Posted on 02/27/2016 10:51:11 AM PST by EveningStar
Donald Trump, Christian Martyr
I was starting to doze off. The debate was all but over, and the exhaustion from the day was catching up with me, as was the scotch. The rush of finally seeing the candidates go after Trump in a serious way was wearing off replaced by a mix of dread and resignation that it may all be too little too late. (Note: I don't think it is, and I won't be giving into despair either, for reasons Charlie explains here.)
I was only half listening when Donald Trump came into the spin room on CNN to explain why he's been audited every year for twelve years.
"I'm always audited by the IRS, which I think is very unfair -- I don't know, maybe because of religion, maybe because of something else, maybe because I'm doing this, although this is just recently," Trump said in an interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo immediately following the 10th GOP debate on Thursday night.
Cuomo cut in: "What do you mean religion?"
"Well, maybe because of the fact that I'm a strong Christian, and I feel strongly about it and maybe there's a bias," Trump said.
Cuomo cut in again: "You think you can get audited for being a strong Christian?"
"Well, you see what's happened," Trump said. "You have many religious groups that are complaining about that. They've been complaining about it for a long time."
"Spit take" doesn't even come close to describing my reaction. As it was, I gagged so hard my spleen almost came out my nose...
(Excerpt) Read more at link.nationalreview.com ...
I, for one, am always interested in what Jonah Goldberg has to say, even though I often disagree with him. He’s intelligent, educated, informed, literate, articulate, and interesting, even if misguided in many instances. Also, he’s a dog lover, and that counts a lot. What I think he misses in evaluating Trump is that Trump is an eclectic pragmatist. This means that Trump’s political theory/ideology is not that of a pure conservative but rather a mixture of positions, many of which are conservative but some of which are not; this is his eclecticism. Methodologically, he’s a pragmatist in that he looks for solutions that will work rather than following procedures dictated by the playbook of conservative leaders. Most conservatives I know, including myself, are exactly like Trump in that we are very conservative with respect to some issues (e.g., gun rights, national security, immigration) but less so about others. We also look for what works rather than following the etiquette that our leaders try to impose. Finally, Trump is like most people in that he arrives at positions through successive approximations similar to trial and error. If one position seems excessive or insufficient, or if a particular method doesn’t work, we learn, adapt and try something different that might work. He is therefore in the process of evolving and becoming, just like most people do over their lifespans. This has certainly been true of myself and most people I know, and I suspect it also is and will continue to be true of Donald Trump and Jonah Goldberg. In the end, the best that voters can do is select the candidate who seems to come closest to what they and he think at the time, realizing that they are choosing the best fit and not perfect matching at that particular moment.
NR attack team member.
No. The losers are the American people when you stay home or waste your votes, handling Hillary the WH.
Jonah thinks it is funny that the IRS singled out Christians groups to audit? He think it funny that the Homeland inSecurity named Christians “who beleive in the end times” as domestic terrorists, too? How about the courts forcing Christians to serve homo wedding and nuns to provide abortion and birth control? How about those Christians in the school who were shot for admitting their assassin they are Christians? Those people wiped out in San Bernardino by the jihadists at a Christmas party? What about NASA just dictating that the Christian club can’t use the word Jesus in their club announcements? All this funny, Jonah?
Or does he just walk around with his head up Obama’s rear end? I hope he sucked his spleen through his nose.
LOL. Good column by Jonah Goldberg. Thanks for the link.
No way they are in the bag for him.
The establishment never spent money to attack him and they only criticized him in the most light manner possible. So the only conclusion is they always like him but they knew what it takes to fake him and get support.
Caught Red handed.
Jonah Goldberg is feeling the butt hurt and can’t get up. :-)
What are you blabbering on about now?
I'm guessing that neither does he.
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