It used to be Donald Trump who was having a really tough time staying on message – making gaffe after gaffe – insulting far too many people. He’s been much better in the last month or so. And narrowing poll numbers are reflecting his more disciplined campaign.
He hasn’t been perfect. I could have done without his comment that Hillary could shoot someone in the heart in front of 20,000 witnesses, and get away with it. It might be true, but after his earlier comment that he could shoot someone in front of thousands of his supporters, and they’d still support him, well, he ought to just stay away from this kind of crazy talk.
While we’re at it, I wouldn’t recommend referring to American generals as “rubble”, even though I think it’s true that the Obama Administration has far too politicized many of said generals. And Trump’s been far too complimentary in his references to Vladimir Putin, who is a bully and a thug and a danger to U.S. interests, particularly in Europe and the Middle East.
But the doozies that have been coming out of the Clinton campaign recently, are way worse. First, Bill Clinton decided to play the race card (even though he had cried foul when Barack Obama allegedly played the race card against him back in the 2008 Obama v Hillary race.) Bill Clinton has decided that the Trump campaign’s slogan “Make America Great Again” is racist. But wait. We now know that’s total hypocrisy. Because he himself had used this same phrase over and over again when he was campaigning. Please watch this video:
So either Bill Clinton and Donald Trump are both racists. Or neither Bill Clinton nor Donald Trump are racists. Or only Republicans can be racists, because Democrats are too pure, and honorable, and noble. Right…
Okay, let’s shift to Hillary Clinton. We now learn that she believes that approximately 20% of Americans are a “basket of deplorables.” Let’s go to the tape. What an elitist snob. Since Trump and she are both polling at around 40% each, half of his 40% would be 20%. So what she’s saying is that 1 in 5 Americans (at least of those who vote) are racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, and/or Islamophobia.
I was watching “Morning Joe” on MSNBC the other morning, and Joe Scarborough said he thought this would blow over by next week. Well, I don’t think so. At least not if the Trump campaign and supporters consistently remind voters of the disdain Hillary Clinton has for many Americans. It’s true enough that many of Hillary’s supporters in the mainstream press might like to bury this remark as soon as possible, but the Trump campaign can’t let that happen.
And finally, what about Hillary’s health? First, some things we know. We know she suffers from deep vein thrombosis, which is a potentially life-threatening condition, because blood clots in the veins can break off, and make their way to the lungs, which can be fatal. We also know that she has fainted in the past, fallen, and suffered a concussion. She recently blamed this concussion for why she can’t remember receiving instructions on how to deal with classified information on her private email system.
And we know that over the weekend, at a 9/11 memorial service in New York City, Hillary Clinton had to leave the services for health reasons, and canceled appearances at a series of California fundraising tours. Clinton campaign folks claimed that she had just been “overheated” even though it was only a mild 80 degrees in New York City at the time. Well after denying that there was anything wrong with Hillary, the campaign admitted that she had been diagnosed with pneumonia two days earlier. But the Clintons, being the Clintons, hid this important information from the American people, and then lied about it.
Look, I believe both candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, have a duty to release their detailed medical information to the public. But whereas up to this point, the Democrats have been successful in convincing most in the mainstream press to ignore the Hillary health story, it will be harder and harder for them to keep this story quiet down the stretch.
And the American people have a right to know.
