Has Trump Moved Beyond Outrage?
Rick Klein: “Donald Trump has said enough offensive things in enough offensive ways that it’s easy to lose the capacity for outrage. Even for Trump, though, his latest utterances about the federal judge assigned to a case brought against him deserve thought and scrutiny.
Saying that a judge has an ‘inherent conflict of interest’ because of his Mexican heritage – not because of any business or personal interest in the stakes of the case – is making a judgment on qualifications simply based on race. It’s a fanciful notion that would upend centuries of jurisprudence and American tradition.”
“The fact that such a concept is being floated – and not in a coded or hypothetical way – is precisely why so many Republicans are offended and even terrified about the fact that Trump will be the Republican nominee for president. Coming just hours after House Speaker Paul Ryan put his intellectual heft on the line in supporting Trump is awkward for Ryan, and just about any other conservative who has grudgingly come to terms with Trump. It’s one thing to recognize the ways in which Trump is giving voters what they want. It’s another to pause and recognize how he’s sometimes been doing it.”