Trumpery

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Point-Counterpoint

Gail Collins, New York Times columnist: “Donald Trump has run faux campaigns for president before, flirting with the Democrats and independents. This time, he’s playing a conservative Republican. By 2016, he’ll probably be talking about his affinity for the Alaskan Independence Party or the Whigs.”

Donald Trump, iconic personality: “Even before Gail Collins was with the New York Times, she has written nasty and derogatory articles about me. Actually, I have great respect for Ms. Collins in that she has survived so long with so little talent. Her storytelling ability and word usage (coming from me, who has written many bestsellers), is not at a very high level. More importantly, her facts are wrong!

Collins: “And, of course, he’s suddenly a birther. ‘This guy either has a birth certificate or he doesn’t,’ he said of President Obama. ‘I didn’t think this was such a big deal, but, I will tell you, it’s turning out to be a very big deal because people now are calling me from all over saying: please don’t give up on this issue.’ It was a perfect vocalization of the New York Street: People are calling me up! Don’t believe everything you hear, unless it comes over the phone.”

Trump: “As far as her comments on the so-called ‘birther’ issue, I don’t need Ms. Collins’s advice. There is a very large segment of our society who believe that Barack Obama, indeed, was not born in the United States. His grandmother from Kenya stated, on tape, that he was born in Kenya and she was there to watch the birth.”

Collins: “In a potential Republican field that includes Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich, it’s hard to come up with a line of attack loopy enough to stand out from the pack. But darned if Trump didn’t manage to find one.”

Trump: “The term used by Ms. Collins—‘birther’—is very derogatory and is meant in a derogatory way. Had this been George Bush or almost any other President or Presidential aspirant, they would never have been allowed to attain office, or would have been thrown out of office very quickly.”

Collins: “Vote for Donald Trump, the man who can make Bill O’Reilly look like the most sensible guy in the room.”

Trump: “For some reason, the press protects President Obama beyond anything or anyone I have ever seen. What they don’t realize is that if he was not born in the United States, they would have uncovered the greatest ‘scam’ in the history of our country. In other words, they would become the hottest writer since Watergate, or beyond.”

Collins: “During one down period, I referred to him in print as a ‘financially embattled thousandaire’ and he sent me a copy of the column with my picture circled and ‘The Face of a Dog!’ written over it.”

Trump: “Open your eyes, Gail, there’s at least a good chance that Barack Hussein Obama has made mincemeat out of our great and cherished Constitution!”

—Gail Collins, columnist and 2000 Pulitzer-finalist,
“Donald Trump Gets Weirder,” The New York Times, April 1, 2011
—Donald Trump, businessman and potential presidential candidate,
letter to the editor, “Donald Trump Responds,” The New York Times, April 7, 2011

Editorial Comment: Jane, you ignorant slut!
See classic SNL YouTube

News Note: RonNell Andersen Jones, a Utah State journalism alumna, comes back to campus Thursday to deliver a Morris Media & Society Lecture based on her experiences as a clerk to Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court. “The Blame Game: The People, The Press and The U.S. Supreme Court.” Thursday, April 14, 9-10:15 a.m. Free & the public is invited. Click here for details.

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