Trump outraged everyone with his call on Monday for a ban on Muslims entering the country. Everyone except his growing band of followers, and Fox News, and Pat Buchanan, anyway. But while Trump regularly spews hateful nonsense, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia piped up with a shockingly offensive doozy of his own this week. Unlike Trump's inflammatory statement, no GOP-ers rushed to denounce Scalia.
Here are five completely obnoxious moments from the week that was.
1. Scalia: But do we really need integration?
Justice Antonin Scalia has never been much of a fan of affirmative action. This week, he made comments suggesting he might still be troubled by Brown vs. Board of Education, saying in effect, forget separate but equal—why even have equal?
With views that seem to date back to the Paleolithic age and the complete loss of any kind of filter, Scalia openly opined that affirmative action is hurting African Americans by sending them to more rigorous schools. He conveniently found a jumping-off point for his deeply offensive and wrong-headed views in a friend of the court brief during oral arguments for the Fisher v. University of Texas-Austin affirmative action case. Some (unnamed) people, he said, would say that "it does not benefit African Americans to get them into the University of Texas where they do not do well, as opposed to having them go to a less-advanced school, a less—a slower-track school where they do well."
Seriously, how can it be that this man is sitting on the Supreme Court? It’s not that Scalia just disagrees with affirmative action. It’s that he thinks blacks are inferior. Usually, people are careful not to reveal the fundamental racism that underlies their abhorrent views.
The esteemed jurist went on to argue that "most of the black scientists in this country don't come from schools like the University of Texas." Okay, where are you going with this, Tony? "They come from lesser schools where they do not feel that they're—that they're being pushed ahead in—in classes that are too—too fast for them.”
WTF is he even talking about? Does he know?
This opportunity to hear Scalia’s racist, utterly backward, revolting views is brought to you by Fisher v. University of Texas-Austin, a case in which a mediocre white high school student named Abigail Fisher simply cannot get over the fact that she did not get into the college of her choice, something that has never ever happened to anyone else, especially black students, in the entire history of the world.
Because if it did, wouldn’t the Supreme Court docket be overflowing with these cases?
2. Pat Buchanan thinks Trump’s Muslim ban is a terrific idea!
Always dandy to hear what’s on Pat Buchanan’s febrile mind. Thanks to his syndicated column on Friday, now we know. Buchanan is praising the gospel of Trumpism! He thinks Trump’s idea to ban Muslim immigrants is “worth exploring!” because, “Many European nations—Germans, French, Swedes, Brits—appear to regret having thrown open their doors to immigrants and refugees from the Islamic world,” he wrote. Where he is getting his info is not exactly clear.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Buchanan column if he couldn’t somehow stick it to ‘dem liberals. “In some countries of the Muslim world, Americans who embrace ‘Hollywood values’ regarding abortion, adultery and homosexuality can get their heads chopped off as quickly as converts to Christianity,” Buchanan helpfully and speciously points out.
Based, again, on ridiculous generalizations and zero information.
But you get his point. Secure the borders, close the gates to the marauding hordes. Finally a candidate who gets Uncle Pat’s message.
3. Trump finally goes after Ted Cruz... for the totally wrong reason.
Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have been kind of besties so far. This is mostly because Cruz has never criticized Trump about anything, and has pretty much fawningly complimented him, a surefire way to Trump’s heart. "He's a nice guy,” Trump said about Cruz this week in Iowa. “I mean, everything I say he agrees with me, no matter what I say.” Even Trump seemed a little taken aback at this particularly high level of sycophancy. And that’s saying something.
Now Cruz, while not exactly nipping at the Trumpster’s heels in polls, has nevertheless pulled into second in Iowa. Worse still, rumoors circulated that Cruz revealed his cynical “bear hug” strategy with Trump behind closed doors.
Cue the Trump attack.
There are so many great reasons to go after Cruz, chief among them that he is a hate-monger of the highest order. That, of course, is not what Trump criticized him for. Instead, true to form, the Donald went after Cruz because of his Cuban heritage—yep, for being a furriner. It was a little veiled, which is not to say subtle, since subtle and Trump have never been found in the same sentence.
"I do like Ted Cruz, but not a lot of evangelicals come out of Cuba," Trump said, adding for emphasis, "Not a lot come out. But I like him nevertheless."
Isn’t he wonderfully open-minded about people of Hispanic origin? He likes him “nevertheless.”
Trump was just reminding the good corn-fed people at the Town Hall event in Iowa that Cruz’s (certifiably insane) father, an evangelical preacher, was born down there, south of the border wall, if Trump can figure out how to build a wall on the ocean. And he will, because he’s the greatest builder who has ever lived.
4. Ben Carson says he too might take his toys and go home.
In a desperate bid, one supposes, to remain relevant, Ben Carson attempted a double Trump at week’s end, and threatened to leave the Republican Party.
The Republican Party wept.
Nay, the nation wept.
The retired neurosurgeon’s recent precipitous tumble in the polls might suggest an outbreak of sanity if only it weren’t accompanied by a Trump and Cruz surge. But Carson will be there for the debate Tuesday, and he is just giving fair warning that he might come out with guns blazing if the Grand Old Party decides to go with a brokered convention.
"If the leaders of the Republican Party want to destroy the party, they should continue to hold meetings like the one described in the Washington Post this morning," Carson said in a statement Friday. "If this was the beginning of a plan to subvert the will of the voters and replace it with the will of the political elite, I assure you Donald Trump will not be the only one leaving the party."
The will of the people has spoken.
5. Sean Hannity mocks Michelle Obama for being in favor of education.
In case you haven’t been noticing lately (because Jon Stewart is no longer keeping his eye on Fox, and Trevor Noah can’t or won’t hold Fox’s feet to the fire), Sean Hannity is still a complete d-bag. So nice to know that some things never change in this crazy, mixed-up, ever-changing world of ours.
On Thursday, Hannity used his airtime to lambast Michelle Obama for encouraging kids to go to college.
"ISIS is on the rise. The Middle East in complete turmoil. The Western world is under constant threat from Islamic jihadists, but your first lady Michelle Obama is busy making a rap music video about going to college,” Hannity said, later saying the video suggested that the “Obamas are completely out of touch.”
Yeah, don’t they know that everyone should drop everything immediately and go into full-on panic mode about ISIS. Jeez.
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