So, what do you do when you’re running to be the
Republican candidate for president in 2016 and you possess neither the
conviction nor the intestinal fortitude to discuss one of the most important
issues now faced by this country? That
being of course, illegal immigration. Oh,
that’s easy, you simply hammer the one guy who does possess the aforementioned
conviction, and intestinal fortitude, to not only bring up the issue, but to
call it what it is. And you appear to
take great pleasure in doing so.
While seeing such behavior from some really came as
no surprise, I was, to say the least, quite disappointed to see it coming from
others, those whom I had once thought were above such petty partisan behavior. And hearing what was really nothing more than the
typical election-year rhetoric coming from those whom I had some level of
respect for and had considered as being potential candidates worthy of my
support now has me reconsidering their viability as potential 2016 candidates.
So it is then that we appear to now have what is a
growing number of Republican candidates working very hard to distance
themselves from billionaire Donald Trump’s comments on how illegal immigrants
fuel crime, even as Mr. Trump doubled down, citing last week’s San Francisco
shooting to bolster his case. First it
was Jeb Bush who, while at an Independence Day parade in Merrimack, New
Hampshire, said Mr. Trump “doesn’t represent the Republican Party or its
values.”
The reaction to Trump’s remarks was fodder for most
of the Sunday talk shows, during which Republicans were repeatedly asked by
various members of the state-controlled media to either disavow the comments or
stand by them. Rick Perry, who had been
a favorite of mine, said, “I will stand up and say those [comments] were
offensive, which they were.” And it was
on ABC’s ‘This Week’ that Perry also said, “The fact is, I’ve said very clearly
that Donald Trump does not represent the Republican Party.”
Perry went on to say, “I was offended by his
remarks. Hispanics in America and Hispanics in Texas from the Alamo to
Afghanistan have been extraordinary citizens of our country and our state, they
have served nobly, and to paint with that broad a brush as Donald Trump did —
he’s going to have to defend those remarks.”
Such remarks have, at least for the present, diminished Perry’s appeal,
as far as I’m concerned, although I have yet to settle on any one candidate.
In interviews and posts on Twitter, however, Trump has
continued to defend the comments from his June 16 announcement for the
Republican presidential nomination, when he said illegal immigrants from Mexico
are “bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime.”
He added, “They’re rapists and some, I assume, are good people.” But let’s be honest, ‘good people’ wouldn’t
come here and purposely break our laws.
‘Good people’ would be coming through the front door, not sneaking in
the back door.
Trump cited the shooting death of 32-year-old Kathryn
Steinle on Wednesday. Arrested in
connection with the shooting was Francisco Sanchez, 45, who had been deported
five times and was released in March by San Francisco officials, consistent
with the city’s “sanctuary policy” despite the federal government’s request to
detain him. And I have to wonder that if
it was one of their own family members who now lay dead instead of Ms. Steinle,
would their warped opinion be any different?
Not all Republicans, however, were critical of Mr.
Trump. Deliberately avoiding the Trump
pile-on was Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who said he refused to participate in
“Republican-on-Republican violence” and that liberal journalists were only
trying to make a talking point and to stifle discussion of immigration. It was during an appearance on NBC’s ‘Meet
the Press’ that Cruz said, “I salute Donald Trump for focusing on the need to address
illegal immigration.” As do I!
Cruz went on to say, “The Washington cartel doesn’t
want to address that. The Washington cartel doesn’t believe we need to secure
the borders. The Washington cartel supports amnesty, and I think amnesty’s wrong.
And I salute Donald Trump for focusing on it.”
He said Mr. Trump “has a colorful way of speaking. It’s not the way I speak. But I’m not going to
engage in the media’s game of throwing rocks and attacking other Republicans.” And that, my friends, is as it should be.
Rick Santorum said, “People who are coming
illegally, obviously, are coming with a bad intent. Let’s just be honest. They’re
coming with the clear intent of breaking the law. I don’t think we can
sugarcoat that, but that doesn’t mean that everybody who’s coming across is a
rapist or a murderer or anything else.”
He said, “While I don’t like the verbiage he’s used, I like the fact
that he is focused on a very important issue for American workers and
particularly legal immigrants in this country.”
And RINO, Marco Rubio, issued a statement Friday
calling Mr. Trump’s comments “not just offensive and inaccurate, but also
divisive.” He went on to say, “Our
broken immigration system is something that needs to be solved, and comments
like this move us further from — not closer to — a solution. We need leaders
who offer serious solutions to secure our border and fix our broken immigration
system.” All this coming from a former
member of the ‘Gang of Eight’. Remember
them?
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump proceeded to follow that old
adage that the best defense is an even better offense. He called Mr. Rubio
“very weak” on immigration during a CNN interview and criticized Mr. Perry on
“Fox & Friends” for not doing more to shore up the border during his
14-year term in office as governor of the state that holds the largest part of
the Mexican border. Perry was quick to
fire back by saying, “I don’t think he understands the challenge, obviously.”
And apparently not wanting to be left out, Christ Christie
recently added his two cents into the conversation, saying that while he is not
offended by Trump's recent statements on Mexican immigrants, he did describe
the statements as being "inappropriate." He went on to say, "I think what he said
was wrong. It was inappropriate and I don't think it has any place in the
campaign." Christie said, while calling
Trump a "good friend", Trump is someone who tries to provoke a
reaction with his opinions.
These politicians who now seem to be so determined
in their attacks on ‘The Donald’ are going to need to tread somewhat lightly in
their endeavor to go after Trump, because the bottom line here is that Trump is
making some very valid points that do seem to be resonating with a great deal
of Americans who vote. What we have
here, at least in my opinion, is a case where there is far more interest in
shooting the messenger than paying attention to what I think is a very
important message.
Instead of focusing on Trump those on our side really
should be focusing much more on the Democrats and the liberal/progressive policies
which they support that are smothering this country, than on attacking Trump in
an effort to score what are so obviously cheap political points. While such a tactic may, I suppose, look good
in the short term, there is potential for doing some long term damage. And that’s the problem with those on our
side, they rarely really consider the consequences.
So why is it that those who apparently consider
themselves worthy of being elected president, continue with the attacks on
Trump? After all, he’s right, simply check
out the statistics! The numbers speak
for themselves, it’s a terrible price being paid by more and more Americans
every single day. And it’s a price that’s
not only measured in dollars but also in lives being lost as well. And yet these presidential wannabes continue
to attack Trump instead defend Americans.
What’s up with that?
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