Editor’s Observe: Dean Obeidallah, a former lawyer, is the host of SiriusXM radio’s each day program “The Dean Obeidallah Present.” Comply with him on Threads. The opinions expressed on this commentary are his personal. Learn more opinion at CNN.
Former President Donald Trump reminded us once more this weekend that there’s no backside to his vileness. This newest installment in Trump sinking to new lows got here on Saturday when he was campaigning in South Carolina upfront of that state’s February 24 Republican presidential main.
Trump first alarmingly stated that he would encourage Russian to do “regardless of the hell they need” to NATO allies that didn’t meet the alliance’s navy spending tips. He then turned his consideration to his GOP presidential opponent Nikki Haley.
That’s when Trump did one thing we’ve by no means seen from a significant political social gathering candidate: Use the lively navy deployment of a partner to ridicule an opponent. Trump — who by no means served within the US navy — informed the group that Haley had visited him at Mar-a-Lago alongside along with her husband, Maj. Michael Haley, and had allegedly assured him that she would by no means run in opposition to him.
Trump — who’s at present out on bail in reference to prison expenses he faces in Georgia (he denies any wrongdoing) — then declared to the group, “The place’s her husband? Oh, he’s away. He’s away.” Trump then leaned into the mocking, quipping, “What occurred to her husband? What occurred to her husband?! The place is he?! He’s gone. He knew. He knew.”
What precisely Michael Haley “knew” is anybody’s guess, particularly given Trump’s recent mental gaffes and confusion, reminiscent of bizarrely claiming Nikki Haley was accountable for safety for the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 when she didn’t maintain any place in authorities. Some have suggested that Trump was insinuating the main left for full time deployment — the second of his profession — to “escape” Haley.
The desperation of the assault suggests Haley has gotten deep beneath Trump’s skinny pores and skin. In latest weeks, she repeatedly has referred to as out his gaffes — even going so far as handing out mental competency tests to voters at a latest rally — as she bucks him by persevering with her marketing campaign for the Republican nomination.
Haley responded swiftly to Trump’s assault on her husband, whom she’s described as her “rock,” by posting on social media, “Michael is deployed serving our nation, one thing you already know nothing about.” She added, “Somebody who regularly disrespects the sacrifices of navy households has no enterprise being commander in chief.”
Haley — who has steadily spoken at marketing campaign occasions about her love for her husband — additionally addressed the feedback at a rally in her house state. “Should you mock the service of a fight veteran, you don’t deserve a driver’s license, not to mention being president of the US,” she told the viewers. The previous US ambassador to the United Nations then challenged Trump to indicate the nation whether or not he has any guts, saying, “Donald, when you’ve got one thing to say, don’t say it behind my again; get on a debate stage and say it to my face.”
Even Michael Haley, who sometimes does not make comments to the media, responded on social media to Trump’s phrases, posting a meme that learn, “The distinction between people and animals? Animals would by no means enable the dumbest ones to steer the pack.”
Trump has an extended historical past of ridiculing veterans and people within the navy if he doesn’t like what they’ve stated about him. We noticed that with his notorious feedback about late Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain in the course of the 2016 marketing campaign, when he stated, “He’s not a struggle hero. He was a struggle hero as a result of he was captured. I like individuals who weren’t captured.”
Then there have been Trump’s newer comments showing to accuse former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Employees Gen. Mark Milley of treason and threatening execution as a result of Milley had given reassurances to his Chinese language counterpart that the US was “100% regular” within the days after the January 6 assault. Nevertheless, the criticism of Haley is completely different. This time, Trump attacked the partner of a candidate who’s an active-duty service member.
Will Trump lose assist for his assault on Haley and her husband? If historical past is any information, the reply is not any. GOP Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida informed us as a lot Sunday morning whereas showing on CNN. Did Rubio say there isn’t a place for utilizing service ladies and men as props for political assaults? Nope.
As an alternative, Rubio gave Trump a pass, saying, that is merely a part of the nastiness of American politics, noting that Haley has referred to as Trump a “grumpy outdated man” so it’s okay that “Trump offers pretty much as good as he will get.”
After years of firestorms over Trump’s revolting remarks, from mocking a disabled reporter to smears of Gold Star parents to ridiculing Paul Pelosi — former Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, who suffered a cranium fracture after being brutally attacked in his house — it seems that cruelty and vileness may even be the explanation that so many within the GOP base assist him.
Whereas that may be debated, one factor is definite: Trump will make much more merciless and despicable feedback earlier than the 2024 marketing campaign is over.
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