There’s a long tradition in political television for Sunday mornings to be dedicated to the deep thinkers of the day gathering together to discuss the issues, to hold the powerful accountable, and to inform and educate the American people. And this week was no exception. Just kidding! So, what was happening on the Sunday talk show circuit? Here’s just a few highlights lowlights.
We had Reince Priebus, the head of the Republican National Committee, saying this:
What I think is that Donald Trump understands that with every position that is taken and as you get closer to the White House, a degree of humanity and decency is part of every decision that needs to be made.
Trust me, says Reince. Just hand Trump the nuclear codes and he’ll be the most humane and decent guy out there. The best!
Then there was this exchange with Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s campaign manager, when asked how many times in the 14 months that he’s been running, has Trump spoken to a largely black audience:
CONWAY: I don’t know the answer, but I can tell you there are some —
WALLACE: Let me say, would you be surprised if the answer is none? Never?
CONWAY: No, I would not be surprised.
But rest assured, those events are being planned and the Trump campaign is “very excited” about them. No doubt. Probably to give Trump another chance to politicize the murder of a young woman in Chicago. (Note, the original tweet was deleted because he spelled Dwyane Wade’s name wrong. And it was more than four hours before he tweeted the perfunctory condolences that his surrogates are now pointing to.)
Then there was the discussion with Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, where he laughably called Trump’s 9,000 positions on immigration “consistent,” and that:
Trump's call for deportation was "a mechanism, not a policy,"
No one knows what that means. (Chris Christie echoed the “consistent” line, but was also unable to explain what exactly Trump’s immigration policy is.)
And speaking of Chris Christie, he was asked about Trump calling Hillary Clinton a bigot:
I’ll tell you this, this type of discourse in the campaign is just unwarranted. But it was started by Ms. Clinton. Ms. Clinton has started the idea of calling Donald Trump those type of names.
Good answer. Except for two tiny details: Trump called Clinton a bigot before her speech last Thursday and Clinton didn’t call Trump any names. She quoted him and his associates. Period.
There’s much, much more, but you get the idea. It’s a good day to work in the yard. Or jam an icepick in your ear.