Via Mediaite, a quickie that cost nothing to produce, is destined to end up embedded on thousands of Facebook pages, and proves that Trump knows exactly what his appeal is. Like I said Friday, even if he’s not the most conservative candidate in the GOP race (he’s almost certainly the least), he irritates all of the people who irritate grassroots conservatives, which, combined with his immigration rhetoric, makes him conservative enough for a protest vote. He benefits from the idea popularized by Rush Limbaugh that liberals will tell you who they fear by the intensity of their contempt, which is sort of true and sort of not. They don’t fear Trump the candidate — he’d be a pushover for Hillary once Democratic oppo researchers got done with him — but they do fear a populist backlash to immigration reform, which the two parties are closer to enacting than they’ve been in years. Trump is driving that backlash right now. If the doomsayers are right and the Trumpnado blows even more Latino voters into the Democratic column next year then they have nothing to worry about — amnesty will follow soon enough after another crushing GOP presidential defeat. But if they’re wrong, if renewed attention to immigration causes Democrats to hemorrhage what’s left of their lower- and middle-income white supporters and there’s no offsetting surge in Latino support to help Hillary, then they’ve got a problem. Right now their contempt for Trump has less to do with “fear” than with deep distaste for his persona, something many righties share, but who knows what’ll happen if a more appealing Republican like Scott Walker takes the baton from Trump and runs with it? Would President Walker dare betray the right on immigration if a strong border-hawk position helps get him elected?
Speaking of Trump’s enemies, the newest is, er, Joaquin Guzman, a.k.a. El Chapo, head of the Sinaloa drug cartel and currently a fugitive from justice.
Donald Trump tells TMZ he is contacting the FBI to investigate threats just made by a man claiming to be the son of escaped Mexican drug lord El Chapo.
Trump is reacting to a tweet reportedly made by El Chapo’s son, in which he blasts Trump for saying El Chapo is “everything that’s wrong with Mexico.”
The tweet was written in Spanish, with the rough English translation, “Keep f***ing around and I’m gonna make you swallow your bitch words you f***ing whitey milks***tter (that’s a homophobic slur).”
Alternate headline: “Famous Mexican criminal angry over claim that Mexico is producing criminals.” Said Trump to TMZ, “I’m fighting for the future of our country which is being overrun by criminals. You can’t be intimidated.” I’ll be surprised if he’s not leading the polls by Friday.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member