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TPM AR writes in to alert us that the Times obsession with “clouds” and “shadows” swirling around Hillary Clinton continues in their latest hit.
Even now, after all that’s happened, most political reporters find themselves either unwilling or unable to identify Donald Trump’s tirades as hate speech. But they fit the textbook definition, inasmuch as it’s even a useful concept. The New York Times is on the receiving end of a storm of criticism at the moment for their botched story on Trump’s whirlwind Wednesday from Mexico City to Phoenix. And they deserve it. But the offense is mainly one of laziness and sloppiness – offenses which the Times’ privileged position makes it again and again vulnerable to. You write the story about the arc of the day, file it to edit and production. But while the piece is on autopilot in those later stages of the journalistic process the reality of the day changes radically and you end up publishing a story that is night and day of the reality everybody has just seen. But this embarrassment is a pedestrian stumble. The far greater offense is the one almost every news organization committed with the Times. This isn’t ‘tough’ or ‘hard edged’ speechifying. This is hate speech.
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You’ve likely seen news that Donald Trump has hired David Bossie as his Deputy Campaign Manager. The good news for Democrats on this front is that it’s not clear to me that Bossie has any real experience running campaigns or winning elections, certainly not at the presidential level. What he is is a career ‘investigator’ of the Clintons who’s been the promoter of most of the ugliest, most surreal and unhinged Clinton conspiracy theories. He also has a decent historical role as the head of the plaintiff organization in the Citizens United case. The actual group Citizens United is his group. That was his lawsuit.
Mexican President again contradicts Trump in escalating Twitter spat. “I repeat what I said to you personally, Mr Trump: Mexico never would pay for a wall.”
I thought it’d be helpful to compile a timeline of the last 10 days of build-up to the big Trump immigration speech that was supposedly going to represent a break from his past demagoguing on this issue. Yes, you should have been skeptical all along that much was going to change, or that any change would be more than window dressing. But there was ample evidence from Trump himself and his aides that some sort of shift was afoot. It wasn’t just media hype or cluelessness. What emerges from the timeline is how utterly unmoored and erratic Trump and his campaign are. Nothing captured that quite like the day and night contrast between Mexico City yesterday afternoon and Phoenix last night. But the timeline shows that’s consistent with the same erratic dance Team Trump has been performing for a week and a half. Take a look.
Like most bullies, Trump turns out to be a coward. After a year of cocky boasting about making Mexico pay for his Wall and like it, Trump went silent when he actually met face to face with the Mexican President. He seems even to have lied about the issue even coming up in their meeting. And when it did, if we credit the account of Mexico’s President, he didn’t respond. But as soon as we was back before a friendly crowd, he was back to the same swagger and boasting. “They don’t know it yet, but they’re going to pay for it.” It’s almost a cliched version of the schoolyard bully who falls apart when he has to follow through on his boasts or breaks down in tears when threatened.
Just as cocky on Twitter (from this morning)
Mexico will pay for the wall!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2016
We’ve now heard Trump’s big immigration policy speech.
Let me start with a general comment on tone. This was as wild and as unbridled a speech as I’ve seen from Trump. Even if you couldn’t understand English, it would be stunning to watch the slashing hand gestures, the red face, the yelling. It’s hard to imagine any presidential candidate in living memory giving such a speech. And again, this is if you didn’t know what the words even meant.
A sampling of leading white supremacists and anti-semites reacting to Trump’s speech. Preview: They loved it!