Pouncing on 70-year-old GOP nominee real estate tycoon Donald Trump for telling Fox News Chris Wallace he would wait-and-see before accepting the election results Nov. 8, the liberal press conveniently forgot about the year 2000, when formwe Democratic nominee VP Al Gore refused to concede after Florida certified Bush-43 the winner by only 587 votes. Trump’s comments to Wallace had nothing to do with what Democratic nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called a rejection of the U.S. Democratic election process. Hillary was among many Democrats in 2000 saying the election was stolen from Gore, forcing Florida’s former Secretary of State Kathleen Harris into a costly recount of “butterfly” ballots and “hanging chads.” Trump’s comments about waiting-and-seeing were nothing more than what happened in 2004 when Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) refused to accept the results of the Ohio primary putting Bush-43 over the top.
Trump’s comments at campaign events about a “rigged” election, speak more about the pile on by the media, misquoting, misstating and misrepresenting just about everything Trump says. Last night was no different when the press savaged Trump for not saying he’d accept the election results. Trump’s statement was aimed more at the press for showing up to 95% bias against his candidacy. At nearly every campaign event, Trump makes reference to the “dishonest” press, refusing give him fair coverage. Trump finds himself spending as much time running against the press and his own party than Hillary. Hillary’s predigested talking points play well in a debate format where the moderator and press look for neatly packaged talking points rather than authenticity. When Hillary ripped Russian President Vladimir Putin for allegedly hacking Democratic Websites, she hinted at a Hillary foreign policy.
While Trump responded to Hillary’s charge of being a “Russian puppet,” the media ignored the foreign policy implications of Hillary anti-Russian rhetoric. Today’s press is more distracted with trivia than paying attention to potential red flags in foreign and domestic policy. When asked about a no-fly zone, Hillary readily acknowledged her support, echoing the views of Sen. John McCain (R-Az.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who urged President Barack Obama Oct. 4 to shoot down Russian warplanes. Wallace didn’t have the knowledge or follow-through to question Hillary’s support of the Saudi proxy war seeking to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Trump tried to highlight Hillary’s foreign policy failures but couldn’t capitalize on a perfect opportunity to point out she’s making the same mistake in Syria as she did in Iraq, Egypt and Libya, spreading more terrorism and mayhem over the Middle East.
Focusing only on whether Trump accepts the eventual election results diverts voters away from the gathering storm clouds in Syria. Trump tried to warn voters of Hillary’s “bad” experience and judgment as Secretary of State. Instead of drilling down on potential war-and-peace issues, Wallace couldn’t keep Hillary or Trump focused on anything significant. Voters have a right to know which of the two candidates is most likely to get the U.S. into WWIII. Hillary’s glib answers about a no-fly zone in Syria raise the stakes of a military confrontation with Russia, something that would spell doom for U.S. and world financial markets. When asking about the economy, Wallace couldn’t fathom Trump’s plan to re-negotiate failed trade pacts that have driven manufacturing jobs out of the U.S. Wallance insisted that “cuts” were needed to deal with entitlement spending, rather than accepting Trump’s economic plan to increase U.S. Gross Domestic Product.
Last night’s debate rehashed Hillary’s talking points that Trump is temperamentally unfit for president. Trump showed considerable restraint, letting Hillary spew predigested talking points about his lack of fitness for office. Trump couldn’t get underneath Hilalry’s smoke blowing about her exoneration July 3 by FBI Director James Comey regarding her emails. Trump didn’t mention that Comey only looked at whether or not Hillary knowingly sent-or-received classified information. Trump didn’t point out that Comey didn’t look into the obstruction of justice charge for Hillary destroying some 33,000 emails after receiving a Congressional subpoena. Hillary cleverly evaded the obstruction issue because Trump didn’t clarify the narrow question Comey investigated. Trump’s inability to expose Hillary’s smoke-blowing left the liberal press and voters in the dark, whether about the emails or potentially dangerous foreign policy issues.
Unlike the Oct. 9 debate in St. Louis, Trump looked less in charge, unable to make a compelling case against Hillary. Hillary played defense, ignoring Trump’s substantive charges about foreign policy and her email scandal. When you consider Trump’s behind in most polls, he needed to make a compelling case to undecided voters. While there were no major gaffes by either candidate, Trump needed a strong showing to make up ground. With less than three weeks before the election, it’s going to be difficult for Trump to move the needle, especially because he gets no help from the press, with the exception of Fox News. Battling the GOP and mainstream press has diverted Trump from staying laser-focused on Hillary, especially her financial ties through the Clinton Foundation to foreign governments, like Saudi Arabia. If Trump connected-the-dots between Hillary’s cash ties to the Saudis and her policy on Syria, Trump would have scored major points.
