Daily Archives: August 1, 2016

08.01.16
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Trump and the Khans: Two Tweets That Tell You All You Need To Know

gop-2016-trump_jack

What, me, act like a reasonable human being? 

The news flowed hot and ridiculous over the weekend, as Donald Trump decided that he was forced to break his stoically heroic day-long silence about Humayun Khan and his family. Khan of course was the soldier killed in Iraq, whose parents, Khizr and Ghazala, spoke so eloquently and forcefully at the convention on Thursday. They provided probably the finest moment of either convention, laying out the case why Trump’s reckless racism was anti-American, and why he was too terrible a person to even be considered for the top job. Needless to say, Trump couldn’t let this stand. So he attacked the family, claiming

Needless to say, Trump couldn’t let this stand. So he attacked the family, claiming the the mother wasn’t allowed to speak (and how flippantly bigoted and childishly-speculative is that?). He accused Khizer of reading from a script Hillary’s people wrote, and said he had “no right to stand in front of millions of people” and attack Trump. As the weekend wore on, the Khans (both of them) became more and more forceful about the wretched character of this miserable person.

The key to understanding the whole thing isn’t Trump’s bigotry, per se, but in his need to react. If you want to understand how deeply unserious and un-Presidential this man is, his Sunday morning tweet is enough.

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

I was viciously attacked by Mr. Khan at the Democratic Convention. Am I not allowed to respond? Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me!

8:32 AM – 31 Jul 2016
That, by itself, should be enough to convince people that he isn’t deserving of any vote, much less the majority. Forget that he was responding to the parents of a Gold Star hero. It’s his unshakable notion that no one, anywhere, is allowed to say a bad word about him. That if he is attacked he has to be able to strike back, regardless of the circumstance. That is anyone is “vicious” to him, it’s not just his right, but his duty to antagonize them back.
That’s madness. You know who gets “viciously attacked” quite a bit? The President. Obama does, for sure. Do you see him responding every time someone smears his character? You know who else did? George W. Bush, who also kind of let things roll off him. Same with Bill Clinton, George HW, etc. Every President, every politician, everywhere, is attacked. Part of the job is ignoring it. Part of being a grownup is ignoring it.
But that’s not Trump. He’s a 70-yr-old child, because no one has ever said no to him. He’s titanically arrogant and wildly insecure. He feels that being “allowed” to respond, which as a citizen of course he is, means that he should respond. He can’t handle the slightest provocation, because he feels that anyone who pokes at him gets close to revealing the pathetic, calamitous baby that he truly is.
Another tweet from just this morning, after he’s been getting savaged for two days for his insane behavior, read “Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same. Nice!” There’s a lot to unpack there as well, mostly the idea that Trump should be immune to criticism from people who don’t know him, which is a little antithetical to the idea of a citizen’s relationship to power. Mostly though it’s the “Nice!”, that sarcastic sort of “can you believe this guy?” It’s all unfair, you know. Why should a man like Trump have to put up with this?
This isn’t an act, and it isn’t a political strategy. It’s who he is. He feels that being rich and powerful should make people cower before him, and if they don’t, well, woe betide them. And the more powerful he gets, the less criticism he should receive, and the more he should use his power to shut critics up by attacking them and unleashing his followers to do the same. To say that this in inimical to our beliefs is understatement, and to say his thumpish fake machismo is an inversion of the Khan’s actual courage is obvious on its face.
Forget that he is retaliating against the parents of a fallen soldier. Forget that he is going after private citizens. Forget that they were 100% correct in their attacks. That he feels the need at all to respond tells you everything you need to know about this man’s twisted, spoiled, ludicrous character. This might actually begin to sink in now. We an only hope.