This CNN Exchange Demonstrates The Absurdly Low Standards For Donald Trump
BY
AARON RUPAR
MAY 3, 2016 11:06 PM
CREDIT: SCREENSHOT
During previous primary night speeches, Donald Trump called the media “
disgusting,” was
flanked by fringe right-wing figures who are mostly remembered for saying ridiculous and offensive things, and
broadsided Hillary Clinton with sexist attacks.
But on Tuesday, fresh off
a dominating victory in Indiana that prompted
Ted Cruz to suspend his campaign and all but sealed that Trump will be the Republican nominee for president, the billionaire toned things down a bit.
While he did make up the word “
bigly” and elicited groans by saying, “
I love winning with women,” for the most part Trump steered clear of controversy and attempted to portray himself as a magnanimous winner. For instance, just hours after
calling Ted Cruz a “wacko” on Twitter, Trump had kind words for his defeated rival, describing him as “one hell of a competitor” who has a “beautiful family.” (In March, Trump
retweeted a meme suggesting Cruz’s wife Heidi isn’t attractive.)
So Trump mostly avoided offending anybody — he did say that when he’s president, “We’re going to be saying ‘Merry Christmas’ again — and heaped praise on a competitor he’s been insulting on a near daily basis for months. That might not seem like much, but it was plenty for CNN’s primary night panel.
“I just want to say I thought that was actually an extraordinarily good speech,” liberal commentator Van Jones said. “I know that there’s probably some way you’re supposed to do it, he hasn’t done it that way the whole time, so why would he start now, but I’ll tell you what. You’re sitting here and you’re biting your nails and saying, this guy is one step closer to being the President of the United States, possibly, is he going to come out here and be awful?”
“That’s how you act when you win,” Jones continued. “Let’s give the devil his due. He was polite to the guy, and he said nice things about the guy’s family. Tomorrow he’ll be talking about, you know, UFOs. But tonight he did what you’re supposed to do. We should be proud of that.”
At that point, Jeffrey Lord — a Trump-supporting CNN commentator who got into a
heated exchanged with Jones on Super Tuesday — added, “I’ll use the word, and I can almost hear the laughter coming from all of you this minute, that I think describes Donald Trump in certain situations. And that word is — humble.”
It’s almost enough to make a person forget they were talking about the same candidate who wants to
blackmail the Mexican government to pay for a border wall, ban Muslims from
immigrating to the U.S., and said he thinks
women who get abortions should be punished.
This CNN Exchange Demonstrates The Absurdly Low Standards For Donald Trump