CNN (Op-Ed)
By Ana Navarro
July 5, 2015
Maybe
I'm the only one in America, but I've had it with the constant media
coverage and hypocrisy related to Donald Trump. Let me begin by saying I
find his recent comments
about Mexicans to be hateful, racist, offensive and ignorant. I commend
the individuals, organizations and corporations that have denounced him
and cut ties with him. But I do have one question: What took you so
long?
Let
us please stop pretending Trump suddenly began being outrageous and
offensive June 16, 2015, when he declared his candidacy for president.
He has been leading the
birther movement against President Obama and frothing at the mouth
against immigrants for years. All you have to do is peruse his Twitter
feed. He has taken any available platform to wage ad hominem attacks on
just about everybody.
It's
a rite of passage to be insulted by Donald Trump. I've heard his
rambling rants many times over many years, at political cattle calls
like CPAC and the First in the
Nation Republican Leadership Summit. Most of these have been
live-streamed and widely covered in the media. Other people may get
fired, lose endorsements, be excoriated by society because they have
said something offensive or posted a hateful tweet. Until
now, not Trump.
Many
have laughed off his behavior or ignored it because, you know, he has
money, and he's entertaining, and a celebrity, and it's part of his
shtick. Corporations have
carried his products -- Macy's, I'm talking to you. Networks like
Univision and NBC have broadcast his shows and pageants. Elected
officials have given him keys to their cities. Politicians have taken
his donations. All of it has contributed to pump up his
brand, ego and pocket book.
Now all of a sudden, people and corporate America is shocked and repulsed by what he represents. Really?
Donald
Trump hasn't changed. What has changed is that there has been massive
media coverage and a strong call to action by a unified Hispanic
community. Hispanic leaders
are now calling on other Republican candidates to condemn Donald
Trump's comments.
Some
people don't feel Republicans have been strong enough in denouncing
Trump. With some exceptions, there's some truth to that.
It
is also true that of all the major candidates running for president in
either party, the candidate who appears to have the closest and
friendliest relationship with
him is none other than Hillary Clinton. She received multiple political
contributions from Trump. Donald Trump gave a five-figure donation to
the Clinton Foundation.
None
of the Republicans running for president attended Trump's wedding. But
Hillary Clinton was sitting in the front pew during the ceremony and
Bill Clinton joined her
at the reception to celebrate Trump's third nuptials. This weekend in
New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton was asked to comment on Trump. She
declined and ate some pie, instead.
At
last count, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Rick Perry, Lindsey Graham, Chris
Christie have all distanced themselves from Trump's comments. They've
said he's wrong, that he's
not representative of Republican values and that his comments are
divisive. Marco Rubio is the child of immigrants. Jeb Bush fell in love
with a Mexican woman when he was 17 and has been married to her for over
41 years. He said he found Trump's comments personally
offensive.
That they have to respond to Trump's racist, anti-immigrant comments is ludicrous. But alas, respond they must.
Republican
candidates have not called for Trump to apologize. The problem is that
engaging Trump, only gives him more relevancy. He feeds off publicity.
Credible candidates
in their right mind don't want to spend time talking about Donald
Trump. They're running for president! They should be talking about
important national policy issues.
However,
this snowball has now been forming for three weeks and it is not going
away and neither is Donald Trump. At least probably not until after the
deadline to file
his full financial disclosure. Unfortunately, that doesn't come until
after the first couple presidential debates.
Complicating
matters further for the Republican Party, Donald Trump has an
inexplicably decent standing in several state and national polls. In
some he is second only
to Jeb Bush. (As a Jeb Bush supporter, I am grateful for this. I would
consider leaving the house wearing a paper bag over my head if I was
supporting a candidate who was trailing Trump.)
To
put polls in context though, being in second place in what is expected
to ultimately be a 16-person Republican field, means having about 12%
support. He's not exactly
leading by a country mile. Ironically, polls also show that out of all
the candidates running, he is the most disliked by Republican voters.
Some 52% of Republicans have an unfavorable opinion of him and 59% say
they would never vote for him. You can count
me in that number.
My
fingers twitch as I write this, but in all likelihood, Trump will
participate in at least some of the Republican debates. Initially, my
advice to other candidates would
have been to not take his bait and ignore the guy. But because his
outrageous comments have become so public, and because he is running as a
Republican, it is important for other candidates who stand on that
debate stage to show leadership by unequivocally
batting down Trump's offensive comments.
Donald
Trump is doing further harm to the Republican brand, not only with
Hispanics but also with all Americans searching for civility and
solutions. Having to deal with
Trump in a debate will undoubtedly be an annoying distraction for most
candidates. But it can also be an opportunity to show statesmanship by
standing strongly against Trump's divisive, offensive and polarizing
rhetoric.
I hope most candidates on that stage will take that opportunity. Just in case, I will keep that paper bag handy.
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