Today was not a good day for Donald Trump and Republicans. Between Trump's temper tantrums and refusal to endorse John McCain and Paul Ryan in their respective primaries and President Obama's speech in which he declared Trump "unfit for the presidency" and denounced GOP leaders for their continued endorsement of the madman from New York, it was anything but a picture of building party unity and instilling confidence in the electorate. Huffington Post looks at Obama's calling out of Trump and his spineless boot lickers in the GOP leadership. Here are excerpts:
President Barack Obama on Tuesday said Donald Trump was “unfit to serve” as president of the country, asking top Republicans in Congress why they’re still endorsing the real estate mogul even as they need to condemn his comments on a near-daily basis.
Trump’s attacks on the family of a soldier killed in action in Iraq have unleashed the latest wave of rebukes from Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)
Asked about the Republican nominee during a press conference, the president said Trump cannot run the country and it’s time for top GOP leaders to rethink their support for him.
“The question I think that they have to ask themselves: If you are repeatedly having to say in very strong terms that what he has said is unacceptable, why are you still endorsing him?” Obama said, naming Ryan and McConnell. “What does this say about your party that this is your standard-bearer?”
Trump’s gaffes aren’t “episodic,” Obama said. “This is daily and weekly where they are distancing themselves from statements he’s making,” he said. “There has to be a point at which you say this is not somebody I can support for president of the United States.”
Both Ryan and McConnell have repeatedly rebuked Trump for his proposed ban on Muslims entering the country (later changed to Muslims coming to the U.S. from “terrorist countries”), and his attacks on Judge Gonzalo Curiel over his Mexican heritage.
The two Republicans on Sunday had to distance themselves from their candidate again ― this time over comments Trump made about Khizr and Ghazala Khan, whose son was killed while serving in Iraq in 2004 when he moved towards a vehicle loaded with explosives to protect fellow soldiers.
Obama said, there comes a point where you have to say “somebody who makes those kinds of statements doesn’t have the judgment, the temperament, the understanding to occupy the most powerful position in the world because a lot of people depend on the White House getting stuff right.”
This comes down to more than “policy disagreements” he added.
“I recognize that they all profoundly disagree with myself or Hillary Clinton on tax policy or on certain elements of foreign policy,” Obama said of Republicans. “But you know, there have been Republican presidents with whom I disagreed with, but I didn’t have a doubt that they could function as president.”
On a related note, one Trump minion, Katrina Pierson, tried to say that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were responsible for the death of Humayun Khan in Iraq. There's a problem with this insane accusation: Khan died in 2004, years before Obama or Clinton held offices that would have place them in decision making positions. Pierson is emblematic of the outright stupidity of trump and his supporters. If anyone is to blame for Khan's death, it is George W. Bush and Dick Cheney who took us to war based on deliberate lies.
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