OK, "The Donald" put his foot in his mouth again over the weekend at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa. No one who has been watching him for very long was surprised when Trump attacked John McCain and said, "He was a war hero because he was captured." Trump then added insult to injury by saying, "Personally, I like people who weren't captured." The words were barely out of his mouth before he corrected himself, but it was too late. The sound bite was out there. His critics pounced.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Donald Trump has not demonstrated that he has the temperament to be president. When you put a man or woman in the Oval Office who has the black box with the codes to set off a nuclear weapon within arm's reach, you want someone who has learned to control his or her emotions.
You also want someone who does not have a god complex. We've seen Barack Obama, the man who thinks he can walk on water, sink. Hopefully, he won't take the country down with him.
To call Trump a narcissist would be an understatement. It was not surprising that this unabashed New York billionaire attacked John McCain over the weekend. McCain had referred to Trump's supporters as "crazies." However, it was Trump's comments about God that were even more revealing.
Trump touts his conservative credentials and calls himself a Christian. However, when moderator Frank Luntz asked him if he had ever asked God for forgiveness Trump answered:
"That's a tough question. ... I am not sure I have. I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don't think so. I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don't bring God into that picture. I don't."
Oh!
Trump continued, "When we go in church and I drink my little wine – which is about the only wine I drink – and have my little cracker, I guess that is a form of asking for forgiveness, and I do that as often as possible because I feel cleansed."
Oh!
Luntz pressed, "What is your relationship with God?" Trump answered, "Well, I pray. I go to church. Do I do things that are wrong? I guess so. I'm a business person. I really do well at business. ..."
He goes on to list his attributes and exploits until Luntz interrupts, "Did God help you do these great deals?" Trump answers, "I think God helped me. God helped me by giving me a certain brain. ..."
Trump goes on about how great he is (Trump, not God) until he goes off on McCain.
I can't expect the left to get too excited over this, but to Christians, Trump revealed himself as a phony. How can the smartest man in the world base his faith on a religion without reading the book on which it is based?
However, Trump wasn't the only one making outrageous remarks over the weekend.
On Friday, retired general and former Democrat presidential candidate Wesley Clark called for World War II-style internment camps for radicalized Americans in an interview with MSMBC's Thomas Roberts.
"If these people are radicalized and they don't support the United States and they are disloyal to the United States as a matter of principle, fine. It's their right, and it's our right and obligation to segregate them from the normal community for the duration of the conflict."
Have we learned nothing from this shameful chapter of our history? If, today, we round up all the young Muslims whom we suspect don't see it "our way," who will be the target tomorrow?
Sunday, on ABC's "This Week," Jennifer Granholm, former Democratic governor of Michigan, gave us her perspective. In responding to a question about Trump's rise in the polls, she said:
"I think (this) is a signal of this sinister thread that runs through a lot of the far right and the tea party, this feeling like [sic] those who are different are not one of us. That it's frightening for many in the sort of old, older white Americans who might be following him and who are angry, who may feel threatened by this … by immigrants. I worry about that sinister thread." [Emphasis added.]
To Trump's credit, he immediately walked back his remarks about McCain, but Clark and Granholm did nothing of the sort.
Will anyone on the left step up and call them out for these outrageous remarks?
Media wishing to interview Jane Chastain, please contact [email protected].
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