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OPINION 4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JUNE 27, 2016 Trump in the dumps as campaign slumps By MAUREEN DOWD New York Times News Service Founded in 1873 STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager CARL EARL, Systems Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager Why make it easy for terrorists? A tectonic plate is shifting on guns I f more than 30,000 Americans were dying from a certain dis- ease, Congress would pay attention. That is one way of fram- ing last week’s House irearms sit-in spectacle and the Senate ilibuster that preceded it. Following the June 12 for owning assault weapons.” Orlando gun massacre, a tec- In the face of the behe- tonic plate in American politics moth lobby, the NRA, con- is shifting. Large majorities of ventional politicians laugh at Americans favor narrowing or the Democratic offensive. But eliminating the ability of peo- let’s remember recent history. ple on the no-ly list to buy It is dificult to imagine irearms. an America in which smok- Congressional Republicans ing permeated the workplace, don’t see that. They are oper- even hospitals. It’s hard to ating from their time-honored remember when auto man- game strategy, in which they ufacturers resisted automo- do what the National Rile bile safety measures such as Association demands. But seat belts. Read biographies of House and Senate Democrats 20th century black musicians have found their voice on the and you’ll learn about the guns issue. It is resonating with extent of racial segregation, a large segment of the public. into the 1960s — even reach- It is puzzling that House ing into Salem. And remember Speaker Paul Ryan shut down how recently gay bashing was the House for a holiday recess, common. If you had asked instead of holding a vote on tobacco companies, auto man- the Democrats’ gun proposals. ufacturers, African-Americans There are many ways of and gays whether any of these questioning guns and their societal norms would ever impact on American culture. change, the answer was prob- There has always been the ably a resounding “no.” public health issue of more Republican slavishness than 30,000 gun-related deaths toward the NRA’s hard line annually. After Orlando, many no longer matches reality. And question why we give terrorists the thing they forget is that access to weapons. And a third assuredly there will be another perspective was stated suc- Orlando-type massacre within cinctly by Rep. Seth Moulton months. That’s because — an Iraq War veteran — who Congress makes it easy for the said: “Civilians have no reason deranged and the terrorists. ASHINGTON — He won’t pivot. So I have to. W Having seen Donald Trump as a braggadocious but benign celebrity in New York for decades, I did not regard him as the apotheosis of evil. He seemed more like a toon, a cocky huckster swanning around Gotham with a statuesque woman on his arm and skyscrapers stamped with his brand. I certainly never would have predicted that the Trump name would be uttered in the same breath as Hit- ler, Mussolini and scary menace, even on such pop culture staples as “The Bachelorette.” Trump jumped into the race with an eruption of bigotry, ranting about Mex- ican rapists and a Muslim ban. But pri- vately, he assured people that these were merely opening bids in the negoti- ation; that he was really the same prag- matic New Yorker he had always been; that he would be a lexible, wheel- ing-and-dealing president, not a crazy nihilist like Ted Cruz or a mean racist like George Wallace. He yearned to be compared to Ronald Reagan, a former TV star who overcame a reputation for bellicosity and racial dog whistles to become the most beloved Republican president of modern times. Trump was applying his business cunning, Twitter snarkiness and bendy relationship with the truth to his new role as a Republican pol. The opposi- tion was unappetizing: Cruz, a creepy, calculating ideologue; Marco Rubio, a hungry lightweight jettisoning his old positions and mentor; Chris Christie, a vindictive bully; Jeb Bush, a past-his- sell-by-date scion. When Trump pulled back the cur- tain on how Washington Republicans had been stringing their voters along for years with bold promises, like repeal- ing Obamacare, that they knew had no chance, it was a rare opportunity to see them called out. And when Trump was blunt about how cheaply you could buy and sell politicians in both parties, it made this town squirm. His obnoxious use of ethnicity only exposed the fact that Republicans had been using bigotry against minorities and gays to whip up voters for decades. The GOP would love to drop Trump now because it prefers a candidate in the party’s more subtle racist traditions. (Or even a candidate savvy enough to heap disdain on the 47 percent of gov- ernment freeloaders at a ritzy fundraiser without having a bartender tape it and leak it.) The neocons calling Trump a fascist would certainly prefer a more militaris- tic candidate. Trump realized the Iraq War was misbegotten long before much of the media cognoscenti in New York, and he was willing to hold W. account- able for being asleep at the switch before 9/11 and using a bait- rally Thursday night when and-switch on Iraq. Even he could no longer brag though he ranted about the about his polls, which are press, he was also far more shattering records for neg- available to the media than ativity. Finally, on Friday, the cloaked Hillary Clinton, Trump couldn’t stop him- who has yet to give a news self from tweeting out a poll, conference this year. But he even though it was one that undermines his accessibil- showed him behind Clinton. ity when he incites nastiness Trump has made his against reporters at his rallies campaign all about his abil- Maureen and revokes The Washington ity to win. So if he stops Dowd Post’s credentials for a winning, what’s his rai- headline he doesn’t like. son d’etre? Before his campaign Everything Trump’s pledges to became infused with release his tax returns is filtered and surround him- racial grievance, vic- timhood and violence, self with an A-team fell through Trump told me, “I have through. A month after fun with life, and I under- his hostile takeover of his ego. the stand life, and I want to Republican Party, make life better for peo- he’s got a skeletal opera- ple.” If he had those better angels, he tion a few loors below his ofice suite didn’t listen to them. Seduced by the in Trump Tower. roar of the angry crowd, Trump kept Trump shocked himself by shoot- dishing out racially offensive comments ing to the top of the Republican heap. about “my African-American,” a black It was like watching a bank robber man he spotted at a California rally; the sneak into a bank, only to ind all the “Mexican” judge on the Trump Univer- doors unlocked. But like Dan Quayle sity case; and the “Afghan” who com- and Sarah Palin, Trump refused to mitted the atrocities in Orlando. Mitt study up on policy. So he has been Romney is right that Trump’s rheto- unable to marry his often canny ric causes “trickle-down racism” and political instincts with some actual misogyny. The Washington Post had knowledge. a front-page story on Friday about the He has made some fair points. A vulgarities freely directed at Clinton by lot of our allies do take advantage of men and women at Trump rallies. us. Our trade deals have left swaths Trump told me he could act like the of America devastated. And it was a toniest member of high society when positive move to propose a meeting he wanted, and he would as soon as he with the NRA on gun control for peo- dispatched his Republican rivals. He ple on the terrorist watch list. But his said his narcissism would not hinder fair points are getting outnumbered by him as he morphed into a leader. But egregious statements and nutty insin- he can’t stop lashing out and doesn’t uations, like suggesting that President get why that turns people against him. Barack Obama is tolerant of Islamic Everything is iltered through his ego. State attacks, an echo of the kooky He reacted to Orlando not as a tragedy birther campaign that he led, suggest- so much as a chance to brag about “the ing that Obama wasn’t qualiied to be congrats” he got for “being right on rad- president. ical Islamic terrorism.” Now Trump’s own behavior is The presumptive but now tenu- casting serious doubt on whether he’s ous nominee seemed bereft at a Dallas qualiied to be president. Hillary gossip redux rears its head By GAIL COLLINS New York Times News Service Forecasting ocean I conditions is smart W am so excited to tell you that we’re returning to the question of whether or not Hillary Clinton threw a vase at her husband in the White House. e’re at the dawn of fore- casting what to expect from the planet’s oceans. J-SCOPE, a collaboration between the University of Washington and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is showing promise as a sophisticated way of looking into the previ- ously blank slate of the Paciic Ocean off our shores. What happens in the ocean can have massive impacts on land. The vast area of warm- er-than-normal seawater called The Blob brought drought and severe forest ires to the Paciic Northwest in 2014 and 2015, and probably contributed to a toxic algal bloom that dis- rupted the multimillion dollar recreation razor clam season last year, while also delaying commercial crabbing. Beyond economic considerations, the algae caused untold suffering among birds, marine mam- mals and other wildlife. Research published earlier this month shows J-SCOPE is AP Photo/Ryan Kang Protestors hold up signs in protest of a visit by Republican presiden- tial candidate Donald Trump in Eugene in May. Really, this one hasn’t come up useful in predicting ocean con- for about 20 years. ditions, including water oxy- But Gary Byrne says he saw the gen, temperature, chlorophyll pieces! In a box! Byrne is a former and pH. Scientists also are Secret Service oficer who has writ- working on a sardine forecast ten a tell-all book, Crisis of Charac- ter, about the (horrible/embarrass- and may extend their efforts to ing/appalling) things he purportedly hake, also known as whiting. witnessed during the Bill Clinton What good does it do to presidency. It’s coming out next week to know what’s about to hap- what’s supposed to be a big rollout the conservative media. Donald pen in the ocean? Knowing in Trump has been twittering about it, that summer water tempera- and he quoted from it in his speech tures will be warmer could Wednesday. (That was the speech in which the new, measured Trump said help prepare for ire season. Clinton “may be the most corrupt Hydro-system operators might person ever to seek the presidency,” “decisions spread death, better time releases of reser- whose destruction and terrorism everywhere voir reserves. This knowledge she touched.”) Byrne was a low-ranking oficer could help communities antic- who could never have gotten near ipate the danger of seashore enough to the Clintons to see all the drownings by tourists lured things he says he knew irsthand. His anecdotes are just a rehash into warmer waters. While juiciest of old rumors. “One must ques- there is as yet no ability to tion the veracity and content of any intervene and block toxic algal book which implies that its author played such an integral part of so blooms, someday there may many (claimed) incidents,” said the be, and knowing conditions Association of Former Agents of the Secret Service, which issued a are primed for a bloom could U.S. denunciation. be key to managing them. This is typical of what concerned citizens are going through this year. J-SCOPE is very promis- We ought to be diligently examin- ing. It deserves our attention ing the downside of Hillary’s history and tax-dollar support. U.S. as part of our civic duties. But having on the other side of the led- investment in science saves Trump ger makes Travelgate and the Gold- lives and money. man Sachs speeches seem sort of Several months later, Katie irrelevant. Crisis of Char- Couric went on a tour of acter is supposed to give the White House with the us an insight into the old White House messes, but irst lady and asked her to it’s written by a guy who “point out just where you has doubts about whether were when you threw the Vince Foster really killed lamp at your husband.” himself. “Well, you know ... I’m One of the legends looking for that spot, too,” Byrne rakes up is that Hil- Hillary replied. lary mistreated her security Gossip is, in part, an Gail detail. (He claims the irst expression of public anx- Collins lady’s bullying drove iety — people specu- some of his comrades lated, endlessly, about Gossip is, which to alcohol, drugs, pros- politicians titutes or — this is a might be secretly gay in part, an back when there was little unusual — per- formance enhancers.) expression an overriding fear of This is old gossip, but homosexuality, and not everyone agrees. of public before that, we had “Those stories have periodic rumors about anxiety. always kind of been out presidential candidates there. I don’t know why; with “Negro blood.” she’s more than pleasant,” said a high- It’s possible the Hillary-lamp stories er-ranking agent who had been on the stemmed from nervousness about Clinton security detail. “I spent close to a irst lady who intended to wield two years with her — most days, to be actual political power in the job. honest. I never found Mrs. Clinton to be As time went on, a Bible and anything but professional.” “punches” were added to the things Speaking in a phone interview, that Hillary was rumored to have on the condition of anonymity, the thrown at her husband. Then 23 years agent said Hillary tended to get irri- later a former Secret Service oficer, table mainly when the agents pushed writing a tell-all book about people people out of the way when she was he barely glimpsed in the course of walking or stopped trafic for her duty, breathlessly announced he had when she was driving: “She’s just once spotted a telltale box full of vase kind of someone who wants to swim shards. (“The rumors were true.”) with the ish. She didn’t like royal Most of the Byrne book is actu- treatment.” ally devoted to the sex escapades of Although the book is being pro- Bill Clinton. There’s one bit about an moted as a cautionary tale about Hil- alleged affair with a woman who’s lary’s character, beyond the rude- not alive to defend herself. Beyond ness stories there’s actually only one that, it’s likely that those of us who juicy anecdote about her. That’s the were around for the Monica Lewin- vase-throwing story. It’s been around sky era know as much as Byrne does almost since the Clintons arrived about the subject. We’ve already in Washington, although the object been there. The country has already being hurled has traditionally been demonstrated that it is prepared to accept leaders with stupendously described as a lamp. I remember going home to Ohio imperfect personal lives if they get us a few weeks after the inauguration where we want to go in public. But I vote that if Hillary threw a and telling it to my mother, who had already heard it on Rush Limbaugh. vase, more power to her.
