Trump Sneaks Around California, Hiding From The Voters-- Like A Thief In The Night

I was supposed to have dinner with a friend at Nerano, a small, low-key, out-of-the-way restaurant in Beverley Hills tonight. But we cancelled the reservation and moved our destination to a Turkish restaurant, Kismet, on the East Side instead. Our goal wasn't about cuisine-- although Kismet is amazing, especially the marinated feta-- but to get as far away from the Trumpanzee Circus on the West Side. He was at a mystery dinner last night and a mystery breakfast today.

Southern California activists wanted to protest Trump's two appearances in Beverly Hills. But they couldn't. The locations are top secret. No one knows who the hosts are or where the receptions are. The voters will be kept away. It was the same kind of thing, according to Wall Street Journal reporters Rebecca Ballhaus and Chad Day yesterday. "Three years ago," they wrote, "an uproar among company employees forced the chief executive of Intel Corp. at the time to cancel an event for candidate Donald Trump at his Atherton, Calif., home hours after the plan became public. On Tuesday, the president is set to return to the Bay Area for the first time since his election-- and no one will say who is hosting him. Campaign aides and advisers cited security and privacy concerns and noted violence that arose from protests during Mr. Trump’s previous trips to the area as they declined through Monday evening to disclose the host of the fundraiser the president will attend. Donors invited to the event—whose tickets cost up to $100,000 per couple—weren’t told in advance where the fundraiser is or who is hosting it. Instead, they were told to arrive at a parking place in Palo Alto, from which they will be transported to the event."

It's hilarious to see Trump sneaking around California from mansion to mansion to collect money from the super-rich in person, while avoiding actual voters. Trump is certainly the most hated and reviled occupant of the White House in modern history-- more hated than Nixon. California isn't exactly Trump territory. In 2016 Hillary beat Bernie in the Democratic primary, but even in losing, Bernie won more votes than Trump did in his win. Bernie took 1,502,043 votes to Trump's 1,174,829. In Silicon Valley's Santa Clara County, Bernie had almost double the number of votes Trump did-- 70,468 to 35,568. And in Los Angeles, it was shocking:

• Bernie- 434,656
• Trumpanzee- 179,130

In November, Hillary slaughtered Trump statewide and in both counties where he's sniffing around for campaign cash. Statewide she beat him 7,362,490 (61.6%) to 3,916,209 (32.8%). That's right, Trump didn't even get a third of California's votes. And it was far worse in Santa Clara and Los Angeles counties. In Santa Clara, Hillary beat him 73.8% to 20.9% and in Los Angeles County it was 71.4% to 23.4%. (Trump got less than 10% in San Francisco.)

Third-rate celebrities (and former celebrities) who support Trump include Jon Voight, Andy Garcia, Heather Locklear, Dean Cain, Laura Prepon, Angie Harmon, Vince Vaughn, Adam Sandler, Joe Pesci, Kurt Russell, Chuck Norris, James Woods, Charlie Sheen, Margaret Hamilton, George Hamilton, Jessica Simpson, Owen Wilson, Jaclyn Smith, Cheryl Ladd, Sela Ward, Kevin Sorbo, Patricia Heaton, Bruce Willis, Kanye West, Tom Selleck, Clint Eastwood, Stacey Dash, Roseanne Barr, Hulk Hogan, Tila Tequila, Fran Drescher, Sylvester Stallone, Gene Simmons, John Ratzenberger, Robert Davi, Kirstie Alley, Kelsey Grammar, Jesse James, Gary Busey, Wayne Newton, Lou Ferrigno and gay porn star and former Republican congressional candidate Antonio Sabato, Jr.

Monday night, the Trumpanzee Hate Circus was in New Mexico, where Trump got distracted by a fly and... just generally made a fool of himself by condescending to Hispanics.

The president's pitch to Hispanic voters seemed to silo them off from the rest of the electorate, including the rally crowd ("We love our Hispanics"). It featured an assertion that they had a greater understanding of the source of the drug problem than other Americans. And it included a section in which Trump wondered how CNN contributor Steve Cortes could be Hispanic even though, the president said, he appeared to be of Northern European descent.

“He happens to be Hispanic, but I never quite figured it out because he looks more like a WASP than I do,” Trump said of Cortes, who was in the audience.

From the stage, he asked Cortes: "Who do you like more, the country or Hispanics?” Cortes appeared to mouth “country,” to which Trump replied: “I don’t know. I may have to go for the Hispanics, to be honest with you. We got a lot of Hispanics.”

Trump later said Hispanics should support him and his efforts to build a border wall because they understand the roots of the drug problem better than other voters.

"And at the center of America's drug crisis, this is where the Hispanics know it better than anybody, people said, 'Oh, the Hispanics won't like a wall.' I said, 'I think they are going to love it,'" Trump said. "You know why? Because you understand it better than other people, but at the whole center of this crisis is the drugs that are pouring in, and you understand that when other people don't understand it."

“Nobody loves the Hispanics more,” Trump told the crowd. “We love our Hispanics, get out and vote.”

Red, white and green “Latinos for Trump” signs littered the crowd, with a directive to text “VAMOS” to the campaign number on the back. New Mexico’s population is nearly 50 percent Hispanic, according to the Census Bureau... Trump's disapproval rating among Hispanics stood at 79 percent in a Pew Research Center poll last month.