There's no getting around it: this past week was one of Donald Trump's worst. For this was the week that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered an all but universally applauded speech in which she mocked, diced, sliced, skewered and utterly eviscerated her Republican rival for his total lack of political, economic, security and international bona fides. In giving a hint as to the attack strategy her campaign will employ between now and November, Clintonpainted Mr. Trump as a reckless, feckless, childish and frighteningly uninformed amateur who was merely playing at the game of global statecraft. “This is not someone who should ever have the nuclear codes,” she said, “because it’s not hard to imagine Donald Trump leading us into a war just because somebody got under his very thin skin.” In responding to this overwhelming body slam, Trump tweeted “Bad performance by Crooked Hillary Clinton! Reading poorly from the teleprompter! She doesn’t even look presidential.” To this, one can easily respond with the favorite idiomatic expression of the ancient sage Rabban Yohanan Ben Zakkai, "דחית בקנה" literally, "you have pushed us away with a reed"; which is to say, "Egad, what a pitifully weak response!"
And if Secretary Clinton's powerful attack weren't enough, Trump's week was filled to the brim with other inanities, insanities and ignominies. For within a single week, Mr. Trump:
- Accused the judge in the Trump University Case (otherwise known as the "School for Scandal") of being openly biased because he's of Mexican descent;
- Saw Ruth Guerra, head of Hispanic media relations at the Republican National Committee (RNC) quit her job because she felt she could not no longer defend Trump;
- Learned that the Professional Golf Association (PGA) would move the "World Golf Championship" from the Trump-owned "Blue Monster" (Doral) to Mexico City;
- Was taken to task by House Speaker Paul Ryan who, shortly after issuing a less than ringing endorsement of the former reality-TV star, denounced his candidate for president for his racially-tinged criticisms of U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel;
- Slammed the media for making him look "very bad" by asking him to set the record straight regarding hisfundraising efforts on behalf of veterans.
And yet, even with all this, Trump's poll numbers have barely budged. Now, before you reach for a handful of Xanax or a triple Courvoisier, please keep in mind that there are still 2 conventions and 5 months to go until the general election. And, Trump's core support - those to whom The Donald referred when, unbelievably, he stated for the record 'I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters"- they represent a mere plurality of a minority (Republican primary voters), who are in turn a minority of the entire GOP, and who are an even smaller minority of the overall national voting public. Facts, figures and rational arguments are never going to change the minds of Trump's disciples. Did I just write "minds?" As is said in the Bible (regarding the pit that Jacob's brothers tossed him into), הבּור רק, אין בּו מים -" namely "The well is bone dry."
But what about all those folks we come into contact with who aren't so much "pro-Trump" as they are "anti-Hillary?" With what might we arm ourselves in order to convince them that a vote for Trump is a vote for an America - indeed, a planet - in peril? We already know that most people don't particularly like him on a personal level, so why not add to this by hanging him with his own words? Let them know what he's said, and what his world view is really like. Here's a verifiable sample of what has come out of the man's mouth over the past weeks, months, and even years:
This is a man who said that more countries should have nuclear weapons, including Saudi Arabia.
ANDERSON COOPER: Saudi Arabia, nuclear weapons?
TRUMP: Saudi Arabia, absolutely.
This is someone who has threatened to abandon our allies in NATO – the countries that work with us to root out terrorists abroad before they strike us at home.
TRUMP: “We don't really need NATO in its current form. NATO is obsolete… if we have to walk, we walk.”
He believes we can treat the U.S. economy like one of his casinos and default on our debts to the rest of the world, which would cause an economic catastrophe far worse than anything we experienced in 2008.
TRUMP: “I’ve borrowed knowing that you can pay back with discounts... I would borrow knowing that if the economy crashed, you could make a deal.”
He has said that he would order our military to carry out torture...
TRUMP: “Don’t tell me it doesn’t work — torture works… Waterboarding is fine, but it’s not nearly tough enough, ok?”
and the murder of civilians who are related to suspected terrorists...
TRUMP: "The other thing with the terrorists is you have to take out their families”
even though those are war crimes.
TRUMP: “They won’t refuse. They’re not going to refuse me, If I say do it, they’re going to do it.”
He says he doesn’t have to listen to our generals or ambassadors, because he has – quote – “a very good brain.”
TRUMP: “I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things...my primary consultant is myself”
He also said, “I know more about ISIS than the generals, believe me.”
TRUMP: “I know more about ISIS than the generals do. Believe me.”
You know what? I don’t believe him.
TRUMP: “We don't even really know who the leader [of ISIS] is.”
He believes climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese...
TRUMP: “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”
and has the gall to say prisoners of war like John McCain aren’t heroes.
TRUMP: “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured, ok? I hate to tell you.”
He praises dictators like Vladimir Putin...
TRUMP: "I will tell you, in terms of leadership, he's getting an 'A,' and our president is not doing so well.”
and picks fights with our friends – including the British prime minister…
TRUMP: "It looks like we are not going to have a very good relationship. Who knows?"
the mayor of London…
TRUMP: "Let's take an I.Q. test... I think they're very rude statements and frankly, tell him, I will remember those statements."
the German chancellor…
TRUMP: “What Merkel has done is incredible, it’s actually mind boggling. Everyone thought she was a really great leader and now she’s turned out to be this catastrophic leader. And she’ll be out if they don’t have a revolution.”
the president of Mexico…
TRUMP: “I don't know about the Hitler comparison [President Nieto made]. I hadn't heard that, but it's a terrible comparison. I'm not happy about that certainly. I don't want that comparison, but we have to be strong and we have to be vigilant”
and the Pope.
TRUMP: “I don’t think [the Pope] understands the danger of the open border that we have with Mexico. I think Mexico got him to [criticize the wall] it because they want to keep the border just the way it is. They’re making a fortune, and we’re losing.”
He says he has foreign policy experience because he ran the Miss Universe pageant in Russia.
TRUMP: “I know Russia well. I had a major event in Russia two or three years ago, Miss Universe contest, which was a big, big, incredible event.”
And to top it off, he believes America is weak. An embarrassment.
TRUMP: "I think we've become very weak and ineffective."
He called our military a disaster.
TRUMP: “Our military is a disaster.”
He said we’re – quote – a “third-world country.”
TRUMP: “We have become a third world country, folks.”
That’s why it’s no small thing when he talks about leaving NATO or says he’ll stay neutral on Israel’s security.
TRUMP: “Let me be sort of a neutral guy.”
It’s no small thing when he calls Mexican immigrants rapists and murderers.
TRUMP: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”
And it’s no small thing when he suggests that America should withdraw our military support for Japan, encourage them to get nuclear weapons...
TRUMP: “And frankly, the case could be made, that let them protect themselves against North Korea. They’d probably wipe them out pretty quick.”
and said this about a war between Japan and North Korea – and I quote – “If they do, they do. Good luck, enjoy yourself, folks.”
TRUMP: “And if they fight, you know what, that would be a terrible thing, terrible. Good luck folks, enjoy yourself…if they do, they do”
Donald Trump doesn’t know the first thing about Iran or its nuclear program. Ask him. It’ll become clear very quickly.
TRUMP: “When those restrictions expire, Iran will have an industrial-size military nuclear capability ready to go." (Politifact: False.)
There’s no risk of people losing their lives if you blow up a golf-course deal. But it doesn’t work like that in world affairs. Just like being interviewed on the same episode of “60 Minutes” as Putin is not the same as actually dealing with Putin.
TRUMP: “I got to know him very well, because we were both on 60 minutes, we were stablemates and we did very well that night. You know that.”
He wants to start a trade war with China.
TRUMP: "These dummies say, 'Oh, that's a trade war. Trade war? We're losing $500 billion in trade with China. Who the hell cares if there's a trade war?”
And I have to say, I don’t understand Donald’s bizarre fascination with dictators and strongmen who have no love for America. He praised China for the Tiananmen Square massacre; he said it showed strength.
TRUMP: “When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it. Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength."
He said, “You’ve got to give Kim Jong Un credit” for taking over North Korea – something he did by murdering everyone he saw as a threat, including his own uncle, which Donald described gleefully, like he was recapping an action movie.
TRUMP: "And you've got to give him credit. How many young guys — he was like 26 or 25 when his father died — take over these tough generals…. It's incredible. He wiped out the uncle. He wiped out this one, that one. I mean, this guy doesn't play games.”
And he said that, if he were grading Vladimir Putin as a leader, he’d give him an A.
TRUMP: "I will tell you, in terms of leadership, he's getting an 'A,'
What’s Trump’s [ISIS plan]? He won’t say. He is literally keeping it a secret. The secret, of course, is he has no idea what he’d do to stop ISIS.
TRUMP: “I do know what to do and I would know how to bring ISIS to the table or beyond that, defeat ISIS very quickly and I’m not going to tell you what is… All I can tell you it is a foolproof way of winning.”
Just look at the few things he actually has said on the subject. He actually said – quote – “maybe Syria should be a free zone for ISIS.” That’s right – let a terrorist group have control of a major country in the Middle East.
TRUMP: It's really rather amazing, maybe Syria should be a free zone for ISIS, let them fight and then you pick up the remnants.
Then he said we should send tens of thousands of American ground troops to the Middle East to fight ISIS.
TRUMP: "We really have no choice. We have to knock out ISIS. We have to knock the hell out of them… I would listen to the generals but I'm hearing numbers of 20,000 to 30,000. We have to knock them out fast."
He also refused to rule out using nuclear weapons against ISIS, which would mean mass civilian casualties.
TRUMP: “I’m never going to rule anything out—I wouldn’t want to say [if I’d use nuclear weapons against ISIS.]”
Trump says over and over again, “The world is laughing at us.” He’s been saying this for decades.
TRUMP (1999): "[Saudi Arabians] take such advantage of us with the oil... and they laugh at this country.
TRUMP (2010): "I know many of the people in China, I know many of the big business people, and they're laughing at us.”
TRUMP (2011): “We have become a laughingstock, the world’s whipping boy”
TRUMP (2012): “The world is laughing at us."
TRUMP (2013): “After Syria, our enemies are laughing!”
TRUMP (2014): “Mexican leadership has been laughing at us for many years”
TRUMP (2015): “The Persians are great negotiators. They are laughing at the stupidity of the deal we’re making”
TRUMP (2016): “We can't afford to be so nice and so foolish anymore. Our country is in trouble. ISIS is laughing at us.”
He bought full-page ads in newspapers across the country back in 1987, when Reagan was President, saying that America lacked a backbone and the world was – you guessed it – laughing at us.
TRUMP (1987): "The world is laughing at America's politicians as we protect ships we don't own, carrying oil we don't need, destined for allies who won't help… "Let's not let our great country be laughed at anymore."
And it matters when he makes fun of disabled people...
TRUMP: “Now the poor guy -- you oughta see this guy [imitating disabled reporter] ‘aaah, I don’t know what I said, aaah, I don’t remember.’”
calls women pigs...
TRUMP: “Does everybody know that pig named Rosie O’Donnell? She’s a disgusting pig, right?”
proposes banning an entire religion from our country...
TRUMP: “Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on.”
or plays coy with white supremacists.
TRUMP: "I don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. So I don't know. I don't know -- did he endorse me, or what's going on? Because I know nothing about David Duke; I know nothing about white supremacists.
Indeed out of the mouths of babes, boobs and Donald Trump have some of the most unbelievable - and utterly frightening - words. Hopefully some will use his words to hang him. Coming as it does at the end of a week in which the Speaker of the House gave, as mentioned above, his less than ringing support of Donald Trump, one is reminded of another Speaker - Thomas Brackett Reed of Maine - who wielded the gavel from 1889-1891 and again from 1895-1899. Unlike Speaker Ryan, the acerbically witty Speaker Reed was a man who was easily able to call a spade a spade. Most notably, when asked what he thought about two contentious Housecolleagues who were hell-bent on keeping Congress from accomplishing anything and making the president look bad, Reed responded:
"They never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge."
Hauntingly, the same thing could be said about Donald Trump and his disciples.
Here's hoping that next week . . . and the week after and the week after that . . . will be even worse for Trump and his campaign to remake the world in his own image.
Copyright ©2016 Kurt F. Stone
