Tony Quinn bemoans in this space that the possibility of Donald Trump winning the presidency “has set off high decibels of hysteria among the political establishment, and no more so than in blue California.”
He takes newspapers to task for publishing opinion pieces defending Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s criticism of Trump, and the LA Times in particular for publishing a piece from a left-wing writer suggesting a military coup if Trump won.
Quinn is right to point to these excesses, but he’s wrong when he argues that the papers are more extreme than Trump. “That two of California’s leading newspapers would entertain the idea that these bedrocks of our democracy should be jettisoned to stop Trump shows what is really extreme in this polarized political year,” he writes.
And he glides over Trump as “buffoonish.” Trump is, of course, more than that. He’s running an explicitly racist and xenophobic campaign, and he’s encouraged violence and war crimes on the stump.
Quinn is older than me, so maybe he’s used to such stuff—but I’ve never seen anything like it. Trump is threatening the independent press, he’s attacking our allies, and he’s praising dictators, like Vladimir Putin. Does Quinn think Trump is joking about all of this? If so, how does he know?
I’ve never seen an American political speech like Trump’s RNC acceptance address. It was like watching a waterfall of bigoted lies—it never turned off. I’m a nonpartisan voter who casts ballots for Democrats and Republicans. But this year has changed me – it would be impossible for me to ever consider voting for anyone who did not oppose Trump 100 percent. The taint on the Republican Party figures who have gone along with Trump will never, ever come off.
Excuse the hysteria, Tony. And place your concern where it really belongs – not in worrying about the California press. Worry about Trump and what sort of damage that his unprecedented campaign could do to our country.