Donald Jr. was a charmer Tuesday night at a fund-raiser in Kansas City for longtime acquaintance Kris Kobach, who’s vying for the 2018 Republican nomination for Kansas governor.
The president’s eldest son projected warmth and familiarity while speaking in an aw-shucks manner that Dad is just a “blue-collar billionaire,” making it sound as if he’d just come up from the coal mine.
Of course we know otherwise, but perpetuating the myth is not a little galling. Even the president has never purported to unduly exert himself. In fact, the president has a rather unorthodox view of physical activity.
In an interview with The New Yorker earlier this year Mr. Trump said he gave up all forms of exercise after college because he sees the human body as “a battery, with a finite amount of energy, which exercise only depletes.”
Though medical science has never ventured such a theory, Mr. Trump remains undeterred.
Donald Jr. said he thought the First and Second Amendments had stood in jeopardy until his dad was elected and praised him for giving conservatives the ability “to actually feel free to speak up again,” which is code for marching in Neo-Nazi rallies without fear of being publicly pilloried.
Only on Wednesday our president tweeted anti-Muslim videos.
The rise of Islamophobia and racism is deeply troubling. This cannot be our new normal.
Kobach also shares Mr. Trump’s conviction that voter fraud is rampant across the United States, though neither has been able to prove it. To date, Kobach has found only one unauthorized voter in Kansas. Many see Kobach using the issue as a means to suppress voter registration, especially targeting minorities.
MR. TRUMP tapped into middle class angst in his campaign for president. Though he couldn’t personally relate to stagnant wages and rising costs, he could identify with their anger, because he’s angry, too. Just not about the same things.
Mr. Trump’s worldview is two-dimensional. If more money is needed to help fund social services such as Medicare and Social Security then that means less for his idea on how to make America great again. Same for climate change. Requiring industries to limit pollutants is a drain on their profits. And as for taxes, well, dammit, big business needs a break, no matter that the majority of Americans will pay the consequences.
The philosophy that a high tide lifts all boats is lost on Mr. Trump. In his mind, there’s only one boat, and it’s for “winners.”
That Kobach so strongly aligns with President Trump is worrisome.
The last thing we need is another ideologue running the state. Has moderation been thrown out the window?
— Susan Lynn
