Donald Trump is tripling down — or quadrupling down? It’s so hard to keep track anymore — on his racist attacks against Federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel.
An embattled Donald Trump urgently rallied his most visible supporters to defend his attacks on a federal judge’s Mexican ancestry during a conference call on Monday in which he ordered them to question the judge’s credibility and impugn reporters as racists.
“We will overcome,” Trump said, according to two supporters who were on the call and requested anonymity to share their notes with Bloomberg Politics. “And I’ve always won and I’m going to continue to win. And that’s the way it is.”
There was no mention of apologizing or backing away from his widely criticized remarks about U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is overseeing cases against the Trump University real-estate program.
When former Arizona Governor Jan Brewer interrupted the discussion to inform Trump that his own campaign had asked surrogates to stop talking about the lawsuit in an e-mail on Sunday, Trump repeatedly demanded to know who sent the memo, and immediately overruled his staff.
“Take that order and throw it the hell out,” Trump said.
Told the memo was sent by Erica Freeman, a staffer who circulates information to surrogates, Trump said he didn’t know her. He openly questioned how the campaign could defend itself if supporters weren’t allowed to talk.
“Are there any other stupid letters that were sent to you folks?” Trump said. “That’s one of the reasons I want to have this call, because you guys are getting sometimes stupid information from people that aren’t so smart.”
“People that aren’t so smart” — man, this guy even insults the campaign staffers trying to elect him President.
Since the malicious attacks on Judge Curiel, some elected Republican leaders — like Susan Collins, John Cornyn, and Kelly Ayotte — have been trying to politely disagree with Trump’s racism, but have so far refused to withdraw their support for him.
But, it’s even clearer now that this isn’t any sort of slip-up and Donald Trump means exactly what he says — and the Republicans still supporting him (especially after his new demands to up the ante) own it too, no matter how much they try to distance themselves.
To Donald Trump, not only should your ethnic heritage disqualify you from sitting on the bench — even if your personal story exemplifies the American Dream — but your religion should disqualify you, too, after adding that Muslim judges could also be a problem (for him).
Trump is showing us where he stands. Here’s your chance, too, Republicans: Either stand with Trump and his vision of hate, or stand with an America for all.
