Donald Trump said Sunday that in the wake of the mass shooting in Orlando, it's time for the United States to start looking at racial profiling as a preventative tactic.
"Well I think profiling is something that we're going to have to start thinking about as a country," the presumptive GOP nominee said in a phone interview with CBS' "Face the Nation. "Other countries do it, you look at Israel and you look at others, they do it and they do it successfully. And I hate the concept of profiling but we have to start using common sense and we have to use our heads."
"It's not the worst thing to do," he added.
Expect many, many more inflammatory, unConstititional, and unAmerican statements from this would be Fuhrer as the campaign progresses. Trump is going for the visceral going forward, following the playbook that he laid out in 1987 in The Art of the Deal: sensationalism sells.
“One thing I’ve learned about the press is they’re always hungry for a good story, and the more sensational, the better,” he writes on page 56. “It’s in the nature of the job, and I understand that. The point is that if you are a little different, or a little outrageous, or if you do things that are bold or controversial, the press is going to write about you.”
“I don’t mind controversy, and my deals tend to be somewhat ambitious,” he added. “The result is that the press has always wanted to write about me.”
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“Most reporters, I find, have very little interest in exploring the substance of a detailed proposal for a development. They look instead for the sensational angle,” he wrote. “That may have worked to my advantage... I play to people's fantasies."
This sort of media coverage is why Trump believes that he doesn’t need a ground campaign, a large warchest for campaign ads, or even the support of the establishment Republican Party. All he needs to do is utter ever more scandalous, libelous, and appalling statements, and the press will continue to do his campaigning for him - for free. He is playing to the worst fantasies of his audience, and doesn’t care about the consequences for the nation — as long as he gets free airtime.
You think that the major news networks aren’t his poodle dogs? Well, consider this little fact. Once again, "Face The Nation” today allowed Trump "to phone it in” — literally. Why should be be bothered to show up for a face-to face when he can simply dial a number and spew unchallenged falsehoods for ten minutes? “Face the Nation" and John Dickerson should be ashamed, and we should let them know it. Their viewer call in line is (202) 457-4481, their email isfacethenation@cbsnews.com or tweet them @facethenation.