GOP Criticizes Trump, Insulting Hispanics Again

*There are several things to point out. One is that Latinos aren’t really on the GOP radar, because if they were their collective response to Trump’s remarks about Mexicans would have been as strong as the reaction to his remarks about John McCain; another is that the GOP is so disconnected from Latinos that they think we’re not noticing the difference; and a third is that for all their condemnation of Trump’s remarks against McCain and their tepid response to his attack on Mexicans, the GOP rank-and-file is unmasking an underlying problem.  VL

By Francis Wilkinson, Bloomberg View

Former prisoners of war must take satisfaction at the sight of Republicans rallying to denounce Donald Trump’s idiotic treatmentover the weekend of Senator John McCain, the former POW whom Trump suggested wasn’t much of a hero.

The headlines tell the story: “Trump Takes A Shot At John McCain, And Republicans Push Back,” announced NPR. “Trump’s Criticism of McCain Enrages Fellow Republicans,” declared U.S. News & World Report.

[pullquote]So it was all well and good for Republicans to denounce Trump for insulting McCain … the rivers of condemnation flowing now pose a sharp contrast with Republicans’ childlike fidgeting after Trump insulted Mexicans.[/pullquote]

Senator Marco Rubio, whom McCain dismissed as a finger-in-the-wind politician in a recent interview with the New Yorker, leapt to the Arizona Republican’s defense. “It’s not just absurd,” Rubio said. “It’s offensive. It’s ridiculous. And I do think it is a disqualifier as commander in chief.”

The Republican National Committee issued a statement in a similar spirit: “Senator McCain is an American hero because he served his country and sacrificed more than most can imagine. Period. There is no place in our party or our country for comments that disparage those who have served honorably.”

Got that? “No place in our party.”

Now, let’s review the Republican response to Trump’scharacterization of immigrants from Mexico as “rapists” and criminals. Or, as the headline on this USA Today column put it, “Republicans’ shameful silence on Trump.”

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