Washington Post
(Post Politics)
By Janell Ross
July 5, 2015
A
few weeks after Republican presidential contenders struggled to find
their footing on the Charleston shooting and then seemed to decide
almost all at once that the era
of public Confederate displays had reached its just end, candidate
Donald Trump has become the latest in a series of challenges around
race, ethnicity and inclusion with which right-leaning politicians must
contend.
The
situation began when Trump described Mexicans entering the country
illegally as “rapists” and “murderers” during a June speech announcing
his plans to seek the GOP’s
2016 presidential nomination. In the weeks that have followed, Trump
has doubled down on his comments, insisting that despite the fact that
illegal migration has reached a 40-year low at the U.S.-Mexico border,
the phenomenon remains one of the country’s leading
challenges. He's also said that undocumented immigrants are a major
source of crime in the United States. And Trump has lost successive
business deals with Univision, NBC and Macy's.
On
the Sunday shows, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) came pretty close to outright
praise for Trump. Former Texas governor Rick Perry and former Florida
governor Jeb Bush described
Trump’s comments as offensive. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie skated
comment on Trump’s description of Mexican nationals but called Trump’s
security approach of building a bigger, better wall at the border as
“unrealistic.” And former Arkansas governor Mike
Huckabee first evaded the Trump question, then drew a sharp contrast
between his views and those of the New York businessman.
Trump
has said repeatedly that if elected he would build a wall along the
U.S.-Mexico border, then bill Mexico for its cost. He has leaned heavily
on the capacity of a
wall to resolve U.S. businesses’ demand for cheap labor, the range of
economic need and violence, and the limited options for legal migration
to the United States from Latin America that have together driven
millions to illegally cross the border.
This
morning while talking to NBC's Chuck Todd on "Meet the Press," Cruz
studiously avoided any direct criticism of Trump. Instead, he may have
coined a new phrase for
primary season warfare.
I
like Donald Trump. He's bold, he's brash. And I get it that it seems
the favorite sport of the Washington media is to encourage some
Republicans to attack other Republicans.
I'm not going to do it. I'm not interested in Republican-on-Republican
violence.
Over
on CNN's "State of the Union," Huckabee first demurred on a question
about Trump. But a few moments later, when asked about the damage Trump
may be doing to other
Republicans, Huckabee got pretty clear.
I
say every night, I get on my knees and thank God I'm in a country
people are trying to break into rather than one they're trying to break
out of.
My
own experience as a governor of Arkansas, with many, many immigrants,
not just from Mexico, but from throughout the areas of Central and South
America, my experience
is that most of them have come for opportunity. They come to help their
families, some of the hardest-working people, interestingly, too, Jake
-- and I think this is often lost -- some of the most conservative,
family-oriented and faith-based people I have
ever witnessed.
Meanwhile,
over on ABC’s "This Week," Perry responded to Trump’s claims that Perry
should have done a “better job” responding to security problems along
the border as
the chief executive in Texas. Perry started by plugging his own border
security efforts. Then, there was this:
Donald
Trump does not represent the Republican Party. I was offended by his
remarks. Listen, Hispanics in America and Hispanics in Texas from the
Alamo, Afghanistan have
been extraordinary people, citizens of our country and of our state.
They have served nobly. And to paint with that broad a brush that Donald
Trump did ... I mean, he’s going to have to defend those remarks. I
never will.
"Meet
the Press" also aired footage of Bush on the campaign trail this week
clearly distancing himself and the Republican Party. Bush described
Trump's comments as attention
seeking and inflammatory. And on "Fox News Sunday," Christie didn't say
a word about Trump's speech but did describe Trump's plans to build a
more expansive wall along the border as little more than political
grandstanding.
Away
from the Sunday shows, Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and former New York
governor George Pataki have also managed pretty clear rebukes of Trump
and his comments.
There
are more than a few possible reads on just why some candidates are
willing to criticize Trump or divorce themselves from the ideas
expressed in Trump’s announcement
and others aren't. The candidates could be expressing sincere beliefs.
Some may be searching for a way to draw in moderate Republican support.
And others still may be more interested in picking up Trump’s supporters
when his campaign experiences its seemingly
inevitable crash.
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