Donald Trump’s crazy train heads south
After a week where Donald Trump hailed himself as the Second Coming and sent the stock market plunging because he still doesn’t understand what tariffs do, you’d think he’d probably be laying low in the near future – to prevent himself from saying anything else stupid. At least his staff is probably wishing for that. It’s definitely better than letting him travel to another state where he isn’t particularly wanted and hold another rally – but that’s what he’s doing.
If you’re a Republican congressional candidate in a special election right about this time, when Trump is facing a number of potential rivals in next year’s Republican primary, you would probably be somewhat wary of associating with Donald Trump. Like all good congressional candidates, you would probably want to keep things at a local level and talk about what you can do for your constituents. You wouldn’t want him appearing at one of your rallies – but that’s exactly what candidate Dan Bishop is doing.
The thing about Bishop – facing a tough election in a swing district against Democrat Dan McCready – is that he’s one of the rare candidates who could actually make Donald Trump look worse than Trump could make him look. Trump’s own background as a racist has recently been brought into the spotlight, and it’s not helping matters to be seen in public with the guy who invested in a white supremacist social media page immediately after Charlottesville.
Just to be sure that his investment in Gab, an app so bigoted that Apple and Google refuse to carry it, isn’t just a one-off mistake – Bishop is already infamous for authoring the anti-LGBTQ bathroom bill that North Carolina was forced to repeal when it sparked nationwide protests. While Trump’s appearance may help Bishop’s chances, Trump is only adding fuel to the fire – as he’s doing the rally less than a month after El Paso – where we witnessed what destruction his} bigoted rhetoric is capable of. Any venue willing to host him would do well to remember the tragic consequences his visit may bring.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making