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Monday, November 23, 2015

It's Time to Go Full-Frontal Godwin on Trump.

Godwin's Law is an Internet truism that any discussion that goes on long enough will eventually invoke Hitler and the Nazis. Donald Trump seems to have sped the discussion to that point already.
It was Hitler who said, “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.” Here are some of Trump's lies:
1) Most of the Mexicans coming here are criminals pushed over the border by Mexico, especially rapists.
Think about it. Rape is the most under-reported crimes in the world. Mexico is no different. Crimes against women are rarely reported, investigated, or prosecuted. Hundreds of women disappear from border towns and officialdom doesn't seem to care. So, how do they know who the rapists are, and why should they suddenly care?
2) There are 34 million illegals in the US.
Wrong. Government and private agencies agree that the correct number is between 11 and 12 million. Who really wants to vote for someone so careless with his facts?
3) He will build a huge wall on the border with Mexico; it's easier than putting up a 95 story skyscraper.
Oh, really? If putting up skyscrapers in New York was so difficult, Manhattan would still be covered in farms. On the other hand, building 1,600 miles of high wall in the desert, that would be a breeze, especially the parts that are hundreds of miles from the nearest town big enough to have a traffic light. Of course, if he believes it, it's not a lie, just a delusion.
Then he will round up and deport all the illegals. Clearly this is fantasy. The logistics are just about impossible and the execution would require police state tactics.
4) Mexico will pay for the wall.
Right. And they will raise the money by selling their oil to China. Is he running for president of the USA or Saturn?
5) Not lies, but he seems ready to excuse violent crimes by his supporters.
After a weak condemnation of the two morons who beat a homeless Mexican man with a pipe, he added "I will say, the people that are following me are very passionate." When members of his audience threw a heckler to the ground and punched and kicked him while he was down, he said "Maybe he should have been roughed up...". And maybe he should have been stomped to death?
6) Also not a lie, but here comes the big one. His solution to the risk of terrorism in the US from Islamic extremists is to close some mosques, surveil the rest, and make all Muslims register in a government database. Asked if this differs from Nazi registration of Jews, he replied, "You tell me." He's running for president and he can't be bothered to separate his policy ideas from suggestions that it's Hitlerian?
7) Now here comes the Real Big Lie. He has tweeted a graphic containing completely false statistics about homicide rates that has blacks are responsible for killing 84% of white homicide victims. It purports to be from the nonexistent "Crime Statistics Bureau" in San Francisco. The Little Green Footballs website searched for the original and was able to trace it to a Twitter post put up by an unabashed neo-Nazi. Trump has left the tweet up, and blames AP for "bad reporting".

So there is "the Donald*" in all his trumpery glory. Lying, fantasizing, pushing unconstitutional policies with more than a taint of Nazism, and spreading outright racist lies from an actual American Nazi. If this man gets elected, America will truly have something to be ashamed of.

*To me, the Donald hangs out with the Mickey, and the Minnie. I'd invoke Goofy, but he's well past that stage.