Donald Trump is back! And there’s every indication that he still has a black people problem. Apparently, the real estate and reality show mogul with the criminally tasteless combover doesn’t like black folks, which makes one wonder why he chooses to live in the city with the largest number of us.
Trump is like luggage. He sticks around. After flirting with presidential politics and trash talking about the president — with absurd talk about Obama having a foreign birth certificate — he won’t go away or be silenced.
He claimed he made Lady Gaga famous. And Trump is hosting a December 27 debate in Iowa, which Congressman Ron Paul and former Ambassador Jon Huntsman will not attend.
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The Paul camp issued a statement. “The selection of a reality television personality to host a presidential debate that voters nationwide will be watching is beneath the office of the presidency and flies in the face of that office’s history and dignity.”
The Paul campaign continued to say that “Mr. Trump’s participation as moderator will distract from questions and answers concerning important issues such as the national economy, crushing federal government debt, the role of the federal government, foreign policy, and the like. To be sure, Mr. Trump’s participation will contribute to an unwanted circus-like atmosphere.”
Trump responded, “Few people take Ron Paul seriously and many of his views and presentation make him a clown-like candidate.”
According to Trump, many Republicans have asked him to host the debate. But it looks as if Trump is trying to play both sides. At the same time, he has said that if he isn’t satisfied with that the current field of GOP candidates can beat Obama, he will consider running as a third-party candidate himself. This poses a real problem for the Republican Party, unless Trump is just blowing smoke. In the meantime, Trump is playing the role of self-anointed kingmaker, which he seems to enjoy. But not everyone is kissing his ring.
“I don’t quite understand the marching to his office,” Paul said of the various presidential candidates who make pilgrimages to the Trump’s New York headquarters. “I didn’t realize he had the ability to lay on hands and anoint people.”
Paul is right behind former House Speaker Newt Gingrich with second place in a Des Moines Register poll of Iowa caucus voters. Speaking of Gingrich, he created a firestorm of late when he suggested that poor inner city children lacking a work ethic should be hired as janitors, and their labor apparently exploited.
“It is tragic what we do in the poorest neighborhoods, entrapping children in, first of all, child laws, which are truly stupid,” Gingrich said. He added that to solve poverty, “schools ought to get rid of the unionized janitors, have one master janitor and pay local students to take care of the school.” Sounds like illegal child slavery to me. I thought we’ve been there already.
It would be more than enough for Newt to merely say that child labor laws are stupid — which he did — and propose that poor kids clean the toilets in school. Now, Gingrich and Trump — two arrogant blowhards with huge egos who love to hear themselves talk, to be sure — are teaming up. Gingrich asked the Donald to offer apprenticeships to 10 children in the poorest New York City schools.
Because the one thing that black and Latino children really need is to work for an angry white man who disrespects them, wants to exploit their labor, and still maintains that America’s first African-American president wasn’t born in America. Of course, this is exactly the type of thing conservative audiences love to hear, which explains why someone dares to say it.
Recently on The Today Show, Trump asserted that inner city children have no role models except President Obama. “Unfortunately, he hasn’t turned out to be much of a role model,” Trump said.
“No, they don’t have in many cases role models, Matt. It’s very sad,” said Trump. “They do not have role models. I know it’s not a popular statement, but it happens to be true.”
Now, those of us who consider ourselves black role models take offense. And Rev. Al Sharpton of MSNBC’s PoliticsNation and the National Action Network has joined Rev. Dr. Franklyn Richardson of Grace Baptist Church to condemn the remarks.
According to Rev. Sharpton, “I have known Donald Trump for many years and will not let the negligent statement he made on The Today Show go unchallenged. He needs to retract his comments immediately or we will organize direct action against him.”
Rev. Richardson added: “I am appalled that a man in his position would make such an irresponsible and ignorant comment on a national forum and ignore the contrary fact that there is a plethora of black role models in this country. His insensitivity is what fosters negative imagery and the perpetuation of racism in this country.”
Gingrich called Trump “a genuine American icon.” Donald Trump has positioned himself as somewhat of a folk hero, a Horatio Alger, up-by-the-bootstraps, self-made man. But in reality, he is a rich man who inherited his wealth from his wealthy father. Despite having being born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Trump’s businesses filed for bankruptcy four times. And he still manages to thrive under the facade of the perfect picture of success.
Meanwhile, though Trump claims to enjoy billionaire status, it is hard to believe that any real billionaire would depend on a reality show for his bread and butter.
Despite his role as kingmaker in the presidential field, he has some Republicans scared of the negative effect he could have on the race. A new NBC poll shows 32 percent of Iowa Republican voters less likely to vote for a candidate with a Trump endorsement, with 21 percent more likely, 44 percent indifferent and 3 percent unsure. Similarly, New Hampshire voters are less likely to vote for a candidate with Trump’s blessing by a two-to-one margin — 37 percent to 19 percent.
Trump is the ringmaster of a political circus in his own mind. It is fitting that he has inserted himself into a presidential race filled with sideshow acts the likes of Gingrich, Michele Bachmann and the recently departed Herman Cain of “Uzbeki-beki-beki-stan-stan-stan” fame. There is no hint that kissing the Donald’s ring will help a presidential hopeful clinch the nomination, and the polls confirm this. And yet, Trump and the GOP field were made for each other. While he won’t be silenced, Trump really needs to stop talking.
