Donald Trump sure has stepped into a hornet's nest after his horrendous anti-Mexican comments during his presidential announcement speech. Other GOP presidential hopefuls are firing back, hoping that if they distance themselves from Donald, they will look compassionate.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus spent an hour on the phone with Trump on Thursday, urging him to moderate his inflammatory remarks on immigration, the RNC confirmed to NBC News.
Perry posted a three-minute video online Wednesday dedicated entirely to addressing Trump’s attacks and defending his record of serving 14 years as governor in a state that shares the longest border with Mexico. “Your comments about Mexicans are offensive,” Perry says in the clip. “Your remarks might make for good reality TV, but they are way out of touch with reality.”
In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Rubio said Trump’s comments distract from the substance of the immigration debate. “I think voters are capable of distinguishing the Republican Party from Donald Trump, and he’ll have to respond for his own comments,” he said. “I obviously strongly disagree with them. They’re inaccurate and they’re offensive and they’re divisive.”
“My party is in a hole with Hispanics. The first rule of politics when you’re in a hole is to stop digging. Somebody needs to take the shovel out of Donald Trump’s hand,” South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said Wednesday.
"I've said the comments he made are inappropriate and have no place in the race," said Christie while appearing on CBS News' "This Morning" on Monday. "Even though I like him; he's been a friend for 13 years. Sometimes, even good friends of yours say things that you don't agree with."
Isn't that nice. Some Republicans are actually sticking up publicly for some of our Latino friends in an obvious political move of posturing because as we know, Trump's views on immigration are in lockstep with what most of the GOP base believes. Sure, he's a bit more colorful in his remarks, but his words are striking a chord with many Republican voters. Let's not forget that when Karl Rove and George Bush proposed immigration reform in 2007, it was solidly rebuked by their right-wing base. In today's GOP, only a few like Sen. Ted Cruz are standing by Monsieur Trump.
If we look at all the recent polls, the Donald has been coming in at a solid second and now in a new PPP poll, he's leading the GOP pack by coming in first in North Carolina. That doesn't happen unless a great deal of people agree with what he's been saying.
Can you feel the Trumpmentum?
PPP's newest North Carolina poll finds that Donald Trump's momentum just keeps on building. He's the top choice of Republican primary voters in the state, getting 16% to 12% for Jeb Bush and Scott Walker, 11% for Mike Huckabee, 9% for Ben Carson and Marco Rubio, 7% for Rand Paul, 6% for Ted Cruz, 5% for Chris Christie, 4% for Carly Fiorina, 2% for Rick Perry, 1% each for Lindsey Graham, Bobby Jindal, and Rick Santorum, and less than 1% each for John Kasich and George Pataki.
Trump's favorability rating in North Carolina is 55/32, much higher than we were finding in national polls prior to his entry into the race. Trump's really caught fire with voters on the far right- 66% of 'very conservative' voters see him favorably to only 24% with a negative view of him. Trump is polling particularly well with younger voters (29%) and men (20%).
Wow!!!
And in more good news for Trump:
The latest poll arrived Thursday. In the Economist/YouGov poll, Trump holds 15% of the Republican vote nationally — ahead of former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida (11%).
And it only gets better from there:
"Trump looks even better as a candidate this week when Republicans are asked for their second choice," YouGov's Kathy Frankovic wrote along with the results. "When they are, Trump extends his lead. One in four Republicans who are registered to vote say he is their first or second choice."
Let's face it, Trump is vocalizing what the xenophobic right wing is all about. Stop trying to deflect his words and embrace them.
