COLUMN: GOP suicide and other liberal leaps
Longtime Clinton operative James Carville said last week that the Republican Party is committing suicide by supporting Donald Trump.
But if there is a realistic chance of a GOP suicide happening, it will probably be from standing too close to Democrats when their heads explode on election night after Trump is named the next president.
Amazingly, the Democratic brain trust (which includes official members like Carville and honorary members like members of the left-wing media) continue to be proudly wrong about everything Trump.
Wednesday was one of Trump’s finest days, and one of the worst for the mainstream media. First, the GOP candidate scored his private meeting with Enrique Peña Nieto, the president of Mexico, then acted graciously and humbly in a joint press conference with Peña Nieto. When asked by a reporter about the issue of who was going to pay for Trump’s proposed border wall, the candidate said, “We did not discuss that.”
CNN’s Paul Begala, also a longtime operative of the Clinton clan, seized on that as if Trump had somehow betrayed his loyal followers. He said Trump “wimped out” and suggested that Trump’s remarkable visit to Mexico City was now to be counted as a dismal failure.
Say what? First of all, no one cares who is going to pay for the wall except Trump. He added that flourish about Mexico paying for the wall midway through the primary campaign, and it’s a good line to get a rally excited, but honestly after waiting for more than 10 years for a wall to be built, most supporters of border security would be willing to kick in a hundred bucks each to make sure it happens. Anything other than waiting for a Washington, D.C., politician to deliver what was promised so long ago!
Of course, later that day, when President Peña Nieto took a page from Trump’s playbook and Tweeted that he had told Trump that Mexico would not pay for the wall, the new “scandal” of the hour was that Trump had lied when he said, “We did not discuss that.” On CNN, MSNBC and Fox News, there was a palpable sense of relief as commentators felt it was safe to stop having to say that Trump had looked “presidential” and could pivot to the more familiar “Trump screwed up.” In the hours of coverage I watched, I only heard one commentator point out the obvious: The statements by Peña Nieto and Trump were not mutually exclusive.
Finally, two days later, confirmation came in a story from the Wall Street Journal:
“A person close to Mr. Peña Nieto said that ‘since there was such a clear disagreement in preparatory conversations over issues about the wall and its payment, both parties agreed not to discuss them at the meeting, and instead talk about other topics, such as the great contribution that the Mexican community makes in the U.S., illegal drugs and weapons trafficking, bilateral trade, within North America and the rest of the world.’ The person added: “Before the conversation began, Mr. Peña Nieto reiterated to Mr. Trump that Mexico won’t pay for any wall, and as agreed, they discussed other topics.”
Imagine that! They agreed to hold substantive discussions about topics where they could find agreement instead of fighting over matters where they had little common ground. And yet, to this day, liberal Democrats are whining that Trump betrayed his cause by not attempting to browbeat the Mexican president into submission. Unbelievable!
The liberal media also tried to shame Trump because his Wednesday night speech on immigration took a different tone than his earlier session with the president of Mexico. At that important policy address, Trump did indeed emphasize that Mexico would be paying for the wall, but that same Wall Street Journal article revealed that Trump’s speech as originally scripted would have omitted the line. It was only after Peña Nieto went public with his private declaration that Trump inserted the new sentence about Mexico: “They don’t know it yet, but they’re going to pay for the wall.”
As he told the Wall Street Journal, “I had no choice.”
The line gave the chattering heads on cable news something to pick over, but the American public was focused instead on Trump’s comprehensive 10-point immigration plan. It scared liberals, who forgot that it mirrored much of what President Bill Clinton proposed back in 1996. They characterized it as being like a “Hitler speech” or a “Klan rally,”even taking offense at Trump highlighting the plight of families whose loved ones were killed by illegal aliens.
As journalist Mark McKinnon said on Twitter, “Trump surrounded on Phoenix stage by ‘Angel Moms’ who say their kids were murdered by illegal immigrants. This is pretty much a hate rally.”
No, the only hate is directed toward Donald Trump and his declared love of America. That’s what seems to rattle liberals the most, whether it’s about immigration or about anything else.
As Trump said Wednesday, “We need a system that serves our needs, not the needs of others. Remember, under a Trump administration it’s called America first.”
So scary for the mainstream media! Heads will definitely explode should Trump be elected Nov. 8.
Frank Miele is the managing editor of the Daily Inter Lake in Kalispell, Montana.