Quite a week from America's rabid right.
1. Did Trump finally pop his own balloon?
After all these months of hateful bombast, the Donald is losing his ability to shock. Of course he bashes suffering Syrian refugees. Of course he says blatantly Islamophobic things. Of course he says a black protester deserves to be roughed up. Of course he backs the idea of a database of Muslims and fails to recognize the historical parallel with Nazism. Of course he falsely claims thousands of Muslims in New Jersey were cheering 9/11; he watched them do it, it must be true. He has the world’s greatest memory, numero uno; no matter how much actual evidence is presented to the contrary, the Donald is never wrong and never has to apologize.
Then this walking id with a megaphone made fun of a disabled man, a reporter from the New York Times with a congenital condition who contradicted him. Because all bets are off when you contradict the Donald. In a campaign that has repeatedly jumped the shark—that has made jumping the shark not just a one-time event but a months-long unfolding nightmare—that just might have done it. One poll at week’s end showed a drop of 12 points, though mind you, the Donald is still very much on top in many other polls.
It has been another week of relentless douchebaggery for the egomaniacal billionaire. In keeping with his reinvention of the truth strategy, he claimed that his mockery of reporter Serge Kovaleski was misinterpreted—that he never met Kovaleski; that he had no idea he had a disability. The man will literally say anything. Seems the Republican base is fine with all manner of lying, racism, Islamophobia and immigrant-bashing, but they draw the line at making fun of people with disabilities.
Isn't that nice?
Then again, they’ll probably forget all about it, just as soon as Trump starts bashing other groups again. Which will be soon. Probably already happened.
2. CNN invites Planned Parenthood-bashing rep to comment as people are still being shot.
Illinois representative Adam Kinzinger is zealously opposed to a woman’s right to choose and completely okay with perpetuating lies about Planned Parenthood—even when a clinic is under siege by a gunman. This is terrible enough. What’s worse is that CNN thought it a good idea to invite this moron on to comment on the shootings at the Colorado Springs women’s healthcare facility while the tragedy was still unfolding.
Seriously, wtf!
Brianna Keilar, host of "The Situation Room," asked Kinzinger whether he thought it was premature to assume that Robert Lewis Dear was targeting Planned Parenthood when he stormed the clinic and started shooting at people. Huh! Really? Then Kinzinger took the opportunity to criticize Planned Parenthood and say the guy must be mentally ill. Because white guys who shoot people are always mentally ill, and thus deserve more sympathy than other killers. Ugghh.
3. Fox News commenter blames Obama for Colorado shootings.
The Planned Parenthood siege was not even over when Fox decided to go on the offensive—as in totally offensive. This time the one doing the honors was former NYPD cop and professional blowhard a*hole, Bo Dietl.
Again, this is our president acting like a fool. I mean to see something like this, we noticed when the attacks occurred in Paris, when the cops were in their car getting attacked, we have to prepare ourselves. This is a war. We’re against... terrorists are against this country.
It’s going to open up here in America, and we’ve got to be prepared.
Okay, so first of all, huh?
Second of all, explain again how this is Obama’s fault?
Oh right, because he dared to suggest that maybe we shouldn’t let terrorists, criminals and animal torturers openly carry AK-47s.
Yeah, how awful.
4. Megyn Kelly thinks it’s inappropriate for black teenagers to stare at cops.
Video of a white Chicago police officer shooting to death black teenager Laquan McDonald emerged this week, and elsewhere peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters were shot by white supremacists. But Fox’s Megyn Kelly reserved her outrage for a young black protester who looked hard at a cop assigned to control peaceful protests in Chicago.
“Is that appropriate?” she asked her guests. That cop “hasn’t done anything wrong.”
Her guest, Richard Fowler, replied: "This guy is having a silent protest with this police officer. This is his First Amendment right."
Kelly did not like that answer. "To get in a cop's face and stare him down?" she yelled.
Ummm, yeah, actually, Madame Fox Newsian with a law degree.
"It's not a question of what his constitutional rights are," Kelly insisted. "It's a question of what's appropriate."
Is it?
5. Marco Rubio, the reasonable Republican, says ignore the Supreme Court – God's law prevails.
Republican golden boy Marco Rubio is not one to let a little Supreme Court decision or two stand in his way. Rubio made plain during an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network on Friday that he doesn’t consider Roe v. Wade and the Obergell same-sex marriage decision “settled law.”
Ummmm, yeah it is. That’s what the Supreme Court does. Settles things, Mr. would-be president.
Rubio says he takes his orders from a higher authority.
“We are clearly called, in the Bible, to adhere to our civil authorities, but that conflicts with also a requirement to adhere to God’s rules," he told David Brody.
"When those two come in conflict, God’s rules always win. In essence, if we are ever ordered by a government authority to personally violate and sin, violate God’s law and sin, if we’re ordered to stop preaching the gospel, if we’re ordered to perform a same-sex marriage as someone presiding over it, we are called to ignore that. We cannot abide by that because government is compelling us to sin.”
Hoo boy. Time for a good smiting.
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