Dec 20^thand 21^st

Now we have the Democratic debate behind us and no, I didn’t watch that one either. The good parts, such as they were, are even now being shown on various Monday morning shows. Bernie Sanders demonstrated part of his appeal when he was asked by the moderator if he would apologize to Hillary Clinton for taking advantage of the DNCs data breach. Immediately, and with none of the typical politician’s, “If I have offended anyone…,” he said, looking squarely at Mrs. Clinton, “I apologize.” Well, that’s a new kind of politician. I doubt that I would pick him over Hillary Clinton but I understand his enormous appeal.

Hillary Clinton unfortunately claimed that Donald Trump’s anti-Muslim rants were shown on TV all over the mid-East and used as an ISIL recruiting tool. She was wrong about the TV part but right about the recruiting tool part.  Trump immediately demanded an apology which he will not get. Clinton was right about the use of Trump’s speeches as an ISIL recruiting tool but there is no evidence that they were televised. Although with ISIL’s internet capabilities they might well have made them available to TV owners on U-Tube.

Trump’s irrational Islamaphobia has now contaminated the whole country. There has been a 300 percent rise in anti-Islamic behavior so far this year. Someone fired five shots into a Mosque in Meridian Connecticut. No one was hurt but Trump’s anti-Islamic rhetoric feeds the ISIL message that the West’s Christians are eager to destroy Muslims and now they can include even those living peacefully in America. How can Trump’s comments be challenged when he has screaming fans supporting his xenophobia everywhere he speaks? Trump has now benevolently decided that Muslim soldiers serving this country overseas would, in his administration, be allowed to come home. The man is all heart once you get to know him.

is really a disaster.  We must have the support of Muslims if we are ever to defeat ISIL. We are seen as the enemy of all Muslims, certainly by ISIL supporters and they could not find a better spokesman than Donald Trump. At least he is now finding himself heckled at more and more of his performances. (I watched his performance briefly tonight in Grand Rapids and he was interrupted by hecklers twice in the five minutes I watched him. Both of them were ejected of course but they did stop him in mid-rant. He stopped his talk and mugged a bit for the cameras and this is exactly what the hecklers wanted; anything to shut him up.)

Remarkably, recent polls have Hillary Clinton doing better against Donald Trump in the general election than against any of the other candidates. Of course this came from Fox news which has long had a contentious relationship with Trump. Maybe it’s true and maybe it isn’t.