Quote:Trump spent a lot of his time cleaning up past problems. For instance, he’s come under fire for campaigning against immigration while hiring foreign workers himself.
At the debate he argued that he’s the man to lead a crackdown because “nobody knows the system better than me.” It’s sort of like a career criminal arguing that he’s the best-prepared candidate for the job of police chief.
Trump pointed to one frequently abused loophole as “something that I frankly use and I shouldn’t be allowed to use it. We shouldn’t have it.” He was practically begging the nation to stop him before he hired again.
Quote:Trump Clarifies, and It’s Worse
Gail Collins MARCH 11, 2016
Admit it, people, you miss the Republicans screaming at one another.
“So far I cannot believe how civil it’s been up here,” said Donald Trump in the most-quoted moment of Thursday’s debate — an event that is probably not going to be all that much quoted.
“The fact of the matter is, we have to have an expedited process.”
“There’s T.P.A. and TPP. I opposed TPP and have always opposed TPP.”
“… you know, Smoot-Hawley led to the Great Depression.”
Trump was the man we came to hear, and he didn’t exactly dominate the deep dives into policy. Still, it was interesting to learn that Marco Rubio doesn’t care about climate change, considering he lives in a city that seems to be submerging rather rapidly.
And Ted Cruz has an irritating habit of holding his hand over his heart when he talks.
All right, that wasn’t an issue. Let’s consider Social Security.
Rubio started off by waving the requisite senior citizen flag (“I’m against any changes to Social Security that are bad for my mother”) and then delivering the bad news for people under 55, who would be getting higher retirement ages. Or, under Ted Cruz’s plan, a different program entirely. Fifty-four-year-olds, they are so after you.
There’s a Republican conviction that Social Security is under some sort of zombie curse, in which inevitable collapse is right around the corner unless we start cracking down on benefits. It’s true that in about 20 years the system will no longer take in as much as it has to spend out.
There will be a gap. Most of which would be bridged if Congress eliminated the rule saying that people can stop paying the payroll tax on any income over $118,500.
Nobody mentioned that factoid. “Anyone who tells you that Social Security can stay the way it is, is lying,” Rubio lied. O.K., misrepresented.
The only Republican presidential candidate who doesn’t want to mess with the Social Security system is Trump, who also refuses to acknowledge any solution that involves increasing taxes on the wealthy. His plan is to:
1) Make this country great again. (More money for everything!)
2) Get rid of waste, fraud and abuse. There is nothing Donald Trump hates more than waste, fraud and abuse. Except possibly people dying in the streets.
Questioner Dana Bash pointed out that studies of Social Security suggest the waste might amount to about $3 billion, or approximately 2 percent of what it would take to solve the gap problem.
Pop quiz: How do you think Donald Trump will account for the $147 billion shortfall in his Social Security plan?
A) Say he’s going to make a great deal with the accountants.Mention that he has a lot of very rich middle-aged friends who all agree with him. C) Start babbling about something totally unrelated.
Right you are! Trump went on an unrelated riff about not being “the policemen of the world.” When Rubio challenged his train of thought, Trump retorted that “We don’t bid out, as an example, the drug industry, pharmaceutical industry,” and that he is self-funding his campaign.
Trump spent a lot of his time cleaning up past problems. For instance, he’s come under fire for campaigning against immigration while hiring foreign workers himself.
At the debate he argued that he’s the man to lead a crackdown because “nobody knows the system better than me.” It’s sort of like a career criminal arguing that he’s the best-prepared candidate for the job of police chief. Trump pointed to one frequently abused loophole as “something that I frankly use and I shouldn’t be allowed to use it. We shouldn’t have it.” He was practically begging the nation to stop him before he hired again.
Otherwise, he just repositioned. Things that he said before were actually just starting bids so he could use his negotiating skills to solve the problem. In the case of Cuban relations, he used the word “deal” in his answer 12 times.
But the one thing he didn’t backtrack on was his recent statement to CNN’s Anderson Cooper that “Islam hates us.” There were lots of openings. Trump was practically invited to say he meant only radical Islam. Or even to repeat one of his traditional softeners, like claiming he has Muslim friends. (“They say, ‘Donald, you brought something up to the fore that is so brilliant and so fantastic.’”)
But Trump just pressed forward: “There’s something going on that maybe you don’t know about, maybe a lot of other people don’t know about, but there’s tremendous hatred. And I will stick with exactly what I said. …”
Imagine a president coming out with a statement like that. Rubio pointed to Muslim Americans serving in the military, and the Arab countries that were currently cooperating in the war on terror. “Marco talks about consequences. Well, we’ve had a lot of consequences, including airplanes flying into the World Trade Center …,” rejoined Trump.
That’s it. He’s going all the way. Running for president on an anti-Muslim platform. Good God.
James Lee
Arlington, Texas 5 hours ago
Trump's vast ignorance in matters of policy, as several readers have noted, will not bother his core followers, since they support him for other reasons. In the general election, however, the man's indifference to substance may cost him, because then he will be trying to attract new, uncommitted voters.
In that less hospitable environment, also, his treatment of protesters may return to haunt him. Trump's penchant for indirectly encouraging the more volatile elements at his rallies to abuse dissidents in the crowd involves a dangerous gamble that he can control these people.
But in view of the fact that his entire campaign operates on the principle that unrestricted freedom represents the highest American ideals, such restraint seems out of character.
Independents and moderate Republicans may not respond well to a candidate whose public appearances feature scuffles provoked by his thugs.
Trump has built his run for the White House around a strategy that focuses on verbal abuse of women and vulnerable minorities; indifference to policy details; and hostile treatment of anyone who challenges him.
The notion that he can suddenly pivot during the general election and transform his campaign into a model of decorum, marked by careful attention to the details of his promises, defies everything we know about Trump. A man who regards abusive speech as a virtue, and who lacks intellectual curiosity and self discipline, Trump will adhere to his original strategy to the end.
