It seems every other day brings predictions that Donald Trump’s bid to buy the Republican nomination–and the presidency–is about to run aground. Even after plastering private cell phone numbers on social media, and making particularly ugly racist and misogynistic statements, there the Donald sits atop the GOP primary field. Even though nearly every poll predicts Trump faces an all-but-certain electoral massacre if he gets the nomination, it hasn’t seemed to slow down his momentum.
Well, on Thursday, Trump may have done something to make his far-right buddies fall out of love with him. Trump sat down with Bloomberg News’ Stephanie Ruhle for what started as a discussion about the Federal Reserve’s delay in raising interest rates. During the interview, Trump casually remarked that the 9-11 massacre happened while George W. Bush was in the White House. Watch a clip here.
Ruhle asked what seemed to be an innocent question–what would a President Trump would do to “make us feel safe and make us feel proud.” Trump’s reply:
“I think I have a bigger heart than all of them. I think I’m much more competent than all of them. When you talk about George Bush, I mean, say what you want, the World Trade Center came down during his time.”
Ruhle apparently thought Trump was joining the “truther” crowd, because she immediately cut him off and said that he couldn’t blame Bush for that massacre. But Trump denied that he ever said such a thing–he was just pointing out that Bush was in office when the towers fell.
“He was president, OK? Blame him or don’t blame him, but he was president. The World Trade Center came down during his reign.”
Jeb Bush wasted no time rushing to his brother’s defense:
Congressman Peter King of New York chimed in, saying that Trump was using “a Michael Moore talking point.”
As we all know, even the faintest criticism of George W. Bush is considered the eighth deadly sin in conservative circles. However, it doesn’t look like the rank and file is falling into line just yet. For instance, most of the commenters at an anti-Trump post on The Right Scoop haven’t seen fit to condemn Trump just yet.
Perhaps they know that there’s really nothing to condemn. I never thought I’d be in a position to defend Trump, but he didn’t really say anything that outrageous. All he said was that Bush was in the White House during the 9-11 massacre. Period. Since when is saying that you were in office when a massacre amounts to pinning responsibility for said massacre on you? When merely pointing that out causes Republican heads to explode, it is yet more proof that the GOP has gone off the rails.
