Trump orders his surrogates to step up attacks on judge as Gingrich hits him again

One of his own campaign deputies sent around a memo yesterday asking top supporters to duck questions about Trump University, an understandable piece of advice given that, er, how does talking about Trump University or the litigation over it help Trump in any way? Oh well. Trump’s reaction upon hearing of the memo: “Take that order and throw it the hell out.” There’s another example, per MSNBC’s story this morning, of how campaign disorganization is muddling the message. Even top-ranking people aren’t on the same page.

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I agree with him 100 percent, though. Anything this guy wants to talk about, any subject he wants to broach, his A-list fans like Newt and Jan Brewer and Chris Christie and the rest should back him to the hilt. They signed up for this. He started criticizing the “Spanish” judge in the Trump U case in February. They knew who he was when they endorsed him. They knew that he surrounds himself with yes-men. Joining Team Trump and then getting squeamish when he starts demagoguing people and orders you to join in is like eating one of those cocktail-frank pizzas from Pizza Hut and then wondering why you have diarrhea. You knew what you were getting into.

I wish Trump would spend more time talking about stuff that’s unrelated to his campaign, frankly. Be honest: You wouldn’t like to see Chris Christie forced to rate all of the models Trump dated when he was single on a scale of one to 10? ‘Cause we’re one ill-advised Trump interview away from that happening.

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.”…

“I should have won this thing years ago,” Trump said on the call about the case, adding that Curiel is a “member of La Raza.” Curiel is affiliated with La Raza Lawyers of California, a Latino bar association.

A clearly irritated Trump told his supporters to attack journalists who ask questions about the lawsuit and his comments about the judge.

“The people asking the questions—those are the racists,” Trump said. “I would go at ’em.”

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What do they have to lose? None of the big-name pols who’ve signed on with Trump has much of a future in the party without him. (That’s why they signed on with him.) They might as well go all-in and say what he wants them to say. How stupid would it be for Christie, say, having already damaged his credibility irreparably with anti-Trumpers, to back away now and alienate Trump fans too, losing that cabinet position he has his eye on in the process? Although, speaking of people backing away, it’s mighty interesting that Bloomberg claims to have two different sources sharing notes with them from what was obviously a contentious phone call between Trump and prominent surrogates. There’s nothing new about rumors of tensions within his campaign — the Lewandowski/Manafort rivalry is already a thing of legend — but the fact that you’ve got people leaking on a subject that Trump’s been taking a beating over in the media hints at no small amount of angst among his A-list mouthpieces. One of his campaign co-chairs in New York said today on CNN that he “disavows” Trump’s attacks on the judge. As you’ll hear below (via BuzzFeed), Gingrich is still scolding him publicly notwithstanding Trump’s displeasure about it on Fox this morning. The fact that he’s insisting on loyalty from his supporters in his attacks on the judge is going to (and is designed to, I assume) force them to decide right now whether they really want to be on the Trump train going forward. If you’re onboard, you’re onboard no matter how bumpy the ride gets. If you’re not, get off now. Will anyone un-endorse?

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The silver lining in all this for Trump, though, is that disloyalty provides another scapegoat this fall if/when he loses. If only Newt et al. had stood up for him against “the Mexican” and the media, maybe things would have been different. Exit question via Mark Hemingway: How many more “entire GOP criticizes Trump for saying X” episodes would it take before the delegates in Cleveland start thinking seriously about a revolt? They’re not going to dump Trump for this. But this plus another wholly needless and damaging digression on the trail? I don’t know.

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Stephen Moore 8:30 AM | December 15, 2024
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