Arianna Huffington: Trump won’t acknowledge reality

by Jesse Byrnes - 09/22/15 1:54 PM ET

Media mogul Arianna Huffington on Tuesday slammed GOP front-runner Donald Trump’s White House bid, saying the billionaire businessman’s “more-sizzle-than-steak” campaign is on the decline.

Writing in the entertainment section of The Huffington Post — where coverage of Trump has been relegated for months — the editor-in-chief highlighted an incident at a campaign rally last week where Trump did not correct supporters who claimed President Obama wasn’t born in the U.S.

{mosads}”There are few things as absolute in damning a candidate as a refusal to acknowledge simple reality — especially a candidate who says he’ll be tough with our enemies but refuses to even stand up to his own supporters,” Huffington wrote.

“Refusing to acknowledge that Obama was born in this country is the equivalent of refusing to say that the earth is round. Even Trump’s own supporters are embarrassed,” she added, also speculating that media coverage of Trump had started to fizzle.

Huffington noted that Trump repeatedly dodged questions during an ABC News interview with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, when asked whether Obama was born in America.

Trump’s initial silence on the birther remarks — like his previous remarks critical of illegal immigrants, Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) war record and some women — sparked widespread backlash last week, when he dropped out of a major conservative forum.

Huffington suggested Tuesday that “the mania is starting to fade.”

“Cracks are appearing in Trump’s latest Trump-branded edifice — because this one never actually had a foundation. The only surprise is that the unraveling of Trump, the candidate who can’t stop talking, came not from something he said, but something he didn’t say.”

Trump has feuded with Huffington in the past, calling her Huffington Post “a gloried blog” after coverage of his campaign was relegated to the website’s entertainment section in July.

Tags Arianna Huffington Donald Trump