Yet another day's worth of tidbits from the brain of Donald J. Trump, presumptive Republican nominee for the presidency of the United States.
On the TV, Fox had moved on from the election to footage of the smoky aftermath of a bombing in Baghdad. Trump rose from his seat and walked over to the screen for a closer look. “Boy, this ISIS,” he murmured.
That's a pretty accurate distillation of Donald Trump's entire foreign policy knowledge, as it happens. Boy, this ISIS—amiright? They're, um, bad and stuff. If only the rest of the American political apparatus had the sort of intricate policy notions that Donald Trump has been able to bring to bear.
I asked Trump if he had ever been to Iraq. “Never!” he said, sounding horrified by the thought.
What, there's no plans for a Trump Hotel, Baghdad edition? You're missing out, buddy.
“What’s the most dangerous place in the world you’ve been to?”
He contemplated this for a second. “Brooklyn,” he said, laughing. “No,” he went on, “there are places in America that are among the most dangerous in the world. You go to places like Oakland. Or Ferguson. The crime numbers are worse. Seriously.”
And by seriously, Donald Trump means not seriously. Oakland is a perfectly pleasant place to spend a day, and home to all sorts of up-and-coming companies with uncannily attractive workers and bright orange logos. Ferguson is an even odder example, as by all accounts it is both safe and would be considered completely unremarkable if it was not for an apparent epidemic of jaywalking. These appear to be, Sarah Palin style, the first two city names Donald Trump could dislodge from his brain-hole, and he appears to be equating "most dangerous in the world" with "I heard there are black people there."
But no, just to clarify: Among the world's many "places," neither Oakland nor Ferguson would count anywhere near the "most dangerous in the world." Despite what the Tom Cottons or Donald Trumps of the world may have read from their Twitter streams, they are neither ISIS-riddled, nor "no-go zones," nor pockmarked with the craters of drone strikes.
It makes you wonder, though: How would Donald Trump's apparent fear of Oakland, California, manifest itself if by some lunacy the nation actually elected him president? Is this another problem that Trump would solve with a wall, or would the military need to be brought in?
It's just one more window into the Republican id, as personified by Shouty McShoutface. What a strange, strange carnival ride his mind must be.