# Donald Trump's 2016 General Election Campaign **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 4, 2016, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901 "2016-05-04T02:37:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 111
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2202 "2016-07-03T17:06:15Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Well sure. If it was being passed around on neo nazi sites they would have recognized that “dogwhistle” if you can say a neo nazi feel the need to dog whistle at all. Will any of the pro-dog whistler people admit it was not an intentional one by the Trump campaign? It’s not like he immediately deleted then served up an edited version of his black on white homicides tweet. A tweet that he never apoligized for it too. One should point out that unless Trump had the original source changing the graphic that Trump also does not care about copyright issues… Unless he knows the one that made that image changed it himself to a circle or Trump got permission to change it from the original fascist. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2203 "2016-07-03T17:30:49Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Well sure. If it was being passed around on neo nazi sites they would have recognized that “dogwhistle” if you can say a neo nazi feel the need to dog whistle at all. Will any of the pro-dog whistler people admit it was not an intentional one by the Trump campaign? It’s not like he immediately deleted then served up an edited version of his black on white homicides tweet. I’ll stand by what I already said: > [@me](#): > > Look, I actually do not think that Trump is explicitly anti-Semitic, even if he hires some and panders to many. He has a Jewish daughter for Moishe’s sake. He holds some stereotypes to be factual and is an ignorant doofus but would be clueless about things like (((Ivanka Trump))) to the point of possibly even re-tweeting it as saying something good. > > Not a major thing. > > But there is zero question that whoever put that up meant the dogwhistle. Was no one watching what that relative foot soldier was doing until it went out or was it intended at higher levels? Don’t know and again, down quickly, so minor enough it isn’t worth much outrage. But be real. No question what the meaning was. His campaign appeals to neo-nazis, white supremacists, and their kind, and a fair number of his troops are likely of that mindset and frequent those messageboards. His campaign is also sparsely staffed by professionals (see the recent [coming and going](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/donald-trump-vincent-harris-digital-225009) of its digital director) so these troops are relatively unsupervised and undisciplined. I have little doubt that the person putting it up on behalf of his campaign was aware of the graphics intended meaning and just assumed that the campaign would be okay with that and probably there is no one who needed to sign off on it. I doubt Trump himself did. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2204 "2016-07-03T17:46:54Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Khare’s process sounds something like the Massachusetts procedure: First, you take a five-hour course (generally taught by an NRA-accredited instructor) in gun laws, safe handling, how the damned things work, etc. No live fire training required, though some instructors do include it (mine didn’t). Then you file an application with your local police department, including the course certification. The state/feds run a background check. If you pass, the local chief has the discretion to say go/no go (and how difficult it is varies town to town). Assuming you get the green light, you’re issued your CC and can then go buy any weapon that’s legal to own in the state – even if you’ve never actually done any live fire training. > > [http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dfg/dfw/education-events/hed/gun-licensing-requirements.html](http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dfg/dfw/education-events/hed/gun-licensing-requirements.html) > > Yes, I agree issuing a license to anyone who hasn’t been taught hands-on is stupid. In my case, I’d handled a gun maybe twice in my life before getting permitted (at age 62), so, being not-stupid, after buying my first gun\* I hired my certification instructor for a couple of live fire training sessions. > > And have seen some boneheaded stuff at the range you wouldn’t believe. > \*Why? Satisfying a lifelong curiosity and amusing myself at the range. That’s all. See, your state has a training class requirement, whether or not it has a hands on component. That’s good- it’s at least something. It sounds like Pennsylvania just requires an application, which leads to a background check and a yes/no. > **[Carrying Firearms in Pennsylvania](https://www.pa.gov/agencies/psp/programs/firearms/carrying-firearms-in-pennsylvania.html)** > > Carrying Firearms in Pennsylvania ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2205 "2016-07-03T17:52:02Z")
“Just remember, everybody: a vote for Trump is a vote for unsupervised neo-Nazis and white supremacists who’ll do what they please and assume that Trump is okay with it because nobody higher up needs to sign off on it.” ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2206 "2016-07-03T18:02:09Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > I’ll stand by what I already said: > > His campaign appeals to neo-nazis, white supremacists, and their kind, and a fair number of his troops are likely of that mindset and frequent those messageboards. His campaign is also sparsely staffed by professionals (see the recent [coming and going](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/donald-trump-vincent-harris-digital-225009) of its digital director) so these troops are relatively unsupervised and undisciplined. > > I have little doubt that the person putting it up on behalf of his campaign was aware of the graphics intended meaning and just assumed that the campaign would be okay with that and probably there is no one who needed to sign off on it. I doubt Trump himself did. If this is what Trump refers to as hiring the best people for the job, people that we’ve never heard of that are better than the ones we have now, we’re all in big trouble. Remember, this is still the courtship period; this is Trump on his BEST behaviour. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2207 "2016-07-03T18:38:37Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Well sure. If it was being passed around on neo nazi sites they would have recognized that “dogwhistle” if you can say a neo nazi feel the need to dog whistle at all. Will any of the pro-dog whistler people admit it was not an intentional one by the Trump campaign? It’s not like he immediately deleted then served up an edited version of his black on white homicides tweet. There’s no “if” about it. The image originated on /pol/ which is the White Supremacist hangout at 4chan. > [@Anthony Smith for News.Mic](#): > > Mic discovered Sunday that Donald Trump’s Twitter account wasn’t the first place the meme appeared. The image was previously featured on /pol/ — an Internet message board for the alt-right, a digital movement of neo-Nazis, anti-Semites and white supremacists newly emboldened by the success of Trump’s rhetoric — as early as June 22, over a week before Trump’s team tweeted it. > > Though the thread where the meme was featured no longer exists, you can find it by searching the URL in Archive.is, a “time capsule of the internet” that saves unalterable text and graphic of webpages. Doing so allows you to see the thread on /pol/ as it originally existed. > > Of note is the file name of the photo, HillHistory.jpg, potentially a nod to the Neo-Nazi code for “HH,” or “Heil Hitler,” which the alt-right is fond of hiding in plain sight. > > The watermark on the lower-left corner of the image leads to a Twitter account that regularly tweets violent, racist memes commenting on the state of geopolitical politics. Plenty more images from /pol/ here - > **[Donald Trump's Star of David Hillary Clinton Meme Was Created by White...](https://www.mic.com/articles/147711/donald-trump-s-star-of-david-hillary-clinton-meme-was-created-by-white-supremacists)** > > Donald Trump tweeted a meme Saturday that used dog-whistle anti-Semitism to announce that his political rival, "Crooked Hillary," had "made history."  > The meme Trump tweeted prominently featured the Star of David, a holy symbol of the... including a screencap of the original 4chan post. This isn’t the first time that Donald’s retweeted stuff from White Supremacist sites. He clearly enjoys reading them. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2208 "2016-07-04T03:11:10Z")
Trump Tweeted praise for Elie Wiesel today, and Gavin Newsom has been attacking him on Twitter, saying he has no business to say anything praising a Holocaust survivor, when he’s a bigot and anti-Semite. > [@](#): > > ".The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day.” Donald Trump, 1989 > > Gavin Newsom added, > Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump > On Saturday a great man, Elie Wiesel, passed away.The world is a better place because of him and his belief that good can triumph over evil! > [@](#): > > How dare you. He spent his life fighting against everything you represent. > > Gavin Newsom added, > Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump > On Saturday a great man, Elie Wiesel, passed away.The world is a better place because of him and his belief that good can triumph over evil! > ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2209 "2016-07-04T11:31:07Z")
As an Ohioan, I hope I get a chance to vote for Gavin Newsom some day. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2210 "2016-07-04T12:40:33Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > does the fact that the graphic was copped (possibly directly) from a neo-Nazi messageboard alter your assessment at all? How about the fact that he has staffers who go there? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2211 "2016-07-04T13:19:26Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > How about the fact that he has staffers who go there? Or that he has staffers too stupid to create their own graphics? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2212 "2016-07-04T13:23:41Z")
Was the staffer John Barron? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2213 "2016-07-04T13:31:20Z")
This looks like the work of John Miller. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2214 "2016-07-04T13:48:08Z")
Thanks Obama ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2215 "2016-07-04T14:51:45Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Look, I actually do not think that Trump is explicitly anti-Semitic, even if he hires some and panders to many. He has a Jewish daughter for Moishe’s sake. You know this doesn’t preclude someone from being anti-Semitic, right? He has no control over what religion his adult children converts to. For all we know, this put a major strain on their relationship. Or maybe he makes allowances for her because she isn’t ethnically Jewish, while viewing the “real Jews” as something altogether different. It’s safe to say that people who are not racist, Islamaphobic, anti-Semitic, xenophobic, or misogynistic will have a difficult time pandering to those who are. At this point, to believe Trump is none of these would require a great deal of evidence that would offset the reams of evidence to the contrary. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2216 "2016-07-04T16:24:44Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Didn’t everybody? It was a very odd year, '93, and probably best forgotten . . . After all, it’s not like Bob Saget, who, it bears repeating, did not [rape and kill a girl in 1990.](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2x1bwa) ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2217 "2016-07-04T16:30:37Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > You know this doesn’t preclude someone from being anti-Semitic, right? He has no control over what religion his adult children converts to. For all we know, this put a major strain on their relationship. Or maybe he makes allowances for her because she isn’t ethnically Jewish, while viewing the “real Jews” as something altogether different. > > It’s safe to say that people who are not racist, Islamaphobic, anti-Semitic, xenophobic, or misogynistic will have a difficult time pandering to those who are. At this point, to believe Trump is none of these would require a great deal of evidence that would offset the reams of evidence to the contrary. I agree: the ability of people to double-think the one gay/black/Jew in the family as “one of the good ones” is tremendous and cannot be underestimated. I don’t think Trump thinks he’s anti-Semitic, but that doesn’t mean he’s not. I think that’s the whole point of his “anti-politically correct” verbiage–everyone thinks that being politically correct is not saying what everyone knows is true–things like black people are stupid and violent, Jews are greedy but clever, women do better with a man to boss them around a little, etc. That’s not bigotry, that’s just a basic truth everyone knows. Bigotry is when you take it one step further, or when you are actively mean to someone’s face, or something else. Acknowledging truth can’t be wrong. This is a digression, but it really drove the point home for me. For years, I’ve worked in the same district and been tangentially connected to a guy who is, for my money, a misogynistic asshole. People who are predisposed to like him despite what I consider a pretty terrible flaw describe him as “really not politically savvy” and say things like “he’s gotten a lot better over the years. He’s learned you can’t always say what you think.” Every time this is brought up in front of me, I point out that the problem is not what he says, it’s what he thinks. But the thing is, he has gotten “better”, for that given value, because he’s been coached by all these people. And that coaching has never been “quit thinking misogynistic shit, you asshole”, but rather “You can’t SAY that to a woman”. Now, I know the people doing the coaching. I know they disagree with what he thinks. But flat-out saying that seems rude, so they fall back on the milder critique. The problem is that this creates monsters: he doesn’t know people are being polite/non-confrontational. He thinks they are inviting him to join in a vast conspiracy of lying in public. So Trump comes along and says “Hey guys, let’s quit lying. Let’s be honest. We all know the truth” and leaves “the truth” kinda vague, so that people can fill in whatever they think is obviously true but inexplicably on the “things you can’t say” list. And that’s appealing. However, I think Trump himself is one of these guys–he thinks that there are all these things that you can’t say, but everyone knows. Which ones? The ones about Jews? African Americans? Asians? Women? Mexicans? I dunno. I suspect shade of all of them–maybe not as extreme as his followers, but that same kind of thinking. He speaks this language because he believes it. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2218 "2016-07-04T16:44:32Z")
I’ve concluded that “politically correct” is just another term for “respectful.” So now whenever anyone says they’re not gonna “be all PC,” it’s just another way of saying “To hell with respect.” “I’m getting sick and tired of all this political correctness” essentially means “I’m getting sick and tired of people being respectful of others, especially others who are different than I am.” ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2219 "2016-07-04T16:44:42Z")
The latest from the orange one’s Twitter; [QUOTE=Donald Trump, alleged presidential candidate] Dishonest media is trying their absolute best to depict a star in a tweet as the Star of David rather than a Sheriff’s Star, or plain star! [/QUOTE] He _could’ve_ said it didn’t occur to him that it was a Star of David, or that he didn’t know what the source was. Instead he chooses to insist, knowing now that it originated from a white supremacist site, that it was completely innocuous. And he certainly didn’t bother looking into it himself before he blasted it out to the world, because the only factor Trump considers when deciding whether to trust someone is “Do they like me?” Let’s hope his tiny, baby-size fingers are never on the button. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2220 "2016-07-04T16:53:17Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > You know this doesn’t preclude someone from being anti-Semitic, right? He has no control over what religion his adult children converts to. For all we know, this put a major strain on their relationship. Or maybe he makes allowances for her because she isn’t ethnically Jewish, while viewing the “real Jews” as something altogether different. > > It’s safe to say that people who are not racist, Islamaphobic, anti-Semitic, xenophobic, or misogynistic will have a difficult time pandering to those who are. At this point, to believe Trump is none of these would require a great deal of evidence that would offset the reams of evidence to the contrary. Points well made and since I posted that I have read older articles that made them similarly. [This](http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.722593) _Haaretz_ piece, “Who Cares That Ivanka Trump Is Jewish?” and [this one](http://forward.com/opinion/341323/the-outrageous-jewish-hypocrisy-of-ivanka-trump-not-to-mention-donald-and-m/) in _Forward_. From the latter: > [@](#): > > … Many have said that the Trumps aren’t responsible for their fans. Even ignoring Trump’s racist rhetoric against Muslims and Mexicans and his encouragement of violence at his own rallies, this is demonstrably false. … > > … During her primetime interview with Trump, Fox anchor Megyn Kelly pressed the candidate several times on what he thinks about his online army of supporters who seek to destroy anyone on social media who dares to speak ill of the candidate. Kelly herself was a prime target because of several tough questions she asked of Trump during early GOP debates. After dancing around the question, as Trump has been known to do whenever pressed about endorsements from the Ku Klux Klan’s David Duke, he told Kelly, “But it is in response to something that they did.” Got that? Journalists like Weisman, Ioffe and countless others had it coming to them from Trump’s anti-Semitic and self-proclaimed “alt-right” army, because they dared to challenge the presumed nominee. > > In an interview with DuJour magazine, Melania went even further, claiming that Ioffe “provoked” the hate she received by writing about the future first lady in a less than totally flattering manner. The feedback Ioffe received included voice mailboxes full of Hitler recordings, and tweets of Photoshopped pictures of Ioffe in concentration camp garb. Ioffe isn’t the first journalist covering Trump to file a police report because of threats received while doing her job. > > By claiming that journalists “provoke” the violent animus of Donald’s army of online supporters, the Trumps have done nothing but encourage this behavior. > > The fact that even Ivanka, an outspoken and widely admired Jewish woman, hasn’t spoken out about this pervasive anti-Semitism and sexism is perhaps the most outrageous element here. … Copping a clearly anti-Semitic infographic off of a neo-Nazi White supremacist messageboard, even if taken down quickly, is unfortunately part of a consistent pattern of minimally intentionally pandering to and enabling those who want an America with, as the old satirical song went, “no Blacks, no Jews, and no gays …” and no Hispanics and no Muslims either. Or at least all of 'em, and women too, clearly knowing their proper place. I am hesitant to play any anti-Semite card personally but your point is hard to argue with. That said there are enough reasons to want him to lose a historically humiliating defeat without adding explicit anti-Semite to his list. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901/2221 "2016-07-04T18:28:45Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > I don’t think Trump thinks he’s anti-Semitic, but that doesn’t mean he’s not. I think that’s the whole point of his “anti-politically correct” verbiage–everyone thinks that being politically correct is not saying what everyone knows is true–things like black people are stupid and violent, Jews are greedy but clever, women do better with a man to boss them around a little, etc. That’s not bigotry, that’s just a basic truth everyone knows. Bigotry is when you take it one step further, or when you are actively mean to someone’s face, or something else. Acknowledging truth can’t be wrong. I agree that Trump uses anti-PC’ness to shield himself from accusations of racism etc . But disagree with you somewhat. Trump doesn’t care if someone sees him as anti-Semitic or racist or whatever; for all we know, he see himself as anti-Semitic and is perfectly fine with others seeing him that way too. I think he’s passed the point that being seen as a bigot upsets his self-image, because if this wasn’t true, he wouldn’t keep shamelessly pandering to bigots in such a transparent way. This makes him worse than your typical prejudiced person on the street who thinks you have to own a white hood to be racist or pretends that the dog whistle messaging that they clearly hear is not actually what they damn well know it is. He is a like a Tara Reed with his boob hanging out, flashing it long enough so that we can all see it but playing coy to fact that he’s acting intentionally. The coyness is what he thinks makes him look clever, but he knows he’s isn’t fooling anyone because he isn’t trying to at this point. I actually thinks Trump _wants_ to be seen as bigoted, because he associates bigotry with the ruthless pragmatism that made America great years ago. The problem with society today, you see, is that we’ve made it taboo to be bigots. It used to be that you could round up the minorities (e.g. Japanese-Americans) and intern/oppress/stigmatize them during times of conflict “just to be on the safe side” and it was fine. Now in our political correct environment, we can’t do that stuff (to the Muslims) and look at where that has left us! I get why people are hesitant to believe that someone as rich and influential as Trump could actually be a flaming bigot. It goes against the pretty fiction that people like him are rare and relegated to the most powerless fringes of society. If Trump exists, there are probably more like him, and this is unsettling. But there is power in calling a duck a duck. Perhaps it’s possible that he is merely masquerading as a bigot just to get votes. Perhaps this is simply him being a panderer extraordinaire, not a true hatemonger. But I’ll be damned if I bend over backwards to call him anything other than what his behavior suggests he is. He doesn’t deserve that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901.md?page=110) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trumps-2016-general-election-campaign/753901.md?page=112)