Donald Trump thought it was a good idea to pick a fight with former Texas Governor Rick Perry, apparently.
“Failed at the border” is a pretty serious charge, and one that the good Gov decided to address.
“Hey Donald, I saw your tweet the other day but I think you might need to borrow my glasses to get a good look at the steps I took to secure the border while I was the Governor of Texas. I cant support what you said, but no one knows the concern Americans have about our porous border than I do.”
Was Perry smart to provide Trump any kind of legitimacy by responding? Noah Rothman of Commentary weighs in:
While it might not have been advisable for Perry to respond directly to Trump in any fashion, thus inevitably elevating him to a stature he does not deserve, the contrast the former Texas governor drew couldn’t be more stark. While the reality television star sells disenchanted Republican primary voters on the notion of a great wall of the Rio, constructed at no taxpayer cost, which would alone succeed at keeping border-crossers out where other barriers have failed, Perry identified the effective, human elements necessary to halt the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S. He also projected a sincerity Trump lacked when accurately noting that citizens of Mexican descent are an integral part of the American social fabric. Such comments may sound trite, but these are the wages demanded of a party that elevates a figure like Trump to frontrunner status – however fleeting that condition might be.
Trumps remarks on illegal immigration have drawn a fair amount of scrutiny since he began his presidential bid in June. Among many accusations, he’s suggested that the Mexican government is “pushing the bad ones” to America. “What can be simpler or more accurately stated? The Mexican Government is forcing their most unwanted people into the United States. They are, in many cases, criminals, drug dealers, rapists, etc,” Trump wrote to Business Insider.
After his remarks, the Washington Post alleged illegal immigrants are working to finish a Trump company hotel.
Trump garnered headlines — and prompted several business associates to sever relations with him — when he launched his bid for the Republican presidential nomination last month with a controversial description of drug dealers and “rapists” crossing the border each day into the United States from Mexico.But a Trump company may be relying on some undocumented workers to finish the $200 million hotel, which will sit five blocks from the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue, according to several who work there. A Trump spokeswoman said the company and its contractors follow all applicable laws. But in light of Trump’s comments, some of the workers at the site said they are now worried about their jobs — while others simply expressed disgust over the opinions of the man ultimately responsible for the creation of those jobs.
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