Did Hillary Clinton just question Donald Trump’s patriotism?
Did Hillary Clinton just question Donald Trump’s patriotism?
It's worth emphasizing here the very important and unique context of these Obama criticisms — specifically, the birther conspiracy theory. Trump himself, after all, led the effort to suggest that the nation's first African American president wasn't born in this country and therefore wasn't a legitimate president. Efforts to label Obama as “un-American” fed a narrative that he wasn't actually an American and even the idea that he was a secret Muslim who would destroy the United States from within. This suspicion has stalked Obama from Day One of his presidency.
By contrast, nobody is arguing today that Trump may not actually be an American. And Trump has certainly opened the door to this criticism. He has, after all, suggested that America is no longer great — the man's slogan is “Make America Great Again" -- spurned American exceptionalism and argued that the United States shouldn't lecture other countries about civil rights because of its own record.
But Clinton's comments aren't all that different from Giuliani's — “do not believe that the president loves America” vs. “seems not to like America.” And to be clear, they are harsher than merely arguing that his policies are un-American. That could be because Trump is misguided or being provocative or just trying to do whatever it takes to win; saying Trump doesn't actually “like America” suggests something more.
The context of this campaign makes Clinton's comment seem pretty unremarkable, and it hasn't gotten a whole lot of attention in the 12-plus hours since she said it. But this was a very significant statement by one presidential candidate about her opponent.
After months of arguing that Donald Trump's policies and campaign are un-American, Hillary Clinton on Monday came out and said it more directly: Donald Trump “seems not to like America.”
Here's the riff from her rally in Cincinnati:
Their strategy is: Get women to stay home, get young people to stay home, and get people of color to stay home. It's all part of his scorched-earth campaign. But it actually adds up to more than half of our country when you stop to think about it. And it goes against everything we stand for. So if you're as upset as I am about the campaign that he has run, the things http://www.americanewsplus.tk/ he has said, insulting not just women but immigrants, Latinos, African Americans, prisoners of war, Muslims, veterans, the military — I mean, the list goes on and on. It's almost impossible to understand how somebody could run for president who seems not to like America as much as he does.
The Clinton campaign and its supporters have frequently gone down this road, yes. But they've mostly reserved the talk for Trump's proposals and the campaign he's run — not him personally.
VP pick Tim Kaine on Aug. 18 called Trump's positions on civil liberties and religious liberty for instance. Bernie Sanders in early October said Trump's campaign isparticularly dangerous and in its bigotry.
The New Yorker back in July argued that the subtext of President Obama's Democratic National Convention speech was but Obama didn't say it nearly so plainly. “That’s the America I know,” Obama said in the speech.
And Clinton herself has ventured into this territory. In a March Democratic debate, she called Trump's comments about women and minorities She added: “I think what he has promoted is not at all in keeping with American values, and I am going to take every opportunity to criticize him, to raise those issues.”
y “seems not to like America.”
This is the kind of claim that, in a campaign in which Democrats hadn't flat-out labeled Trump a bigot and in which Trump hadn't called for Clinton's jailing, would probably be pretty controversial. And it actually has caused controversy in the past two elections.
On the eve of the 2008 election, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) caused a firestorm by saying President Obama Just days later, GOP vice presidential pick Sarah Palin was forced to apologize forthan other parts of the country.
Even just last year, Rudy Giuliani, who is now a top Trump surrogate, caused a big controversy by saying, “I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America.” Among those rebuking Giuliani was Trump's now-VP candidate, Mike Pence, who said he didn't think it “helps to question the president's patriotism or motives.”It's worth emphasizing here the very important and unique context of these Obama criticisms — specifically, the birther conspiracy theory. Trump himself, after all, led the effort to suggest that the nation's first African American president wasn't born in this country and therefore wasn't a legitimate president. Efforts to label Obama as “un-American” fed a narrative that he wasn't actually an American and even the idea that he was a secret Muslim who would destroy the United States from within. This suspicion has stalked Obama from Day One of his presidency.
By contrast, nobody is arguing today that Trump may not actually be an American. And Trump has certainly opened the door to this criticism. He has, after all, suggested that America is no longer great — the man's slogan is “Make America Great Again" -- spurned American exceptionalism and argued that the United States shouldn't lecture other countries about civil rights because of its own record.
But Clinton's comments aren't all that different from Giuliani's — “do not believe that the president loves America” vs. “seems not to like America.” And to be clear, they are harsher than merely arguing that his policies are un-American. That could be because Trump is misguided or being provocative or just trying to do whatever it takes to win; saying Trump doesn't actually “like America” suggests something more.
The context of this campaign makes Clinton's comment seem pretty unremarkable, and it hasn't gotten a whole lot of attention in the 12-plus hours since she said it. But this was a very significant statement by one presidential candidate about her opponent.
In 2012, former New Hampshire governor and top Mitt Romney surrogate John Sununu (R) was also forced to apologize for saying Obama should
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