Saturday, December 26, 2015

If you want the truth, listen to the comedians

Jon Stewart's replacement on "The Daily Show," Trevor Noah, nailed it on Donald Trump's call to ban all Muslims from the country.   Trump didn't back down, but he later modified that statement by adding:   "until we can figure out what is going on."   Still . . .

Here's Trevor Noah's response:
"Take a second to think about what he said here. Republican presidential frontrunner Donald J. Trump wants to ban every single person from the world's second largest religion from entering the United States of America.   Every doctor, every scientist, and even Zayn Malik. You really want to piss off One Direction fans?  You want a real insurgency on your hands?  [For those who don't know, One Direction is a wildly popular boy band.] 

"Here's the thing about Donald Trump: Everybody has the right to be crazy. What worries me is that people are following the crazy. . . .  The worst part about this whole situation is that Donald Trump is a problem, but he's not the problem. There are people who already hold these views . . . .  Donald Trump, the frontrunner of a major political party, has basically given them permission to shed their shame and say these things out loud."
In the effective way of making the point by satire, Noah then brought in his "senior political correspondent," comedian Hasan Minhaj, who satirically agreed with Trump about banning Muslim's from the U.S.  But his reasoning was that we should not admit Muslims, because "the United States is not a safe place for Muslims right now. . . .  "One-third of a major political party in America is backing a racist maniac. This place is scary right now."
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How right they are.   Trump -- and the mentality he gives a giant megaphone to -- are making American unsafe for Muslims.   They are also making America unsafe from the radical terrorists who use Trump's anti-Muslim words as a recruiting tool.

And he increasingly looks like the likely nominee for the Republican presidential nomination.  How can this be?

Ralph

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