On the heels of Donald Trump’s 2016 announcement, columnist Charles Krauthammer dismissed the real estate mogul’s run, likening it to that of Al Sharpton in 2004 and saying it will damage the GOP’s “serious candidates” in the process.
Appearing on Fox News’ “Special Report,” Krauthammer added to guest host Doug McKelway that “contradictions were flying around” during his speech “every second,” telling him that this campaign will be run on “know-nothing xenophobia.”
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: Look, I do think it’s overkill to actually analyze all these ideas. The contradictions were flying around that room every second. You could give a logics class just analyzing what he said. But his thesis is this, and I do think it has some resonance: All of our troubles are caused by Mexicans, Chinese, Japanese, Saudis and others. I am going to extract tribute from all of them. He said entitlements? I won’t have to cut entitlements. The Chinese will fund our entitlements. How? I’m the right. I’m the author of our end of the deal. Trust me. I’ll make the deal. I’ll make the Mexicans pay for the wall. I’ll make the Saudis empty their treasury to support our infrastructure.
Look, this is a campaign that is run on know-nothing xenophobia. It’s not American productivity, it’s not American troubles internally, it’s not our deficits, it isn’t our debt, it isn’t our entitlements. It’s none of it is our fault. We’ve been robbed, and because I know how to negotiate, I will stop the robbery. That has some appeal. It will keep him in the top ten. It will keep him on the stage, but George [Will] is right. It will damage the party because like, say, an Al Sharpton or even a Ross Perot, having those kinds of people on the stage who aren’t really serious candidates diminishes the stature of the others who are.