A FEMALE commenter writes:

I totally disagree with the previous commenter [who defended Trump’s mocking of a disabled reporter.] What Trump did was tasteless, offensive, and crass, like much of what he does. His politics might be sound on many counts, but he is humiliating conservatives everywhere, including me, with his disgusting tactics and display. It’s obvious that he wants attention and wasn’t raised with strong morals.

My husband is disabled (and yes, physical disabilities ‘count’ as disabilities; usually they are accompanied by medical issues as well), and while he is gainfully employed, he has had to deal with many setbacks (financially and medically) because of it. Clearly the commenter doesn’t know much about disability or the lived reality of it.

Bottom line, if Trump doesn’t have the intelligence and class to satirize what someone said and instead has to stoop to mocking their appearance or medical condition like a schoolyard bully, he’s not a man I can respect. Certainly not one I’d want leading my nation.

— Comments —

Sean writes:

I think the word everyone is looking for is civility. We recently had a visiting priest give a retreat at our church. His talk was on several virtues from St. Thomas Aquinas that we should cultivate to lead a more holy life. The first virtue that he covered was civility. The one example he gave was when Congressman Joe Wilson called President Obama a liar at the State of the Union address. This priest said it was wrong to do this (even if Obama was lying). The priest went on to push for open borders, exalted a gay couple that were “married” and even if they weren’t sacramentally he said that their love was purer than most heterosexual couples he knew. They also were “devout” Catholics and always went to church. I didn’t get the sense that he thought this was wrong and they were most likely receiving communion. He also equated other forms of marriage as good and that there was a difference between the institution of marriage and marriage as a sacrament. He also went on to say that the life cycle of a Catholic couple was pre-Cana, marriage, counseling, then annulment. He also stated that it was better for couples to break up peacefully than to stay together and that this was well and good with the Holy Spirit. This mind you from a Catholic priest! Who gives retreats to the faithful and training to other priests! How many people have kept quiet and didn’t rebuke this priest because of civility? My whole point is, and it is relevant to Trump and his insults and supposed bullying behavior, that an over excessive focus on civility, especially at the expense of the truth, leads to the acceptance of sin. All of Trump’s insults or bullying tactics or the like is inconsequential to him telling the Truth and revitalizing our freedoms most especially the freedom of speech.

I also disagree with you that he is insulting to conservatives. Trump is the only candidate in the race who wants to conserve the nation! By controlling immigration, he will conserve the people that this country was built on. By getting rid of these ridiculous trade agreements and utilizing tariffs (something the country already does and has historically done so) he will combat globalism and conserve our jobs. He wants to audit the Fed and I’d imagine ultimately put the creation of money back in the hands of the people. This would go a long way into 1) addressing how our system is structured, 2) allow conservatives to bring up the sin of usury and our debt based sin perpetuating system, and 3) maybe do something about it. He wants to conserve Americans time and labor by letting them keep more of their hard earned money through reduced taxes. He has stated he is pro-life so he wants to conserve that. I could go on and on. Pro-crony capitalism, trade agreements, open borders, small government, and all of the things that the “conservatives” in the establishment talks about doesn’t actually conserve anything. The so called conservatives have given everything away! I mean look at Russia! They make laws and do things to conserve their people and culture and they are the most unapologetically Christian nation on the planet! Russia certainly wouldn’t be considered “conservative” from the American perspective by they are when you think about it. And Trump is friendly to them! If anything by the polls the people are waking up and they’re running to support Trump with screams of joy.

In regards to the female commenter and her response to me about disability I might not have been clear. My point was not that physical disabilities don’t hinder a person or count as a disability. Or that it doesn’t affect people’s lives. My sister has a genetic condition and although it isn’t a disability such as your husbands it has required that my family changes some of their behaviors to accommodate her condition. I have also dated a girl whose son had autism and one of my best friends is bipolar in case you’re wondering about my history with people with disabilities. All of that is irrelevant to any point which is what should be evaluated. What I wanted the takeaway was that regardless of your disability (barring mental retardation) that there is nothing wrong with your mind and you are fully capable of making decisions based on good or evil. This reporter chose to engage in poor behavior and then hide behind his disability. Would you find that acceptable behavior if your husband did that? Furthermore, it is my policy to treat everyone with dignity. This means that I try not to treat people with disabilities as if they had a disability. If I’m going to insult my friends and the abled in the course of a conversation where it is warranted why shouldn’t I also do the same to people with a disability? Especially if they are attacking me! Are they unequal in dignity to me? Once again I also treat people with mental disorders differently because they don’t have the faculties to understand that.

I’m also willing to bet that if the reporter didn’t do the [rotten] thing he did Trump wouldn’t have mocked him. Assuming he did in the first place. He says he didn’t.

Thanks for your platform. I apologize for any excessive use of “!” and I want to convey to the person responding to me that I am doing so in respect even though I obviously disagree with her. I know how hard it is to understand tone in the written word. I also know how talking about our loved ones with disabilities can be a sensitive topic and our passions can become enflamed and I am most certainly not trying to attack her.

Laura writes:

Thank you for your civil response.

I wanted to address your point about the “Catholic” priest. He is wrong about calling someone a liar. But let’s be clear about our terms. This man was not Catholic though he may be well-intentioned, a fine person in many ways, and a victim of bad formation. The Catholic Church is not a club and “Catholic” is not a brand name. It’s a faith, and a Catholic has to accept all of its defined dogmas. He doesn’t. So his understanding of civility is not well grounded.

You’re right that an overemphasis on civility is a dangerous thing. You might say calling the “Church” in Mexico a “bastard church” is not civil, but I thought it was appropriate because it was true. A lady duelist doesn’t refrain from strong words.

In this case, I don’t care what the reporter did, one doesn’t make fun of a condition he did not create and that other people have. Don’t you see that? It doesn’t matter if the reporter hid behind his condition (I’m not sure what that means in this case), what matters is that he is making fun of the condition itself — and others who do not hide behind their condition see that. But let me give you another example of Trump’s crudeness. Trump once called up a newspaper editor I know to complain about a reporter who was researching his businesses in Atlantic City. (While he has reasonable gripes about media coverage, he also has bullied, threatened and hunted down journalists who were writing or asking things he didn’t like. Just you wait to see what happens if he is president. He will attempt to destroy some of his legitimate critics.) He called her the most insulting, unprintable name one can call a woman. Very low and disgusting. She was professional and did not do anything unethical. Okay, these are pretty minor things, (actually they’re not because a man who would call a woman that is not presidential material at all) but they are in addition to his other problems.

If Trump was running for immigration commissioner I would say that these and other things about him — his marriages, his pin-up “wife,” the casinos, the mob, his many flip-flops on political issues, his indifference to certain important issues — wouldn’t matter so much. But he’s running for president.

His immigration proposals are good but not entirely what they are cooked up to be. This wall idea is sensational and unrealistic. I don’t believe Mexico will ever pay for it, and the whole thing would take many years. Why does he promote something so unlikely? Why not bring our troops home and have them guard the border? That could be done immediately. He also advocates paying H-1B workers more. I’m not sure how he will enact that. It is unclear. How will he require that American workers be hired first and how long will the pause be before new green cards are issued? It’s vague. I don’t trust him because he is not  man of good character.

He does not address the Fed in any of his formal proposals. He doesn’t address abortion or same-sex “marriage.” Okay, so he wouldn’t get elected if he did. So what?

Your implicit assertion that the immigration problem cannot be handled in the future is speculative and, anyway, sorry to be a prude, our nation isn’t worth preserving at the expense of our virtue. If that’s the case, then it’s already dead. The idea that race or nationality is the most important thing, and as long as we have that we’ll be okay, is absolutely false. Don’t you see that God is involved in this too? Don’t you believe that God can do anything, even restore a nation to health and its own culture?  You need to relax and have confidence in God. You need to get off this political dopamine and concentrate on other things ’cause none of these characters in this long-running game show will save us. We need to turn away from it and save ourselves first by starting to build a new order within our own hearts and minds. God will provide a solution to this multicultural Babylon in his own time, but he’s a lot less likely to do it if we are not good and don’t honor His rights. You can’t easily turn back after having approved certain standards and we’ve already gone far enough. After that whole battle over same-sex “marriage,” you think I’m going to vote for a public cheater who has been “married” three times? Politicians don’t have to be saints, but they should outwardly observe  basics. Just months ago, conservatives were frantically arguing that same-sex “marriage” would someday lead to legal polygamy and now they’re wildly cheering a polygamist. Seems like the ends justify the means.

 Rusty writes:

I’m sorry but Christians who are offended by “The Donald’s” crassness are missing some important points about this race. True, he says some stupid and rude things sometimes and should apologize if he made fun of someone’s disability. At the same time, Sean is absolutely correct that we have lost everything because we are all too civil to speak up whenever we are being wronged. We are suffering greatly under the tyranny of “nice.” Trump’s rudeness is something I think we will have to suffer.

There are many good qualities under his rough exterior. Trump is a smart man. He is not a bureaucrat but a very good, well-seasoned business man. He is not an elitist. He is a friend of the working man and our soldiers. He does not pretend to be a good Christian, yet still identifies with Christianity, says that Christianity is under attack, and promises to protect Christians. He ridicules PC and has given millions courage to do the same. His brutally honest and brash way of speaking has broken a Kabbalistic spell.

Though I think The Wall is little more than a gesture, I believe he is sincere when talks about deporting illegals and protecting the borders. He also proposes to raise wages by bringing back American industry. He proposes to simplify and reduce income taxes. He proposes true market reform to lower health insurance costs. We’ll see about that but these sound like reasonable things (well, maybe except for The Wall) that our “conservative” leadership should have already been working on. In fact, our leaders are AWOL or doing the opposite.

If all that wasn’t enough, Trump is fighting the entire corrupt political establishment and is making very powerful enemies. He is taking on the MSM, the Fed, and Wall Street. He seems to be opposed by most of Organized Jewry and he is loudly and firmly opposing the Muslim invasion of the West. China and Iran are concerned because Trump wants to renegotiate unfair trade arrangements with them. Who else in the presidential race even comes close to any of this bold and necessary action?

America has been bullied for a very long time from inside and out and it will take someone like Trump to push back. Sadly, his in-your-face style is what is required to get the attention of the masses these days; a true gentleman today is taken for a weakling and is not heard above the voices of the barbarians. Those are the democratic times we live in, unfortunately. This is war and Trump is playing the part of a modern George Patton.

Laura writes:

How is he taking on the Fed and Wall Street? Blowing off steam about them is not taking them on.

Also, you don’t have to be insulting to be forceful. You can be a gentleman and a fighter. I can’t imagine Patton making fun of a reporter’s palsy. Here is Fr. Charles Coughlin on the Federal Reserve. He doesn’t come across as a patsy:

Laura adds:

Whether you vote for Trump or not, don’t pin your hopes on him.

The female commenter writes:

I’m certainly not suggesting that disabled people have no right to be called out on their inappropriate or unethical behavior. Let me respond to you on that count: My husband is a quadriplegic. He is also a full-time teacher. When he is evaluated, he is evaluated for his teaching. If something he did as a teacher, like this reporter did as a reporter, were to be inappropriate, he would be critiqued on his teaching or his behavior. If he were to be mocked about his paralyzed legs or his wheelchair instead, that would be disgusting, unprofessional, unethical, and irrelevant. That’s what Trump did here (and there are many more examples of this kind of behavior from him, indicating that it wasn’t a one-off thing).

One of his black students tried to accuse him of ‘racism’ and play victim because he got a poor grade. It wasn’t a valid critique because he had failed an exam and deserved the grade he got, and his race was irrelevant. But if my husband had graded his exam and written racial slurs all over it, or had taken him aside and told him he didn’t care for black people and didn’t think they were intelligent, would that student still be expected to respect him or to accept his grade? No, and he probably wouldn’t learn much either, and we would also doubt that the grade was legitimate; we might start to think that perhaps there is a racially charged reason for the poor grade. I agree that the topic of civility becomes a distraction, but it is Trump himself who is doing the distracting! If he wants people to focus on what he’s saying and not his boorish behavior, he shouldn’t behave boorishly.

I agree with you on civility and ‘political correctness.’ Political correctness is distinct from having basic integrity. As Mrs. Wood suggests, this reporter isn’t the only American with palsy. Should all citizens with palsy expect this kind of bullying from Trump if they displease him? Should they expect his respect? How can they expect him to represent them if he displays behavior that disrespects both himself (in that it is embarrassing and unbecoming) and all people with that condition? How can he demand their respect if he clearly doesn’t respect them?

Rusty writes:

“How is he taking on the Fed and Wall Street? Blowing off steam about them is not taking them on.”

Trump said that he thinks auditing the Fed is a good idea. Just making that necessary statement is bold. Ron Paul was attacked by his own party for that same position. Most American have never thought or heard about the Federal Reserve, and the money powers like it that way. It’s an important topic that no other candidate dares bring up. We’ll have to see what he can actually do. Without Congressional support, he may not be able to do anything.

“Also, you don’t have to be insulting to be forceful. You can be a gentleman and a fighter.”

I agree, one can be both. Churchill, Reagan, and Ron Paul come to mind. We have no statesmen running, however, and certainly not one fighting on our side. Seriously, I think that if an honest, learned gentleman, Christian statesmen were running, the majority of Americans would not discount him.  

“Should all citizens with palsy expect this kind of bullying from Trump if they displease him? Should they expect his respect? How can they expect him to represent them if he displays behavior that disrespects both himself (in that it is embarrassing and unbecoming) and all people with that condition? How can he demand their respect if he clearly doesn’t respect them?”

“I can’t imagine Patton making fun of a reporter’s palsy.”

No, you are reading too much into this incident. [Laura writes: Just to clarify, I do not base my opinions Trump largely on this incident.] Trump is not an elitist. He has long been a donor and supporting of disabled war veterans, for example. Trump was not making fun of all people with CP, only that one guy, his enemy. I remember Patton was called onto the carpet for berating some of his soldiers for their war trauma. He was not being nice. Men do this to their friends and enemies all the time, making fun of their height, weight, hair, wives, mothers, and even handicaps. It is not uncommon in military training, sports, war, and in trades like auto mechanics and construction.

“Here is Fr. Charles Coughlin on the Federal Reserve. He doesn’t come across as a patsy:”

Was Charles Coughlin taking on the entire crooked establishment, Organized Jewry, and Cultural Marxism, all by himself? [Laura writes: Yes, he was. I realize he wouldn’t make it in the presidential race. : – )] Where is Trump’s support team? Even the Vatican is against him. In the public arena, he has stood his ground alone. I think he is holding his tongue rather well, considering the total war he is leading and the number of powerful enemies he already has.

“If [Trump] wants people to focus on what he’s saying and not his boorish behavior, he shouldn’t behave boorishly.”

He doesn’t care, at least not at this point. He is winning with this kind of talk. That’s how fed up Americans are with PC and lying politicians. He has shut up our enemies with it, and Americans love him for it.  I suspect he will change his tone the closer he moves toward the White House.

“Whether you vote for Trump or not, don’t pin your hopes on him.”

Somebody is going to be president. I hope it’s Trump rather than the other biz-as-usual candidates. This is total war. Conservatives are excited again. I have no illusions. I think the country has passed the tipping point into permanent decline, but at least Trump can give us some breathing room. At the very least, he has destroyed PC, made reality a popular topic, and exposed the crooked establishment. It’s fun watching Trump playing them so artfully.

Laura writes:

The immigration issue is critical.

I wish we had a better person to get the job done.

Please follow and like us: