Trump Tweets Attack on Jeb Bush for ‘Speaking Mexican’

Twitter

Donald Trump attacked Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Twitter by quoting a fan taking issue with the fact that Bush “speaks Mexican.”

Reality

First off, people don’t speak “Mexican”, they speak Spanish.

Second, the purely racist trope “you’re in America speak English” has been so overplayed by Republicans. Forget the fact that the United States has no official language, there is no requirement outside of lawyers to speak English. The reason why it is racist is because it makes an assumption that one language and culture is superior to another.

Finally, most of you can’t speak English yourselves so how can you push it on someone else?

Links

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/635998754546548737

Trump Cherishes Women

CNN's Jake Tapper

Presidential candidate Donald Trump defended himself from the fierce backlash he’s received for criticizing Fox News debate moderator Megyn Kelly, insisting he said nothing wrong and that he values women.

I cherish women. I want to help women. I’m going to be able to do things for women that no other candidate would be able to do” the real estate mogul told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union,” adding that he did not mean to imply that Kelly asked him sharp questions during the debate because she was menstruating.

“Who would say that?” Trump said Sunday. “Do you think I’d make a statement like that? Who would make a statement like that? Only a sick person would even think about that.”

He blamed his Republican presidential opponents for fanning the flames of controversy, and claimed he meant to refer to her “nose and/or ears” — not a woman’s period.

Reality

In the context of the conversation one can extrapolate that Donald Trump was implying Megyn Kelly was angry at him, coincidentally inventing a new idiom about blood and eyes. Regarding the “wherever”, men in the U.S. joke say that women who are menstruating are angrier or more aggressive than they usually are. It doesn’t take a genius to accept that Trump was speaking about Kelly’s lady bits.

Media

Links

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/09/politics/donald-trump-blood-comment-response-2016-sotu/

Megyn Kelly Had ‘Blood Coming Out of Her Wherever’

Donald Trump was so enraged by Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly’s tough questions during the GOP debate, he took to Twitter in the wee hours Friday to rip her for being “not very good or professional.”

He was still angry at Kelly later Friday, delivering bizarre comments on “CNN Tonight” with Don Lemon:

I am very disappointed in Fox News. I think they had an agenda.

I don’t have a lot of respect for Megyn Kelly, she came out, reading her script, trying to be tough and sharp. When you meet her you realize she is not very tough or very sharp. She is zippo.

When asked further about Kelly, who asked the billionaire developer about his previously disparaging comments about women, Trump said:

I just don’t respect her as a journalist. I don’t think she is very good. I think she is highly overrated.

Then went on to say:

You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever.

Trump’s fury was sparked by Kelly’s opening question, asking if calling women “fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals” is behavior befitting a president.

Trump quipped that he had only called Rosie O’Donnell those names, but Kelly said he had bad mouthed other women “well beyond” the comedian.

Trump would go on to lie about his statement after backlash from all sides.

(h/t New York Post, Newsmax)

Reality

Megyn Kelly’s question was valid and Trump acted very unpresidential.

Media

Trump Endorses Tweet Calling Megyn Kelly a ‘Bimbo’

Twitter

Donald Trump retweeted a tweet from a follower commenting how viewers gave “bimbo” Megyn Kelly low marks.

“@timjcam: @megynkelly @FrankLuntz @realDonaldTrump Fox viewers give low marks to bimbo @MegynKelly will consider other programs!”

(h/t The Hill)

Reality

Trump has had an issue with Kelly when she moderated the Republican presidential debate. He accused her of being unfairly harsh on him by asking him valid questions about past sexist and misogynist comments. Fox News stood up for its anchor, calling the attacks on her “sexist verbal assaults.”

Trump Answers Charges of Sexism With More Sexism

Donald Trump, the Republican presidential frontrunner and not exactly friend of women, was expected to say some confrontational things at the first Republican presidential debate.

But when his machismo went up against Megyn Kelly, the Fox News personality, debate moderator and nonstop voice for women’s issues, he didn’t stand a chance. In fact, Kelly spent most of the debate grilling Jeb Bush, Scott Walker and more candidates with surprisingly tough questions over reproductive rights and beyond.

“You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals,” Kelly began her question, about as directly as you can.

“Only Rosie O’Donnell,” Trump interrupted with a sneer, earning cheers from the crowd.

Kelly wasn’t having it. Any of it.

“For the record, it was way beyond Rosie O’Donnell,” Kelly said – before launching into a laundry list Trump’s most misogynistic moments:

“Your Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women’s looks. You once told a contestant on the Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president? And how do you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton – that you are part of the war on women?”

Trump, unchastened, responded with a misdirect: “I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct.”

Then he made a veiled threat at Kelly herself.

“What I say is what I say, and honestly, Megyn, if you don’t like it, I’m sorry. I’ve been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be based on the way you’ve treated me, but I wouldn’t do that.”

(h/t The Guardian)

Reality

Donald Trump responded to a question about past sexist and misogynist comments and responded with… more sexist and misogynist comments.

To try to gauge how unpresidental that was, try to imagine your favorite president publicly making comments like:

  • I just spoke with that fat pig Angela Merkel and we’re going to open up trade talks.
  • So I want to thank that dog President Park Geun-hye for our shared commitment to promoting a more peaceful world. I wonder if Huckabee was right and she eats dogs?

Furthermore Trump hid behind political correctness in his attempt to redirect the conversation. See, he’s not an sexist for making those comments, you’re what is wrong with this country for being offended by his sexist comments. There are so many inherit logical flaws with this argument. Just to name a few:

Media

Links

We’ll be tracking this under the Trump-Kelly feud tag.

Trump Barring Des Moins Register From Campaign Events

After an editorial published by the Des Moins Register that criticized Trump for his comments about John McCain’s war record and called on Trump to quit the Republican race, the entire newspaper was barred from future Trump events.

Trump’s national campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, told political columnist Kathie Obradovich in a phone call that the Register was being excluded from the event because of the editorial. “We’re not issuing credentials to anyone from The Des Moines Register based on the editorial that they wrote earlier in the week,” he said.

Links

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2015/07/24/trump-barring-des-moines-register-campaign-event/30645343/

Donald Trump Loses Libel Lawsuit Over Being Called a ‘Millionaire’

Trump Nation by Timothy O'Brien

A New Jersey appeals court has affirmed a lower court’s ruling to dismiss a defamation lawsuit brought by Donald Trump against a book author who claimed the real estate magnate/reality TV star isn’t really a billionaire.

In a ruling, the appeals court affirms that Trump hasn’t demonstrated that author Timothy O’Brien committed “actual malice” by citing three unnamed sources who estimated the net worth of The Apprentice star to be between $150 million and $250 million.

Trump filed the $5 billion lawsuit in 2009 over O’Brien’s book, TrumpNation: The Art of Being The Donald. The lawsuit was rejected in 2009 by a New Jersey superior judge. Trump then appealed the judgment on the theory that relying on anonymous sources could rise to the actual malice standard needed for public figures to prevail in a libel suit.

But a New Jersey appeals court doesn’t see the logic here. According to the decision:

“There were no significant internal inconsistencies in the information provided by the confidential sources, nor was there ‘reliable’ information that contradicted their reports, so as to provide evidence of actual malice. Nothing suggests that O’Brien was subjectively aware of the falsity of his source’s figures or that he had actual doubts as to the information’s accuracy.”

The latest decision will likely give Trump another reason to gripe about the nation’s libel laws. In past public comments, Trump has said these laws “have never been fair.”

As for Trump’s own estimation of his net worth, Trump’s lawyer says it has been “proven conclusively” to exceed $7 billion.

Then again, during a deposition, Trump admitted that his sense of financial worth depends on his feelings day-to-day. Asked whether it was really true that his “net worth goes up and down based upon [his] own feelings,” here’s Trump’s funny response:

“Yes, even my own feelings, as to where the world is, where the world is going, and that can change rapidly from day to day. Then you have a September 11th, and you don’t feel so good about yourself and you don’t feel so good about the world and you don’t feel so good about New York City. Then you have a year later, and the city is as hot as a pistol. Even months after that it was a different feeling. So yeah, even my own feelings affect my value to myself.”

Links

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/donald-trump-loses-libel-lawsuit-232923

http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2016/03/14/trump-biographer-timothy-obrien.cnnmoney

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-07-21/dear-mr-trump-i-m-worth-10-billion-too-

Trump Slams McCain As a War Hero Because He Was Captured

Trump calls McCain not a war hero

Presidential candidate Donald Trump sparked yet another backlash among his fellow Republican candidates Saturday when he said that Sen. John McCain was only considered a war hero because he was captured – and seemed to mock him for that fact.

At the Iowa Family Leadership Summit when moderator Frank Luntz brought up McCain, who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, Donald Trump said:

He’s not a war hero.

After an audience response that was less than impressed at his comment, Trump tried to walk back his comment.

He’s a war hero ’cause he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured, OK? Perhaps he’s a war hero, but right now he’s said some very bad things about a lot of people.

Trump caught flack from every direction but refused to change his stance on McCain. When asked by ABC News whether he owes McCain an apology, Trump said:

No, not at all.

Then continued:

People that were not captured that went in and fought, nobody talks about them. Those are heroes also.

Later when confronted with his comments about McCain by a veteran and supporter at a rally, Trump flatly lied that he never made those comments.

VETERAN: I come here because you made a comment to John McCain that you don’t think that captured soldiers are heroes

TRUMP: (interjecting) Oh no no no I was, I never did that.

 

 

VETERAN: What I want you to do, is just clarify that for me because I think it’s important for all these people here, and for a lot of veterans in Ohio—especially Ohio—and I know what you were doing.

 

 

TRUMP: (again interjecting) You know exactly when I was doing. But they are heroes, just so you understand, they are real heroes. Thank you.

Media

Links

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-john-mccain-war-hero-captured/

http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/18/politics/donald-trump-john-mccain-war-hero/

http://www.weeklystandard.com/trump-falsely-claims-he-never-said-mccain-wasnt-a-hero/article/2001538

Trunp Mocks Conservative Critic for Being Paralyzed

Not content with insulting a female reporter’s intelligence and professionalism, Donald Trump apparently mocked a conservative critic for being paralyzed. Trump in an interview with NBC News was asked about columnist Charles Krauthammer, who is paralyzed from the waist down and has called Trump a “rodeo clown.” In response to criticism from Krauthammer and National Review columnist Jonah Goldberg, Trump said the following: “I went out, I made a fortune, a big fortune, a tremendous fortune… bigger than people even understand,” he said before discussing his plan to release financial statements. “Then I get called by a guy that can’t buy a pair of pants, I get called names?”

[The Daily Beast]

Media

Donald Trump Candidacy Announcement

Donal Trump announces campagin

Donald J. Trump descended “Stair Force One” to announce his candidacy for the Republican nomination for the President of the United States of America and his first overtly racist comment by implying that the country of Mexico is intentionally sending immigrants who are criminals and rapists.

“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 some, I assume, are good people.”

Reality

Donald Trump described people from Mexico as having “lots of problems”, drug users, rapists, and criminals. By painting a large swath of people with a single brush as “dangerous” he is using baseless stereotyping in an attempt to prove that Hispanics are different in their social behavior.

You might try to make the case that immigrants are still committing crimes, even if they are at a lower rate of natural-born citizens, however that does not explain away the fact that Trump is singling out an individual ethnic group as the cause of the problems in America. That is why is statement is racist.

Immigrants generally have a stronger incentive than native-born Americans to stay out of legal trouble — especially undocumented immigrants, who risk deportation. And those who legally are in the United States (or are pursuing legal status) are required to pass a criminal background check.

“Immigrants in general — unauthorized immigrants in particular — are a self-selected group who generally come to the U.S. to work. And once they’re here, most of them want to keep their nose down and do their business, and they’re sensitive to the fact that they’re vulnerable,” said Marc Rosenblum, deputy director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank.

And the data backs up this theory.

Crime Rates

FALSE – According to the Congressional Research Service, incarcerated non-citizens represented 7.2% of the total incarcerated population of 2.4 million, a proportion similar to the noncitizen proportion of the foreign-born population. If illegal immigrants were bringing high crime then their should be a larger number of incarcerated illegal immigrants compared to the national population.

Mexicans Are Rapists

FALSE – Of all of the convictions of illegal immigrants in 2013 (the majority of whom were from Mexico) only 1.6% was sex offenses. Immigration offenses account for the largest portion of federal convictions of immigrants, followed by drugs, then traffic violations.

Crime Category 2013
Immigration 31.3%
Dangerous Drugs 15.4%
Traffic Violations 15.0%
Assault 10.2%
Burglary 2.8%
Weapon Offenses 2.7%
Larceny 2.7%
Fraud 2.6%
Sexual Assault 1.6%
Forgery 1.5%
Other 14.2%

Compare the 1.6% number to the national average of 12.2% of convicted prisoners who committed sexual offenses. So an illegal immigrant is 7.5x less likely to commit a sexual offense.

Mexicans Are Drug Smugglers

FALSE – In 2013, the Center for Investigative Reporting found that four out of five arrests for drug smuggling involved U.S. citizens.

Media

Links

Here’s Donald Trump’s Presidential Announcement Speech

1 157 158 159 160