Press: Tipping point for Trump?

Democrat, Republican or independent, can’t we all agree? This is the craziest presidential campaign we can remember. 

We have two of the oldest presidential candidates ever, the two least popular candidates ever, and the most qualified and least qualified candidates ever. And it’s the first time ever one candidate could say anything — anything! — and get away with it.

{mosads}Indeed, more than anything else, the history of the 2016 presidential election will be remembered for the number of times the political commentariat has solemnly declared, “This is it! Donald Trump has finally gone too far” — only to be proven wrong and forced to respond within days to an even more outrageous outburst. 

It started long before Trump announced for president, when he made himself a household name by leading the racist conspiracy called the “birther movement,” whose sole aim was to discredit the first African-American president of the United States. Even when President Obama released his long-form birth certificate, Trump denounced it as a forgery, alleging he’d sent private detectives to Hawaii who’d made “absolutely unbelievable … unbelievable discoveries.”

On June 16, 2015, the billionaire famously launched his campaign by labeling all Mexican immigrants “criminals” and “rapists,” promising to keep them out by building a massive wall that Mexico would pay for. Three months later, he threw gasoline on the anti-Latino flames by vowing to deport 12 million immigrants who came to this country illegally. This was quickly matched by Trump’s pledge to ban all Muslims from entering the country, even legally.

If that wasn’t enough to derail the Trump campaign, surely his scorn of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) would do it. How could you ridicule a genuine American war hero and get away with it? But Donald Trump did. Just like he got away with denouncing the parents of a Muslim Army captain killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq 12 years ago. For Trump, even Bronze Star recipients and Gold Star families are fair game. And so, apparently, is Pope Francis, whom Trump also insulted.

It doesn’t stop there. He’s called Obama the “founder” of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. He suggested that Second Amendment crazies would know how to prevent a President Hillary Clinton from nominating new members of the Supreme Court — and more recently suggested disarming her Secret Service protection to “see what happens.” All the while praising Vladimir Putin as the kind of leader we need in this country and urging Russia to hack the former secretary of State’s emails.

And even when Trump finally admitted Obama was born in the United States, he blamed Clinton for starting the birther movement. This is an outright lie.

Any one of those outrageous statements would have sunk any other candidate. Ed Muskie, remember, was forced out simply for shedding a few tears, Rick Perry for one brain fart. Yet Donald Trump has neither apologized for nor backed away from anything he’s said — and nevertheless he gets a free ride from the media.

Why the double standard? Even if no single one of Trump’s incendiary remarks would do it, shouldn’t the whole bunch of them collectively be enough to disqualify him?

Press is host of “The Bill Press Show” on Free Speech TV and author of “Buyer’s Remorse: How Obama Let Progressives Down.”