It's one of the more irritating things about The Donald The Trump supporters: They insist the man tells it like it is. They keep repeating that phrase, like a far eastern meditation mantra. As if everywhere was Washington, D.C., where you say something three times and it becomes a fact.
The Donald doesn't tell it like it is often, and when he says something he may actually believe, he tends to walk it back the next day.
It wasn't all that long ago that he insisted--insisted--that the president of the United States was the founder of ISIS. The interviewing radio host tried his best to steer The Donald in another direction, but the GOP nominee wouldn't budge: "No, I meant he's the founder of ISIS." After a day or so of outrage, Mr. Trump blew it all off as sarcasm that nobody--and we mean nobody--heard in his comments.
He didn't really mean the president founded ISIS. Any more than he meant he'd self-fund the whole presidential campaign. Any more than he meant he'd ban all Muslims from the country. Any more than he meant he wanted Russia to hack into Hillary Clinton's emails. Any more than he wanted "Second Amendment people" to take care of his opponent or maybe her possible nominees to the bench. Any more than he was being crude about a certain female cable channel anchor.
Tell it like it is?
The man started his presidential campaign with this: "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best . . . . They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us [sic]. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."
After his presidential announcement, he said: "What can be simpler or more accurately stated? The Mexican government is forcing their most unwanted people into the United States. They are, in many cases, criminals, drug dealers, rapists, etc."
(For the record, studies show that immigrants--first-generation immigrants--have lower crime rates than natural born citizens. That's according to the Center for Immigration Studies, which isn't exactly liberal on immigration laws.)
But last week, for a campaign boost/photo op/hey-why-not? Mr. Trump flew to Mexico to meet with the president there. Did he tell it like it is? Did he lay down the law? Did he sound like Donald Trump at a Donald Trump rally? To quote The Donald himself:
"I happen to have a tremendous feeling for Mexican Americans not only in terms of friendships, but in terms of the tremendous numbers that I employ in the United States and they are amazing people, amazing people."
"And [in] the United States, first, second and third generation Mexicans are just beyond reproach. Spectacular, spectacular hard-working people. I have such great respect for them and their strong values of family, faith and community."
And, "ending illegal immigration, not just between our two countries, but including the illegal immigration and migration from Central and South Americans, and from other regions that impact security and finances, in both Mexico and the United States." As if illegal immigrants going south from Kansas City to Mexico City was a big problem, too.
Not a rapist comment in the lot.
Then, when he flew back to Estados Unidos, he held a campaign rally that sounded a lot different from what he said in Mexico earlier:
"Countless Americans who have died in recent years would be alive today if not for the open border policies of this administration and the administration that causes this horrible, horrible thought process, called Hillary Clinton."
Of some sort of plan on immigration by Hillary Clinton: "Most incredibly, because to me this is unbelievable, we have no idea who these people are, where these people are. I always say Trojan Horse. Watch what's going to happen, folks. It's not going to be pretty." But you wouldn't know all that because, well, you know how the media covers up things.
So one question we'd have to ask is: When The Donald is telling it like it is, is he telling it like it is on odd-numbered days or even? Or should We the People give him a 48-hour grace period to think about what he told it like it was, and give him a chance to tell it like it better should be said after more thought? Or should we assume he's telling it like it is when he tells it, but has to tell it like it should be after his handlers tell him what he shouldn't have told, lest he be criticized for telling it too much like it was?
The head swims. The tongue ties.
And we still have months more of this to come.
Good luck, Gentle Voter. You're gonna need it.
Editorial on 09/06/2016