No One Brought Their Klan Robes To The Trump Rally In Birmingham

The Republican side of the story is that a big-- very big-- scary black man in a #BlackLivesMatter t-shirt came to a Trump rally in Birmingham looking for trouble and interrupted Trump's address by shouting "Black Lives Matter." Besides, they didn't lynch him so what's all the fuss? After all, what's a little shoving, punching and kicking between neighbors? Mob violence in Alabama, after all, is as American as sweet potato pie-- or at least in their version of what's American. The non-Republican side is simpler: a mob of white racists ganged up on a black man and beat him up... Sweet Home, Alabama!

Did Trump incite them to violence with his repeated demands that they "get him the hell out of here?" After all, the next day he was on Fox and Friends telling the droogs that "Maybe he should have been roughed up. It was disgusting what he was doing." And by definition, of course, anyone who interrupts Trump is disgusting. Listen to what Trump said in Birmingham and you tell me:



Is Trump inciting people to violence against Muslims with his repeated lies that he personally saw Muslims in Jersey City cheering after the World Trade Center came down? "There were people that were cheering on the other side of New Jersey where you have large Arab populations. They were cheering as the World Trade Center came down. I know it might be not politically correct for you to talk about it, but there were people cheering as that building came down-- as those buildings came down, and that tells you something. It was well covered at the time." He saw it the same way Carly Fiorina saw Planned Parenthood executives plotting a baby brain extraction business model-- he saw it in his sick and sickening mind.

In response, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said Trump "has memory issues or willfully distorts the truth, either of which should be concerning for the Republican Party."

"Trump is plain wrong, and he is shamefully politicizing an emotionally charged issue. No one in Jersey City cheered on September 11th," Fulop said. "We were actually among the first to provide responders to help in lower Manhattan. Trump needs to understand that Jersey City will not be part of his hate campaign."

And by the way, the Washington Post Fact Checker gave Trump 4 Pinocchinos for his 9/11 lie.

This appears to be another case of Trump’s overactive imagination, much like his baseless claim that the George W. Bush White House tried to “silence” his Iraq war opposition in 2003. We looked and looked-- and could find absolutely no evidence to support his claim.

But that was merely a matter of self-aggrandizement, whereas now Trump has defamed the Muslim communities of New Jersey. He cannot simply assert something so damning; he must provide some real evidence or else issue an apology.

Predictably, Politifact made the same ruling, although, at leastgraphically, even stronger:

"Thousands and thousands." Why not millions?

Even Virginia's right-wing former governor, Jim Gilmore, is now overtly referring to Trump's ideas as fascist. But when Jersey Governor Chris Christie was asked by reporters about Trump's outrageous charges regarding people in his state cheering about 9/11, all he could do was whine that he can't remember. Afraid of President Trumpy? Christie, soon to be out of a job and looking for work: "I don’t recall that. I don’t... it’s not something that was part of my recollection. I think if it had happened, I would remember it. But, you know, there could be things I forget, too. I don’t remember that. No." Just vile! So the newest Republican Establishment line is now "Only Mitt Romney can save us from the Trumpist fascism that is sweeping the Republican Party base" and chopping their Deep Bench into little, unrecognizable pieces. After all Mitt, avowedly a non-candidate, is polling way ahead of Trump in New Hampshire. Oh.

• Mitt- 31.0%
• Trumpy- 14.6%
• Cruz- 6.8%
• Dr. Ben- 6.8%
• Kasich- 6.4%
• Rubio- 6.2%
• Jeb- 2.8%
• Fiorina- 2.6%
• Christie- 2.4%
• Rand- 2.2%

Lindsey got one vote so he merited a 0.2% and Huckabee got 2 votes so he's rated a 0.4% but poor Santorum didn't even get a single vote. Does New Hampshire want Mitt? Well, they may want him more than the other garbage candidates the GOP is offering but... probably not. In 2012 he only got 46% of the vote against Obama and lost every single population center. Although he tied Obama in Dixville-- 5 votes each-- He only managed 23% in Lyme and 24% in Hanover. In fact, Romney's only New Hampshire blowout was in the Coos County township of Millsfield (100% white and with a family median income of $59,375) where he beat Obama 16 (73%) to 5 (23%).

Oh, and by the by, Trump is again threatening the GOP that if they try to pull anything on him, he'll tear up the peace treaty he signed and run as an independent next November. He was on ABC-TV's This Week extolling the virtues of waterboarding when Stephanopoulos asked him if he would consider a third-party run if GOP opponents try "to take you out." Stephanopoulos was referencing Liz Mair's revelations about a Dark Money Trump Card attack group and her promises in the Wall Street Journal to defeat him. Kasich, Rubio and Jeb fat cat donors are coming together with millions of dollars to make a last-ditch effort to derail Trump. Trump said, "I will see what happens. I have to be treated fairly. If I'm treated fairly, I'm fine."

As a limited liability company, Trump Card LLC wouldn’t have to disclose its donors to the Federal Election Commission. Viveca Novak, communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics, said she was aware of no restrictions on the kinds of political activities that could be funded through an LLC. “Anyone can set one up,” she said. “You don’t know who is behind it.”

Ms. Mair, who has ties to the libertarian movement and the GOP establishment, said that donors backing Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Mr. Kasich and Mr. Bush are interested, and that some worry that going public could hurt their candidate.

Rick Wilson, a Republican media consultant, said in an interview that he is prepared to make ads for the new group. Mr. Wilson isn’t involved in fundraising but predicted that a number of Republican donors will start bankrolling an anti-Trump effort.

“People are finally taking the threat that Trump will destroy the Republican Party and lose the general election to Hillary Clinton seriously,” said Mr. Wilson, who recently started working for a new super PAC backing Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

The super PAC supporting Mr. Kasich, New Day for America, on Thursday began airing a series of ads that show Mr. Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson while invoking the Nov. 13 Paris terrorist attacks. “On-the-job training for president does not work,” an ad says.

Mr. Trump responded by threatening to sue the super PAC. “John Kasich should focus his special-interest money on building up his failed image, not negative ads on me,” Mr. Trump said in one of a stream of posts on Twitter.

...Ms. Mair’s anti-Trump effort is planning an especially blunt and direct approach. The group’s memo said it would be pitching opposition research to media in early-voting states, as well as radio and television ads and Web videos that attract media attention based on their “outrageousness and boundary-breaking or bizarre nature.”

One possible ad would link Mr. Trump’s views and style to his celebrity foe, Rosie O’Donnell, in hopes of provoking a reaction from Mr. Trump, according to the memo.

Other possible tactics include fake pro-Trump ads that show him supporting socialized medicine, seizing property through eminent domain and taking other positions that stray from GOP orthodoxy; using a Trump impersonator to show him insulting people; and attacking his business record in “stark, nasty terms.”

The goal, according to the memo, isn’t to convert Mr. Trump’s supporters into backing other candidates, but to dissuade them from voting altogether, especially in New Hampshire’s influential first-in-the-nation primary.

For financing, the memo said the group is seeking $250,000 from donors in multiple GOP presidential camps.