Donald Trump is the official GOP nominee for President of the United States. He is also a hypocrite, and so are his supporters.
During the third night of the convention in Cleveland this last week, Senator Ted Cruz gave a speech. Senator Cruz did not endorse Trump, but instead urged the American people to "vote your conscience." Trump and his supporters lambasted the Senator as petty, divisive, and selfish. They decried his speech, a twenty-minute endorsement ending in a rebuke of Trump, as an insult to their nominee.
But where were these supporters when Trump portrayed Senator Cruz as a liar? Where were they when Trump insulted the attractiveness of his wife? Where were they when Trump accused his father of being involved in the JFK assassination? Time and time again, Donald Trump has insulted Senator Cruz, and they were silent. Now, Cruz refuses to endorse their candidate and they are in an uproar because of the seeming insult of not kowtowing to a bully?
Regardless of one's opinion about Cruz's speech, it is clear Trump and his supporters are hypocritical in their anger at the Senator. But this is just demonstrative of the broad hypocritical tendencies possessed by Donald and the Trump campaign.
Here are some examples:
Campaign Finance
In a speech before the Republican Jewish Coalition, Donald Trump told the audience of donors, "I don't want your money." But now that he is the nominee, he is taking $100 million from prominent donor Sheldon Adelson and has a fundraising agreement with the RNC.
This is not a simple flip-flop either; even in his acceptance speech, Trump lambasted Clinton as bought and paid for. Yet Trump himself is bought and paid for by his own definition.
Islam in America
Donald Trump has a troubled history with the Muslim community. Trump mourned the loss of prominent Muslim boxer Muhammad Ali, who he called a "great champion." Yet in 2015, Trump made fun of Obama for suggesting that there are Muslim sports heroes. Trump tweeted, "What sport is he talking about, and who?" Furthermore, last year Ali released a statement which denounces the exact policies that Trump supports.
You're an idiot and a bigot @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/XmFZlhAG9j
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 5, 2016
"Law and Order"
Ali criticized Trump's position on Islam for good reason. Trump portrays himself as "the law and order candidate."
Yet Donald Trump has shown time and time again that he has no respect for the Constitution, the judicial system, or the protections they give to the American people.
Trump has suggested that a federal judge is unfit to hear his case based on his Mexican ancestry. He has offered to pay the legal fees of supporters who assault protesters. He has threatened to shut down Mosques and to ban the immigration of refugees based on their religion, a clear violation of the First Amendment. He portrays himself as a lover of the Second Amendment, yet in the wake of the Newtown shooting, here's what he said about Obama's proposed gun legislation:
President Obama spoke for me and every American in his remarks in #Newtown Connecticut.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 17, 2012
Trump has praised FDR's internment of Japanese-American citizens - an unconstitutional action. He has vowed to overturn the birthright citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment. With all this disrespect for law and order, it is hard to understand how Trump can make that claim.
Bill Clinton's Sex Scandals
Trump has attacked Hillary Clinton as bad for women due to her husband's infidelity, calling her "an enabler." Yet for years in the 90's, he defended Bill Clinton and went after his accusers like a loyal attack dog.
Furthermore, Trump acted the part of a fanatical schoolboy in an interview in 2012. He lavished praise upon the former president. He gave Secretary Clinton rave reviews.
But now he is attacking the Secretary and her husband, using the same talking points to attack them that he struck down in the 1990s and in 2012.
This is not to mention the laundry list of misogynistic comments Trump has made about women, from Rosie O'Donnell to Megyn Kelly. A champion of women's equality, Trump is not.
These are but a few of Trump's transgressions. He has shown himself to be a hypocrite on many more issues, from race and gender to foreign and economic policy.
Frankly, it is not only hypocritical to act as Donald Trump does, but also to cast a vote for the man while denouncing the history of Hillary Clinton. They are one in the same, and neither
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