among Muslims (requiring temporarily banning all of them) is the other side of the coin, including The Wall. Let them talk! Let's see what happens this time. The extreme condemnation of Mr. Trump's call for America to "figure out" a satisfactory method of deciding who gets to come in and who doesn't is overdone. Something has to be figured out and billions of world citizens cannot get into the USA right now for many different reasons. Being identified by religion is not so much worse than being identified by economic class in my opinion. 90% of poor citizens of the world cannot get into the U.S. permanently. The whole American election process has become a highly questionable reality show these recent decades and Donald Trump's approach to the contest is competitive and fits right in.
3
And the left protects the illegals by giving them all the rights that we have as citizens of the United States. All to get a vote.
As others have pointed out here, the sentiments expressed by Trump are the deepest expressions of a Republican Party that has absorbed and finely chisled an ideology of racial bigotry and white supremacy over a period of decades. It's deeply tied to a reaction to a deep-seated antipathy to government providing any kind of "redistribution" of taxes to people that they believe are "unworthy." Until we as an American people reclaim loudly and definitively the moral underpinning of our democracy -- that is, government by and for the people, with an ethic of care for "the least of these" -- we will continue to be pulled ever downwards by social darwinists who think the USA is supposed to protect the "survival of the fittest" -- which to them is the whitest, the most Christian, the most able-bodied, the richest, the most ruthless.
2
Trump has discovered something important: there are more people who hold racist views in the US than there are evangelical Christians and he is going after their vote. Witness the future of the Republican party unless there are Republican leaders who stand up and loudly denounce this brand of exclusionary and hateful speech.
The Times is right that the "Trump effect" is not confined to Trump. But it is not just some current Republican presidential candidates who are voicing xenophobic and racists views. This rhetoric has been voiced for decades on conservative talk radio, and before that in hushed meeting halls and behind closed doors.
I recently watched a 60 minute episode about a French priest who is going village to village to collect stories and document the killing and mass burials of Jews during WWII that have not been previously recorded. His efforts have significantly increased the number of Jewish dead in Europe over 6 million. Toward the end of the program he was asked what lessons he learned. He said, almost without exception, that when these killings were going on outside the city or village ordinary citizens would gather to safely watch the executions.
The German word "schadenfreude" expresses that feeling of joy at another person's bad fortune. I think it is important to be aware of this human trait and to instead develop compassion. Most Americans are very decent and compassionate people, which gives me hope.
The Times is right that the "Trump effect" is not confined to Trump. But it is not just some current Republican presidential candidates who are voicing xenophobic and racists views. This rhetoric has been voiced for decades on conservative talk radio, and before that in hushed meeting halls and behind closed doors.
I recently watched a 60 minute episode about a French priest who is going village to village to collect stories and document the killing and mass burials of Jews during WWII that have not been previously recorded. His efforts have significantly increased the number of Jewish dead in Europe over 6 million. Toward the end of the program he was asked what lessons he learned. He said, almost without exception, that when these killings were going on outside the city or village ordinary citizens would gather to safely watch the executions.
The German word "schadenfreude" expresses that feeling of joy at another person's bad fortune. I think it is important to be aware of this human trait and to instead develop compassion. Most Americans are very decent and compassionate people, which gives me hope.
3
Racist? Because he wants the rights of Americans to be first and foremost to be protected as opposed to those who jump borders in the dead of night? Wow what a concept. Imagine a candidate who is looking out for those who are here legally whether it be by applying for citizenship or by birth. Imagine that. Oh and he hasn't taken a penny from Wall Street or the Koch's or Soros, scary isn't it?
The awful thing is Trump is an expression of us. He is not a leader but a follower. The other GOP candidates are close behind him. Since Nixon the Republican party has followed a racist strategy to win. It is the same strategy Southern leaders followed since slavery began to get the poor and struggling to keep the rich free to steal from them and poisen our environment. President Johnson let the southern strategy of the Democrats go and Nixon siezed it for the GOP. It is a strategy of fear with great appeal in the working classes of the North. We can only hope that the growing diversity of the electorate now makes it unwinable.
3
To paraphrase Donald Trump we can "figure out what is going on" and immediately and clearly. What is going on is that the persistent leader for the presidential nomination of one of our two major political parties is a manifest demagogue. And, further, that this is an extremely worrisome state of affairs for our nation.
Th editorial is right to emphasize that none of the other Republican rivals for the presidency have declared that they would not support Trump if he were to win the nomination. That is not at all surprising in the case of the apparent no. 2 currently in the polls. Ted Cruz is essentially a more polished and articulate avatar of Trump-thought (hardly a very high standard).
Th editorial is right to emphasize that none of the other Republican rivals for the presidency have declared that they would not support Trump if he were to win the nomination. That is not at all surprising in the case of the apparent no. 2 currently in the polls. Ted Cruz is essentially a more polished and articulate avatar of Trump-thought (hardly a very high standard).
5
The " axis of ignorance" of those who refuse to allow Syrian refuges into their states is more an axis of incoherence. After all why single out those coming here as refuges over those arriving here in different ways. The argument that foreigners who have no paper trail for the government to assess applies equally to those coming here on every other type of visa, such as student, tourist or business.
However even this type of incoherence pales in comparison to the completely senseless objection to having prisoners held at Guatonomo transferred to super max prisons in the US. Even in the one in a million chance that one of them will escape, their ability to plot and carry out an attack while they are escapees who are being hunted down by the whole of the federal government, in addition to their being all alone with no money or resources, is beyond impossible.
And yet we had the majority in congress pass a law to this exact effect. And because of this lunacy America has no choice but to keep Guatonomo open despite the great cost to the reputation of the country.
However even this type of incoherence pales in comparison to the completely senseless objection to having prisoners held at Guatonomo transferred to super max prisons in the US. Even in the one in a million chance that one of them will escape, their ability to plot and carry out an attack while they are escapees who are being hunted down by the whole of the federal government, in addition to their being all alone with no money or resources, is beyond impossible.
And yet we had the majority in congress pass a law to this exact effect. And because of this lunacy America has no choice but to keep Guatonomo open despite the great cost to the reputation of the country.
1
They are going to get traction folks. Immigration works when immigrants assimilate. Someone needs to make the case that these folks will. I, for one, being a raging atheist do not look forward to more and more severe fundamentalist religious voters, people who treat women worse than dogs, and people who's traditions include killing others over nonsensical slights.
What the world needs most is less old man in the sky religion. When someone says "faith based, or community of faith" what I hear is "delusion". Anyone capable of reason who has completed high school science and not been indoctrinated or brain washed into religion has to understand that the old man in the sky is a Stone Age invention to control people. It's all made up, and now used to mask poor governance. Lose that and they are welcome in my book, especially if they have a tradition of yummy cuisine.
What the world needs most is less old man in the sky religion. When someone says "faith based, or community of faith" what I hear is "delusion". Anyone capable of reason who has completed high school science and not been indoctrinated or brain washed into religion has to understand that the old man in the sky is a Stone Age invention to control people. It's all made up, and now used to mask poor governance. Lose that and they are welcome in my book, especially if they have a tradition of yummy cuisine.
9
President Obama in his address the other night actually, in very careful language, asked Americans to call the police if they suspected anyone they knew of possible links to Islamic terrorism. This would have been unheard of had it not been for the Trump Effect, I believe, because sprinkled throughout his horrible/humorous rants are droplets of truths many of us feel or believe. (These droplets are impossible to separate out from his speech, as many interviewers can attest to, almost like trying to separate out, say salt, from a baked loaf of bread.) Obama recognized this, and let the country know he gets it, thankfully. So, it would behoove us liberals not to continually disparage "the other side" - much as we might want to! - and pick out the areas we can agree, politically incorrect as they might feel. Obama can be our role model; I'm sure he was miserable telling us to be prepared to inform on friends and family should the need arise.
7
What kind of country are we? In 2008 and again in 2012 we elected a mixed race American as President and have been considering a woman for the first time. On the other hand a large segment of our population is considering electing to that post a blatant bigot who has derided Hispanics, made fun of the disabled and derided women. It seems that the farther we go towards tolerance , we go equally far in the other direction. The last time this happened so intensely we fought a civil war. It is not too strong to suggest that the fate of Democracy is at stake if we should elect the man who so blatantly exploits our racist fears.
8
I'd love to vote for a female for President just not the top pick on the Dems side. She has her own set of problems like lying to the American public on a myriad of subject and then hijacking other candidates ideas. But the oh so smart left can't see it so they will blindly vote for her regardless of her many faults. More's the pity for the rest of us.
Really? Trump effect? Trump is not effecting anything.
The causality is reversed. Trump is the effect of republican causes. The cause is a segment of population that faces absolutely no consequences for their hatred, fear, loathing. Not one of the people who showed up outside the mosque in Irving TX with big guns to scare women and children saw so much as a slap on the wrist.
Not one.
That this segment of Americans is also the most dependent on subsidies from the government, hates the government, and lines up for every single entitlement while yelling "keep the government off my social security" is the irony.
The cause is that the republican establishment. And what a cause it is. They have succeeded in getting the middle class to hate the poor, the working class to hate Mexicans, blacks and everyone else. They sold a bill of goods: "they" are eating your lunch, now "they" are all bad and should be herded, registered, banned, and excluded. To a cheering chorus.
Trump wouldn't say a word that he did not think would resonate among his audience. He is not causing anything. He is the effect of very successful, albeit diabolical, republican causes. And have they succeeded!
Kalidan
The causality is reversed. Trump is the effect of republican causes. The cause is a segment of population that faces absolutely no consequences for their hatred, fear, loathing. Not one of the people who showed up outside the mosque in Irving TX with big guns to scare women and children saw so much as a slap on the wrist.
Not one.
That this segment of Americans is also the most dependent on subsidies from the government, hates the government, and lines up for every single entitlement while yelling "keep the government off my social security" is the irony.
The cause is that the republican establishment. And what a cause it is. They have succeeded in getting the middle class to hate the poor, the working class to hate Mexicans, blacks and everyone else. They sold a bill of goods: "they" are eating your lunch, now "they" are all bad and should be herded, registered, banned, and excluded. To a cheering chorus.
Trump wouldn't say a word that he did not think would resonate among his audience. He is not causing anything. He is the effect of very successful, albeit diabolical, republican causes. And have they succeeded!
Kalidan
228
Trump, despite his current popularity, remains a fringe candidate, no more electable that George Wallace. His real importance lies in his impact on the GOP and the tone of the campaign. In extreme form, he represents notions that Republicans have peddled for decades.
The lineage of this candidacy traces back to Nixon's southern strategy in 1968. He cynically calculated that the path to victory lay through a negative appeal to disaffected white Democrats from Dixie, angered by their party's transformation into a champion of civil rights. Nixon's success encouraged Reagan to double down on the strategy. The former actor camouflaged the vicious approach with a veneer of geniality and a promise of "morning in America." But the smile on Reagan's face could not conceal the message that the Democrats had victimized the white working class through unjust favoritism toward blacks.
The depiction of the Democrats as almost an illegitimate class-based party infected the GOP view of government. The Dems had used state power to help the poor and minorities, so government itself had become unreliable, an enemy of the working class. Obama has simply reinforced this view.
Trump has embarrassed his party by candidly stating, in extreme form, the GOP's message of hostility to ethnic minorities as a threat to American values. His apparent success has forced other candidates to deplore his excesses while embracing the core message. The party's chickens have come home to roost.
The lineage of this candidacy traces back to Nixon's southern strategy in 1968. He cynically calculated that the path to victory lay through a negative appeal to disaffected white Democrats from Dixie, angered by their party's transformation into a champion of civil rights. Nixon's success encouraged Reagan to double down on the strategy. The former actor camouflaged the vicious approach with a veneer of geniality and a promise of "morning in America." But the smile on Reagan's face could not conceal the message that the Democrats had victimized the white working class through unjust favoritism toward blacks.
The depiction of the Democrats as almost an illegitimate class-based party infected the GOP view of government. The Dems had used state power to help the poor and minorities, so government itself had become unreliable, an enemy of the working class. Obama has simply reinforced this view.
Trump has embarrassed his party by candidly stating, in extreme form, the GOP's message of hostility to ethnic minorities as a threat to American values. His apparent success has forced other candidates to deplore his excesses while embracing the core message. The party's chickens have come home to roost.
155
The fear and hate machine spawned by Fox News and right wing media has built a tsunami wave that the GOP has ridden for decades. They have legitimized ignorance and replaced fact with propaganda. I would urge everyone to read a book or two about how powerful propaganda is as a tool of swaying the public. It's like an atomic bomb of thought control.
Thirty years later, the machine popped out Donald Trump. He is our product. He is not an outlier. He is not freak show. He is what nearly half of America has become.
The obscene paralysis caused by GOP obstructionism has greatly helped to fuel Trump's rise. Many, many people have told me that they think Trump is nuts but at least he will get things done. The publics frustration wth politics, coupled with ignorance and fear generated by terrorism has fueled Trump's rise. We are experiencing a perfect storm that Trump is capitalizing upon to run for President.
Until legitimacy is restored to all media, until politicians behave responsibly and cease to use lies and propaganda to get votes, until anything goes for discourse no matter how false ceases, Trump will continue and others like him will take his place after he is gone. Trump is what we have become.
Thirty years later, the machine popped out Donald Trump. He is our product. He is not an outlier. He is not freak show. He is what nearly half of America has become.
The obscene paralysis caused by GOP obstructionism has greatly helped to fuel Trump's rise. Many, many people have told me that they think Trump is nuts but at least he will get things done. The publics frustration wth politics, coupled with ignorance and fear generated by terrorism has fueled Trump's rise. We are experiencing a perfect storm that Trump is capitalizing upon to run for President.
Until legitimacy is restored to all media, until politicians behave responsibly and cease to use lies and propaganda to get votes, until anything goes for discourse no matter how false ceases, Trump will continue and others like him will take his place after he is gone. Trump is what we have become.
20
Very well stated Mr. Rosenblit. I agree, and all thinking people agree. The problem is, as you state, large numbers of the non-thinking public disagrees with you. It is a failure not only of the media and the worst of capitalism which drives it (ratings, profit motive) but also of our K-12 education which teaches nothing about critical thinking.
We just want the kids to "feel good" and we see it this week in the "dumping" of standards associated with K-12 and "no child left behind."The protection of the children so they do not have to have any stress and take a few tests. This will keep the more uneducated families in their slots and the wise and educated will raise bright, educated, thinking children who will take the good jobs and have happy, productive lives. Unless the Donald Trumps of the world are stopped in their tracks.
We just want the kids to "feel good" and we see it this week in the "dumping" of standards associated with K-12 and "no child left behind."The protection of the children so they do not have to have any stress and take a few tests. This will keep the more uneducated families in their slots and the wise and educated will raise bright, educated, thinking children who will take the good jobs and have happy, productive lives. Unless the Donald Trumps of the world are stopped in their tracks.
Having read more than a few books Bruce, it appears to me that you have read Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" and you apply it to the isolation of the target of your choosing, and attempt to destroy it.
As Dickens wrote in "A Christmas Carol", these children are 'want and ignorance'. Fear them both, but fear ignorance the most".
14
I thought that read arrogance- my bad.
Gentlemen, get off your high holy horse. Trump stepped into a vacuum left by an establishment, including the editorial board of the Times, that ignored and even denigrated the needs of the American people.
You regularly opine that we should allow illegal aliens to stay here, using cherry-picked half-truths to make your case. Only you won't even call them that; you use the dishonest euphemism "undocumented immigrant" instead. Meanwhile, Americans lose their jobs to immigrants, and see their schools and municipal budgets stressed to the breaking point. Then, when they apply for jobs or their kids apply to college, they are discriminated against.
Donald Trump garners support because he touches on truths that the establishment is unwilling to utter, and history tells us that when the elite does not do its job, the people turn to demagogues with disastrous results.
I say to you and to our entire political establishment, both Democratic and Republican -- clean up your own act. Stop exporting American jobs to China. Stop the massive importation of third world poverty. Stop pretending that differences in achievement are solely due to discrimination, and end the odious system of preferences that has made a mockery of the quest for equal opportunity.
When the American worker can once again get a good union job at the auto plant, when he does not fall out of the middle class or experience discrimination, you will find that he does not turn to Donald Trump.
You regularly opine that we should allow illegal aliens to stay here, using cherry-picked half-truths to make your case. Only you won't even call them that; you use the dishonest euphemism "undocumented immigrant" instead. Meanwhile, Americans lose their jobs to immigrants, and see their schools and municipal budgets stressed to the breaking point. Then, when they apply for jobs or their kids apply to college, they are discriminated against.
Donald Trump garners support because he touches on truths that the establishment is unwilling to utter, and history tells us that when the elite does not do its job, the people turn to demagogues with disastrous results.
I say to you and to our entire political establishment, both Democratic and Republican -- clean up your own act. Stop exporting American jobs to China. Stop the massive importation of third world poverty. Stop pretending that differences in achievement are solely due to discrimination, and end the odious system of preferences that has made a mockery of the quest for equal opportunity.
When the American worker can once again get a good union job at the auto plant, when he does not fall out of the middle class or experience discrimination, you will find that he does not turn to Donald Trump.
32
Josh, just so you know, that fall of the middle class and experience of discrimination has been happening to minorities and immigrants for centuries. It appears that you have interpreted that the losses of the American worker have resulted in the rise of minorities and immigrants, if only you knew.
Desden, there have always been stresses between immigrants and people who were born here, to be sure, and there has been a great deal of discrimination. Often, low-wage workers were imported to drive down wages, just as they are in some cases today in fields as diverse as agricultural labor and H1-B visas.
there are, however, some significant differences. One is that we have exported our factory jobs to low-wage countries, putting extra pressure on workers here and creating a surplus of low-wage workers. Another is that the country then was growing and expanding across the continent; today, it is overpopulated, a net importer of resources.
Finally, the workers that immigrated then were mostly from cultures that adapted readily to our society and way of life -- Europeans and Asians. Asians immigrants still do very well, but immigrants from Latin America do not, and neither do their children. They multiply at a very high rate, do poorly at school, and end up competing for the low-level jobs that are currently in short supply. They are also given a degree of very expensive social support that was not available to previous generations of immigrants, so that for example a local school budget can be destroyed by the requirement to provide multilingual education to an influx of refugees.
The bottom line is that workers suffer because of legal and in particular illegal immigration, and deprived of any sign that the establishment cares for their plight, support Trump.
there are, however, some significant differences. One is that we have exported our factory jobs to low-wage countries, putting extra pressure on workers here and creating a surplus of low-wage workers. Another is that the country then was growing and expanding across the continent; today, it is overpopulated, a net importer of resources.
Finally, the workers that immigrated then were mostly from cultures that adapted readily to our society and way of life -- Europeans and Asians. Asians immigrants still do very well, but immigrants from Latin America do not, and neither do their children. They multiply at a very high rate, do poorly at school, and end up competing for the low-level jobs that are currently in short supply. They are also given a degree of very expensive social support that was not available to previous generations of immigrants, so that for example a local school budget can be destroyed by the requirement to provide multilingual education to an influx of refugees.
The bottom line is that workers suffer because of legal and in particular illegal immigration, and deprived of any sign that the establishment cares for their plight, support Trump.
To add to this, we see our elites from both parties protected by class and hired guns at every turn. Yet it is the poor plebes who are demonized for thinking that they may need to arm themselves because when seconds count, the police are minutes away.
We are told that the USA is a welcoming, generous country. We see that this means we are more generous to people from other countries than to our own CITIZENS. We take into account their conditions and needs before our own citizens. Many gifts are bestowed upon both legal and illegal immigrants that are not available to our own citizens.
The director of the FBI has stated that we can NOT vet refugees from war torn Syria yet we are told to open the doors and make way.
We need at least a 7 year moratorium on immigration. That should suffice to determine who, what, where, and why we need to add to the current suffering population of the USA.
We are told that the USA is a welcoming, generous country. We see that this means we are more generous to people from other countries than to our own CITIZENS. We take into account their conditions and needs before our own citizens. Many gifts are bestowed upon both legal and illegal immigrants that are not available to our own citizens.
The director of the FBI has stated that we can NOT vet refugees from war torn Syria yet we are told to open the doors and make way.
We need at least a 7 year moratorium on immigration. That should suffice to determine who, what, where, and why we need to add to the current suffering population of the USA.
1
Yes, it's hard to imagine that so many Americans, who have been coddled and safe between oceans, can be so fearful. Perhaps we have been too coddled and protected? The Guardian ran an excellent article the other day about Muslims, including famed boxer Mohammed Ali, who have added more than most Americans to OUR society. One gentleman developed the structural steel design that allowed the World Trade Center towers - and the Trump tower - to be built. This whole fear-anger-hate rhetoric is just another con to try to keep us fearful of the boogie man or woman. Thankfully the vast majority of Americans will not be taken in if WE help them understand what is really going on. Here is a link to the Guardian article:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/08/donald-trump-famous-muslims...
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/08/donald-trump-famous-muslims...
21
It is the dismissive comments of commentors like njglea from Seattle that have given trump's campaign traction. I will never vote for trump but the attitude of many people including the president that fear of Islamic terrorism is silly or racist is driving many people into the hands of demagogues.
Think forward not backwards on this issue. Would you have ever imagine 9/11 several decades before it happened? It WILL get worse before it gets better. In the days of the Soviet Union we had the theory of mutually assured destruction that said no nation would dream of launching a nuclear attack for fear of reprisal.
Does anyone believe that isis, given their oil revenue and state-like apparatus would exercise similar restraint? Whatever you think of them they are clearly not the junior varsity.
Think forward not backwards on this issue. Would you have ever imagine 9/11 several decades before it happened? It WILL get worse before it gets better. In the days of the Soviet Union we had the theory of mutually assured destruction that said no nation would dream of launching a nuclear attack for fear of reprisal.
Does anyone believe that isis, given their oil revenue and state-like apparatus would exercise similar restraint? Whatever you think of them they are clearly not the junior varsity.
1
Chuck,
I read the Bible I believe that if there is any real history in it, it is by accident. The Bible is wonderful poetic allegory and to know the Bible is to not be surprised by 9/11. There is the wonderful story of the desert clan who had the good fortune to see the oil bubbling up through their sand and rushed out in the dark night to attack the invaders who understood the value of fuel and drowned in their own bitumen.
I read the Bible I believe that if there is any real history in it, it is by accident. The Bible is wonderful poetic allegory and to know the Bible is to not be surprised by 9/11. There is the wonderful story of the desert clan who had the good fortune to see the oil bubbling up through their sand and rushed out in the dark night to attack the invaders who understood the value of fuel and drowned in their own bitumen.
1
It is not just the candidates, it is their base, it is their media, and it is party itself. The GOP has moved very far to the right of the political spectrum; approaching, or has gone fascist. Lincoln, Nixon and Reagan would not even recognize today's GOP.
The GOP sows hate. Hate for taxes, hate for the poor, hate for what they can't get their hands on. Hate for blacks. Hate for Hispanics. Hate for Muslims. Hate for Jews. Hate for Catholics. Hate for social justice. Hate for Europe. Hate for a multi-party system. There is so much hate and so much discourse that they are running out of things to hate. And all they want is more and more power. Going as far making the US a single party state; if they could.
Mr. Obama's election took what was behind closed doors, in regards to hate, and opened the flood gates. And the hate kept on flowing and spewing in multiple directions.
They have cast blame, for this nation's ills, on those things they hate. This has resulted in xenophobia, class prejudice, race prejudice, religious prejudice and social prejudice. Either you are with them; or you are against them.
Mr. Trump is an embodiment of everything I describe above. He managed to take this and market it. He has done so well, that he has a solid voting block. And the voting block continues to grow each day, despite condemnation in the US and abroad.
The scary factor here, will the GOP take that step that the National Socialist Party did in 1930s Germany, with Mr. Trump at its helm?
The GOP sows hate. Hate for taxes, hate for the poor, hate for what they can't get their hands on. Hate for blacks. Hate for Hispanics. Hate for Muslims. Hate for Jews. Hate for Catholics. Hate for social justice. Hate for Europe. Hate for a multi-party system. There is so much hate and so much discourse that they are running out of things to hate. And all they want is more and more power. Going as far making the US a single party state; if they could.
Mr. Obama's election took what was behind closed doors, in regards to hate, and opened the flood gates. And the hate kept on flowing and spewing in multiple directions.
They have cast blame, for this nation's ills, on those things they hate. This has resulted in xenophobia, class prejudice, race prejudice, religious prejudice and social prejudice. Either you are with them; or you are against them.
Mr. Trump is an embodiment of everything I describe above. He managed to take this and market it. He has done so well, that he has a solid voting block. And the voting block continues to grow each day, despite condemnation in the US and abroad.
The scary factor here, will the GOP take that step that the National Socialist Party did in 1930s Germany, with Mr. Trump at its helm?
134
This is the face of today's GOP:
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/da-will-file-formal-char...
He is the Planned Parenthood Shooter from Colorado Springs. There are millions more just like him.
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/da-will-file-formal-char...
He is the Planned Parenthood Shooter from Colorado Springs. There are millions more just like him.
14
I agree with you almost 100%. As an ex-Catholic, I've watched "the church" move to the right and join the Republican Party. As an additional thought, I think you'll find a good portion of our churches are very much like the fantasists in the Muslim religion.
It won't have to Trump "at the helm;" the rest of the lot of Republican candidates are just using dog whistles instead of saying outright what they intend. Trump, compared to them, is a breath of fresh air.
GOP'ers have spent the entire period since Dubya left office in 2009 engaging in histrionics and doom/gloom predictions for the country, starting on Obama's first inauguration day:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/25/robert-draper-anti-obama-campai...
building on their party's decades and decades of undermining all forms of government since St. Ronnie declared " government IS the problem " in 1980, and demonizing all government officials that weren't GOP'ers.
The GOP'er chickens have all come home to roost, since the party has engendered and promoted the wide-open campaign funding of Citizens United, and the party's campaigns could be kidnapped by whichever Billionaire$ have the deepest pockets.
The end result of this decades-long soap opera of the political science phenomena known as the ' Overton window ' was addressed by Rachel Maddow:
http://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/rachel-maddow-show/2015-12-08
and can't be covered in our allotted 1500 words for this space, but it is very clear how GOP'ers got to this point, that fascism and demagoguery are the entirely predictable result, and that things will probably get even worse for GOP'ers as their party (and its brand) are openly auctioned to whichever Billionaire will pay the most and has the highest ratings with which to pimp themselves on the media complex's platforms.
GOP'ers and the media complex entirely deserve what has been created and nurtured.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/25/robert-draper-anti-obama-campai...
building on their party's decades and decades of undermining all forms of government since St. Ronnie declared " government IS the problem " in 1980, and demonizing all government officials that weren't GOP'ers.
The GOP'er chickens have all come home to roost, since the party has engendered and promoted the wide-open campaign funding of Citizens United, and the party's campaigns could be kidnapped by whichever Billionaire$ have the deepest pockets.
The end result of this decades-long soap opera of the political science phenomena known as the ' Overton window ' was addressed by Rachel Maddow:
http://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/rachel-maddow-show/2015-12-08
and can't be covered in our allotted 1500 words for this space, but it is very clear how GOP'ers got to this point, that fascism and demagoguery are the entirely predictable result, and that things will probably get even worse for GOP'ers as their party (and its brand) are openly auctioned to whichever Billionaire will pay the most and has the highest ratings with which to pimp themselves on the media complex's platforms.
GOP'ers and the media complex entirely deserve what has been created and nurtured.
29
Yes the GOP deserve it but the rest of the country doesn't and they are getting it anyway. Please vote!
Every time I think of Donald Trump I think of Hitler. I will begin reading the 2 volume biography of Hitler by Ian Kershaw soon. Kershaw is a renowned scholar.
31
@Jordan Davies
Kershaw's book is good but rather pedestrian in places although he does deal with the phenomena of "Working towards the Fuehrer" which goes far to explain the conduct of ordinary Nazis. Much better is Richard Evan's three volume history of the Nazis regime. Evans was a fellow of Caius, Regius professor of history at Cambridge and President of Wolfson college.
Kershaw's book is good but rather pedestrian in places although he does deal with the phenomena of "Working towards the Fuehrer" which goes far to explain the conduct of ordinary Nazis. Much better is Richard Evan's three volume history of the Nazis regime. Evans was a fellow of Caius, Regius professor of history at Cambridge and President of Wolfson college.
10
John
Thanks for the suggestion re Richard Evans 3-volume history of the Nazi regime.
Thanks for the suggestion re Richard Evans 3-volume history of the Nazi regime.
2
Go to the source and read Mein Kempf by Hitler, before you read someone thoughts about him. Hitler was a failure, a socialist, dirt poor, unlike Trump, who sought to raise himself through politics from the social gutter where he languished; he was also a surprisingly good and detailed writer and debater (almost philosophical in his exposition of Arian culture as the smartest in the world and in his views of the rise and fall of cultures) and a fanatic orator. Trump is very very different, quite opposite actually, just a patriot. He seeks to defend everybody (US citizens that is, and as efficiently as possible) and conquer nobody.
All true. There's very little qualitative difference in the nativism and racism department between Trump and most of the Republican candidates and they'd all support him if he was the nominee. Then this morning comes the news that two thirds of Republican voters support Trump's position on barring Muslims. Since this roughly corresponds with the level of support that exists for various crazy candidates like Trump, Carson, Paul, Cruz, etc. it gives a fairly good picture of where the Republican party now sits doctrinally. The more moderate traditional Republicans need to take note.
44
Let's be precise here: Two-thirds of primary GOP voters support Trump's proposal on barring Muslims.
I don't think there are any of those moderate traditional Republicans left!!
Rand Paul is, of all the candidates running, the most “moderate traditional Republican” out there. He has failed to distance himself enough from the rest of the crowd, but to lump him together with the rest of them is absurd. I don’t know what you think a “moderate” is if it’s not someone who wants a restrained foreign policy overseas, and an end to government spying, criminal justice reform, and drug policy reform at home.
I left the USA in 2012 because I saw fascism coming, long before Trump was on anybody's mind but his own. If you think there are moderate Republican politicians out there, good luck.
233
You should have stayed and worked and voted against it, Mr. Appeldorf, because you can't run fast or far enough to escape this pox. Fortunately many of us ARE staying and fighting so you'll be able to rest easy.
7
Fighting from here, njglea. Absentee voting is no big deal. Pinochet is the Republicans' model. Living to fight another day suits me.
3
Real Americans will stay and fight instead of running away.
"That it is even necessary to protect the victims of Islamic extremism from being victimized again, in the United States, is a national disgrace."
The breaking news this morning is the poll finding 38% of Republicans--it did not say Republican voters--support Trump, and two thirds of the US population are concerned. Those statistics are extremely close to one another, which means at some point, this ugly candidate-dictator could arrive at a 50-50 spread.
I keep saying, this is what America wants. This is what several decades of political polarization, bubble-news gathering, and free-floating ignorance has wrought. People see "facts" on the news but get their views on the significance of these facts from their preferred political media sites.
I heard some Trump supporters interviewed last night, and the common denominator was a sort of raw anger. An anger Trump has stoked and exploited. But Trump supporters aren't just unemployed or retired older workers stiffed by a rapacious economic systems largely unleashed by their own party. They include people like my niece-in-law's aunt arriving at Thanksgiving dinner with a huge Trump sign she had grabbed at a recent rally in New Hampshire. To say I was appalled is an understatement.
The world is watching the US because the divide between our longstanding traditions of liberty and religious freedom--and how these are being perverted by the GOP--threatens to tank our country.
It's not just Trump. It's the entire GOP.
The breaking news this morning is the poll finding 38% of Republicans--it did not say Republican voters--support Trump, and two thirds of the US population are concerned. Those statistics are extremely close to one another, which means at some point, this ugly candidate-dictator could arrive at a 50-50 spread.
I keep saying, this is what America wants. This is what several decades of political polarization, bubble-news gathering, and free-floating ignorance has wrought. People see "facts" on the news but get their views on the significance of these facts from their preferred political media sites.
I heard some Trump supporters interviewed last night, and the common denominator was a sort of raw anger. An anger Trump has stoked and exploited. But Trump supporters aren't just unemployed or retired older workers stiffed by a rapacious economic systems largely unleashed by their own party. They include people like my niece-in-law's aunt arriving at Thanksgiving dinner with a huge Trump sign she had grabbed at a recent rally in New Hampshire. To say I was appalled is an understatement.
The world is watching the US because the divide between our longstanding traditions of liberty and religious freedom--and how these are being perverted by the GOP--threatens to tank our country.
It's not just Trump. It's the entire GOP.
365
I was hoping to hear what the source of your niece-in-law's aunt's anger is. I know plenty of people who wallow in anger and seem to think they will achieve catharsis through escalating their rage (I've seen some people do that, but the process seems to require having what most people would call a psychotic break) -- they sort of let go and give into the anger and flail about with it. So I see first steps as identifying that one is angry and agreeing that it needs to be dismantled and its underlying cause addressed in a way that is more constructive and less damaging to others. We need better mental hygiene. That would include dismantling the needling the other side engages in, such as dismissing people as "low information voters" or as clinging to guns and religious beliefs. I am not arguing about voters' level of being informed or whether gun ownership is a coping strategy or some people try to use religion in maladaptive ways, I am arguing about dismissiveness as a response. I think there are a lot of contributing factors to where we are today, and that we each can do what we can to improve our own behavior. My apologies, Christine, for taking the issue of anger raised in your comment as an opportunity to get on my soap box.
11
Christine, I agree. Much is made of the Trump's support base being "lower educated, white, Christian, gun-toting rubes". Yet, I've found some (many?) of them to be well educated , with graduate degrees, who are "nice people" in most ways.
As you point out, the common denominator is raw fear and, in many cases, they can't really put their finger on just what it is that they're afraid of. The closest I've come to identifying a root is a fear of people and ideas that are somehow "different".
Another thing I've noticed is that it's utterly impossible to have a reasonable discussion with them. Anger, rage even, immediately comes to the fore as they jab their fingers at me, wave their arms and shout...always, the shouting.
As you point out, the common denominator is raw fear and, in many cases, they can't really put their finger on just what it is that they're afraid of. The closest I've come to identifying a root is a fear of people and ideas that are somehow "different".
Another thing I've noticed is that it's utterly impossible to have a reasonable discussion with them. Anger, rage even, immediately comes to the fore as they jab their fingers at me, wave their arms and shout...always, the shouting.
5
@Diana Moses: I appreciate your ideas, Diana, I really do. But I know for a fact that that side of my niece-in-laws family is very conservative, and I was already warned a year ago not to bring up, even as a joke (I tend to joke a lot) the many repeals of the ACA. In other words, I keep the family peace since I'm an invited guest and don't want to create a ruckus by starting a conversation on Trump. Moreover, I don't know this aunt all that well. Perhaps I'm chicken, but some occasions, like Thanksgiving, don't warrant a fight or even what might start out as a civil discussion but quickly escalate!
1
Trump exists because of the hyper reactionary and view seeking media culture we live in currently. People report on this individual and frankly he shouldn't really get any press because he has no great input. I don't agree at all with Ted Cruz or his tactics, but at least the man brings something to the table. The media needs to consider what it decides to report on and how it chooses to do so. Seriously, the same could be said about mass shootings -> Glorify the nutty folk -> Expose the ideas to more nutty folk. It's sad that i know the names of the last 5 mass shooters but not a single victim. Keep it sensationalist!
30
Exactly what does Cruz "bring to the table" other than xenophobia, repression and hate? Do tell.
Perhaps people are bored and Trump provides endless entertainment and respite from boredom. Seriously folks get a life, Americans.
Pray tell: What does Rafael Cruz bring to the table?
The NYT editorial board is making gross exaggerations in an all-out final effort to destroy Trump, after months of running only horrible articles about him. Thankfully, there is so much information on the Internet, that we can think for ourselves and cross reference everything to determine the truth.
The problem is that people don’t like to be told what to think and sense injustice when they see one, like the bashing of a patriot like Trump, and with each hit piece against Trump more and more people can’t vote again and recapture the country from the arms of the elites to the arms of no-nonsense common sense. I know I will, in the general election, although traditionally I've been voted democrat. Let's talk again when Trump wins the popular vote.
The problem is that people don’t like to be told what to think and sense injustice when they see one, like the bashing of a patriot like Trump, and with each hit piece against Trump more and more people can’t vote again and recapture the country from the arms of the elites to the arms of no-nonsense common sense. I know I will, in the general election, although traditionally I've been voted democrat. Let's talk again when Trump wins the popular vote.
33
However, European, doesn't Mr. trump tell you exactly what to think?
8
Trump is no patriot. He is a racist bigot.
1
I guess we all differ on what we see as patriotism. To many of us, it means allegiance to the ideals embodied in the US Constitution, e.g. freedom of religion, the First Amendment - government shall make no law regarding the establishment of religion. We see that as protecting freedom of religion and freedom from discrimination on the basis of religion. We see the spirit of America in an atmosphere that welcomes people of all religions, people of no religion. So Trump is not a patriot, in our view.
4
If none of the current candidates will stand up to Trump, the Republican party has a responsibility to find and support a candidate who will. If they do not do so, their "brand" will be inextricably linked to the toxic mix of xenophobia, racism, and hate that Trump exemplifies. I shudder to think that voters want that kind of person to represent our country's way of life and shudder been more to think one of the major political parties would accept that kind of conduct.
43
Their brand is exactly what Trump exemplifies. He is the Frankenstein made of the Southern Strategy.
The "Trump Effect" has been around since the 1800s (maybe longer). We haven't stamped out hatred of immigrants since then. Given the current climate, maybe the next generation will have better success.
15
We'd have to have some serious prosperity, say, 40 years worth, and not throw it away by throwing wide the gates while Islam sorts itself out and the globe fries. We had 40 years worth of prosperity right before Reagan, and he could barely get an immigration amnesty passed, and he threw it all away to pass it off to the top 1% and a huge military build up. So we saw the drop of the Berlin wall, but it didn't do much for the US.
Oh, for the good old days of the 2012 campaign. True, there were a number of oddball candidates. Michele Bachmann comes to mind, with her claim that HPC vaccinations cause mental retardation. Herman Cain, of course, provided some great comic relief, with his freaky ads (the smoking campaign manager, the creepy bunny ad!) and appropriation of parts of the Pokemon theme song. Still, there were a few sensible candidates (Romney and especially Huntsman) who weren't totally off the wall.
This time around, however, it is truly frightening that there is not one even remotely reasonable candidate among them. They just keep vying to see who can be the most vile, reactionary, divisive, racist, misogynist, despicable, warmongering cretin of them all. Heaven help us if the Democrats split between Hillary Clinton and Sanders and leave an opening for any one of the Republican candidates to slip into office. Not one of them is fit for office.
This time around, however, it is truly frightening that there is not one even remotely reasonable candidate among them. They just keep vying to see who can be the most vile, reactionary, divisive, racist, misogynist, despicable, warmongering cretin of them all. Heaven help us if the Democrats split between Hillary Clinton and Sanders and leave an opening for any one of the Republican candidates to slip into office. Not one of them is fit for office.
208
Ooops, I meant HPV vaccination, of course. Thinking about Trump and the other candidates is so distressing, I can't even type right...
Primaries are for splits. If Bernie loses, he should not run against Hillary. Same for Hillary if Bernie wins. I will vote for whoever is the Dem nominee even if it is a rutabaga.
Kasic, the Ohio guv, keeps trying to sound reasonable, hoping to be the last man standing, but I believe he is just like the rest of them at his core.
3
If I had a Twitter account: #DTHelpfulAs A tainted syringe of heroin. He's giving folks a real fast high, but they will rue the day they push that plunger all the way.
19
Don't forget our legal process by which President Obama has deported millions of people is bureaucratically brutal. People are treated barely better than cattle as they are herded through detention centers with no meaningful understanding of what is happening in most cases. Such a process may be necessary, given the numbers involved, but we should not be blind that it is happening.
11
Absolutely true. This irrational fear and outright hatred towards immigrants (aren't we all immigrants?) is not the monopoly of the Rrpublican party. The GOP may excel at finding ways to express its xenophobia and racism, but make no mistake, there are plants of immigrant-hating folk well within the Democratic ranks. Somewhere, somehow, we have made it perfectly acceptable to see "others" as less-than-human simply because they are not American. And once were done with that, then we work our way within our fellow Americans, finding those who are different from us, not "American" enough (meaning, basically, WASP). Sad sad sad...
So if we are nicer to people who have broken our immigration laws would that suffice?
Illegal immigrants have broken our laws to come here. They have abused our laws and are protected by this president who likes to pick and choose the laws he wants to enforce.
Illegal immigrants have broken our laws to come here. They have abused our laws and are protected by this president who likes to pick and choose the laws he wants to enforce.
As an American I am repulsed by this racist demagogue who appeals to uneducated, ignorant whites who don't want to accept that it is 2015, not 1950 any longer.