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| Trump in Nevada, doing what he does: leveling charges |
In the debate on Saturday Hillary said something that is completely plausible to Democratic ears:
"He is becoming ISIS’ best recruiter," she charged. "They are going to people showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists."
Trump has counterpunched, claiming that notoriously dishonest Hillary has made a totally dishonest charge and that he deserves an apology for the lies she has said about him.
So now the story is not the one Hillary wanted: Trump's language helps ISIS.
Instead the story is the one Trump wants: See, Hillary lied, lies, and will lie, because she is a liar. And dishonest.
Trump is winning.
The solution for Hillary would be to find existing examples of exactly what she charged, videos in current use showing Trump. They haven't found them yet. The charge is plausible, but at this moment undocumented.
The Hillary camp is hastening to say Hillary is true in spirit, that there are tweets and social media among Muslims discussing Trump, negatively. And there undoubtable are and would be videos showing Trump. But they cannot at this moment put their finger on one. And that is the story: no video.
The mainstream press is interpreting this as a Hillary lie. There is a headline to that effect in my local paper, plus all over the national press that shows up in Google searches. The story is Hillary's mis-statement, not that Trump is endangering America. After all, tweets aren't videos. "Undoubtably will" is not the same as "is". And the single worst memory for Hillary to dredge up would be a discussion of the meaning of "is."
Hillary's team is lousy at something Trump is good at: toughing out a strong unproven charge and winning the media war. Armed with the most superficial research (for example, a focus group I saw on Meet the Press on Sunday, showing American Muslims moaning about how Trump's comments frighten children and make the community feel stigmatized and presumably more susceptible to radicalization. She could stride to a microphone and firmly stand her ground. It isn't like the "testimony" of those Muslims was hidden. It was on network TV yesterday.
She might say:
"Donald Trump is stigmatizing Muslims and is milking this politically for all its worth. Good loyal American citizens tell me all the time that Trump frightens them, that they see videos of Trump on the air 24-7 generating fear of Mexicans, immigrants in general, and especially Muslims. You don't have to LOOK for the videos. Trump is on TV day and night. Right now! Trump uses broad brush scare language, and it keeps him in the news, saying that Americans should be fearful of Muslims which is a slap in the face to Americans of Muslim faith serving in our army and to hard working American citizens of Muslim faith right here in America. Of course young people see them, here and around the world, and a few of them get the idea that America is at war with them because Trump says America needs to treat them like enemies! Lindsey Graham had it exactly right, Donald Trump. He said YOU are the best friend ISIS ever had."
But this kind of media fight isn't what Hillary is good at, apparently, and she has had 25 years to get good at it. The War Room of 1992, with its quick response team, has gone. She needs it back if she hopes to win in a fight with Trump.
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| Hillary in New Hampshire, in listening mode, not fighting mode |
1 comment:
Hillary’s Trumpish New Jersey-gate of denouncing fictitious videos of bad Muslims is the perfect storm for Trump. In fact, it is hard to see how it could be any better for him, yet there is one more thing that could. Hillary is the quarterback who just threw a reckless interception in the first quarter of a key NFL playoff game. She should know she is lucky this has happened so early in the primary season. Democrats should hope that her campaign is frantically NOT trying to find another play just like the first. Hillary’s careless words are being heard as this:
“My fellow Americans, with the dead freshly buried in Paris and California, and our prayers still pledged to those hospitalized, we are finally just where we need to be in fighting Islamic extremism. And now, right when we are all feeling that we can dare to poke our heads up without getting killed, Donald Trump is riling up the Islamists once again, my God! The Muslim world is seething at videos of him calling for suspending Muslim immigration as an element of his homeland defense strategy. Trump’s call to arms against what he calls a Trojan horse of Islamic terrorism—unbelievable!-- will only make even more of them try to kill us. If you elect me, not only will I never rile up the Muslims with homeland security strategies they don’t like—such as keeping them out-- but after each of their bloody attack across America, I promise I will first and foremost remind you that there is nothing wrong with Islam.”
This is almost as good as it gets for Trump because: 1. Hillary publicly acknowledges him as the Republican to beat, and as a leader being listened to internationally. 2. Hillary warns us that we should fear Muslims, just as he says, but unlike him, she won’t say things they don’t like. 3. Hillary dismisses his Trojan Horse homeland defense strategy, and although not articulating one of her own during the debate, promised that as President she will be careful not to implement homeland security measures that will get Muslims angry. 4. Hillary, Trump says, also tells lies about Muslim videos, and he concedes to her the crown of being an even bigger liar than he is, a crown she seems intent on wining.
And what you ask is the one thing that can make this even better still for Trump? It will be if anyone actually finds an ISIS video demonizing him. It would be a centerpiece of his campaign popularity, and insure that-- just like her Benghazi debacle in saying it was an offensive video that upset the Muslims rather than Islamic terror—this too will never go away.
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