Columnist Charles Krauthammer blasted GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump for the “contradictions “flying around that room every second” during his announcement and declared “this is a campaign that’s run on know-nothing xenophobia” on Tuesday’s “Special Report” on the Fox News Channel.
“Look. I do think it’s overkill to actually analyze all of these ideas. The contradictions were flying around that room every second. You could give a logic class just analyzing what he said. But, his thesis is this, and I do think it has some resonance, all of our troubles are caused by Mexicans, Chinese, Japanese, Saudis, and others. I am going to extract tribute from all of them. He said, Entitlements? I won’t have to cut entitlements. The Chinese will fund our entitlements. How? I’m the right, I’m the author of ‘Art of The Deal.’ Trust me. I’ll make the deal. I’ll make the Mexicans pay for the wall. I’ll make the Saudis empty their treasury to support our infrastructure. Look, this is a campaign that’s run on know-nothing xenophobia. It’s not American productivity, it’s not American troubles internally, it’s not our deficits, it isn’t our debt, it isn’t our entitlements. It’s — none of it is our fault. We’ve been robbed, and because I know how to negotiate, I will stop the robbery. That has some appeal. It will keep him in the top ten. It will keep him on the stage. But George is right. It will damage the party, because like say an Al Sharpton, or even a Ross Perot, having those kinds of people on the stage who aren’t really serious candidates, diminishes the stature of the others who are.”
Earlier, Krauthammer said of Trump, “The mainstream media, who wish the Republicans no good, will lavish upon him enormous coverage.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett