Mercury News Editorial
Sunday, Nov. 29, 2015 - 8:11 a.m.
What will be the moment when Donald Trump goes too far?
Fomenting prejudice against Hispanics and Muslims seems to have increased his popularity. Tweeting neo-Nazi fabrications of crime statistics to gin up fear of African-Americans is more of the same.
Gratuitously spotlighting a reporter's disability in an exchange about the World Trade Center attack might be more discomfiting to Republicans, since disability is a bipartisan affliction. But appealing to the lowest common denominator of humanity hasn't stopped Trump yet from dominating the GOP field.
The thing that most unnerves us about Trump's campaign of demagoguery, however, is his encouragement of mob violence.
The most recent example was his rally in Birmingham, Alabama, when a group of supporters attacked a Black Lives Matter demonstrator, punching and kicking him as he curled up on the ground. Caught on video, it presented an opportunity for Trump to act presidential and say the right thing: that mob violence is never the right thing to do in a civilized society.
But Trump's reaction was: "Maybe he should have been roughed up."
Trump is a bully. He parades it on his television shows, and the classic personality comes through in debates and often interviews.
Calling out a reporter's visible disability, which has nothing to do with his work, to get the upper hand in a conversation is the kind of thing bullies do. So is doubling down on lies even when they've been factually discredited. He denies positions that are stated on his website. He still says he personally saw "thousands" of Middle Easterners cheering in the streets in Jersey City as the World Trade Center fell.
We have had bigots in public office before, and we've had politicians exploit voters' prejudice. But saying it's OK to beat people up if you don't like what they're saying? Is that a nation we want to live in?
After Trump's first tirade about Mexicans who come here illegally, calling them rapists and murderers, some thugs in Boston found a Latino homeless man and beat him nearly to death.
They said they were inspired by Trump.
Trump's reaction? He said it was a shame, but ... "I will say that people who are following me are very passionate. They love this country and they want this country to be great again. They are passionate."
Almost everyone has indulged in a "he had it coming" moment when someone we don't like gets a comeuppance. But imagine if the president of the United States considered mob violence an acceptable expression of political belief.
This is the Republican front-runner for the presidential nomination. When will he go too far?
Apparently not yet
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