It bears repeating that the reason bigot blowhard Donald "Rump" Trump is flying high at the top of the polls of Rethuglican base voters is that he gives voice to their dark thoughts, thoughts which are broadly unpopular outside of the right wing hothouse. Some of the other Rethugs in the race for President are more careful in their bigotry, using well-known dog whistles and code terms. But Rump is unrestrained, hateful and unapologetic. Here's Kali Holloway at Alternet:
"With Trump, though, there’s nothing to decode in his speeches, no dog whistles you have to strain to hear; it’s all loud and wrong and right there on the record, with no pretense of being anything but ugly and hateful. When Trump offers his thoughts on Mexican immigrants, he is clear and direct about the fact that this is what he truly believes. When he sends the press an 881-word essay saying that 'the worst elements in Mexico are being pushed into the United States by the Mexican government,' and that 'tremendous infectious disease is pouring across the border,' he is telling us, in no uncertain terms, that this is how he thinks. When he retweets supporters that Jeb Bush “has to like Mexican illegals because of his wife,” or that he should 'Get to The WHITE House' (you know, to reclaim it from the black people currently living in it), he is sending a resounding message about who he is. Likewise, when Republicans applaud Trump for his honesty or claim he’s speaking for the American people, they too are telling us that Trump is expressing exactly what they think. Only out loud. And without the big show of pretending to be a decent human being that his competitors put on….The more Rump rages, the more the Rethuglican establishment has apoplexy. The higher he rises in the polls, the more the same establishment sees their hopes in 2016 fading. Goodbye, rebranding. Goodbye, 2016 and the White House and Senate. (Which is why, unlike HuffPo, we won't be exiling Rump to our Entertainment section - if we had one, that is.)
Donald Trump has always been awful and racist, but that wasn’t enough, I suppose. It took him being awful and driving his racist rhetoric right to the tippity top for the Republican base to fall truly and madly for him. In a league of crazy racist xenophobes, Trump has proved himself the craziest, most racist xenophobe of all, or at least the most upfront about it. And for that, he is being rewarded by a party of people who cannot get enough. Because that’s what the modern GOP is all about." (emphasis added)
Keep talking, Rump, keep talking.
BONUS: Today's Trump Dump:
While addressing the annual Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa on Saturday, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump took another shot at John McCain, this time questioning the latter's status as a war hero. “He's not a war hero. He's a war hero because he was captured,” Trump said. “I like people that weren’t captured.” McCain was taken as a prisoner of war for five years during the Vietnam War. Trump, meanwhile, received four student draft deferments between 1964 and 1968 and an additional medical deferment after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.Uh oh. A personal attack on a former POW and decorated veteran is the other third rail for a political candidate. And a fellow Republican, to boot. This could be YOOGE.
