Donald Trump -- if the media and especially the (heavily right-wing) business media are to be believed -- may be the most amazing man in American history, the glorious personification of all that is good and decent with America, but he sure has a thin skin:
The White House stopped just short of dismissing Donald Trump as a clown Sunday - calling him a "sideshow" act with "zero chance" of becoming president.
Chief Obama adviser David Plouffe unleashed a barrage of stinging comments on Trump, who has recently trafficked in fringe conspiracy theories about Obama's place of birth while taunting America with hints of a presidential run.
"There is zero chance that Donald Trump would ever be hired by the American people," President Obama's chief adviser David Plouffe told ABC's "This Week with Christiane Amanpour."
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Trump countered that he represents Obama's biggest nightmare in the 2012 race and that the White house is running scared.
"I know for a fact that I am the only candidate they are concerned with," Trump told The Daily News. "They are very concerned because I am challenging him as to whether or not he was born in this country where there is a real doubt."
"He should focus on properly dealing with the Chinese, the Saudis and all of the other nations that are ripping off the United States instead of making up quotes about Donald Trump," the "Apprentice" host blustered on. "Barack Obama has done a terrible job as president."
Oh... where to begin?
First, Trump can't know that for a fact, because it isn't a fact. There's no way the White House is concerned about a Trump run. Trump is simply full of shit. The question is whether he believes his own shit.
Second, there's no legitimate issue about where Obama was born. He was born in Hawaii. We have the official documentation to prove it (statement of live birth). Trump has taken up the Birther cause, and is running wild with it, but it merely destroys what little political credibility he had.
Third, you can't really be a good Republican if you're not kowtowing to the Saudis and the Chinese, mostly for business-related reasons. They have the oil (Saudi Arabia), the lucrative export market (China), and the keys to America's economic future and fiscal well-being (China).
Fourth, how exactly has Obama been so terrible? Well, of course, I assume that Trump would rather not extend health insurance to tens of millions of Americans most in need, given how little he cares about those lower than him on the wealth scale, but bailing out Wall Street? Really? Trump opposed that? Given how many times Trump himself has been bailed out over the years, after failure upon failure, he should have a little more appreciation for government handouts to the banks, particularly with so few strings attached. Of course, it's hard to know what exactly Trump thinks about anything given how insanely partisan his rantings are and how he has embraced the crazy conspiracy-mongering of the far right.
Fifth, it is embarrassing, and that's putting it nicely, that anyone takes Trump seriously, particularly those in the media who, if I may give them some undeserved credit, should know better. And yet all we seem to get -- just watch any Trump TV appearance -- is a revolting display of sycophantic fawning. And all because he has money, which buys you credibility in America's depraved political and media culture, and has successfully cultivated the mythology of himself as all-American success story.
But you know, I have to disagree with Plouffe. Trump doesn't have "zero chance" of becoming president. He has a less than zero chance. He's that much of a sordid, massive sham.
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