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.