Hillary and Donald are trumping each other every chance they get
DEMOCRAT Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump are chief sparring rivals in the US presidential race and as a result are riding high in polls.
Clinton has few challengers in her quest for the Democratic nomination, while Trump is focusing his fire more on Clinton than on a crowded field of rivals vying to be the Republican standard-bearer in the 2016 race.
“Republicans like him because he attacks Clinton at every turn. And each time she attacks him, Clinton boosts her standing with the party faithful,” political writer, Ron Kampeas, told me in Washington last week.
Few are more disliked by Democrats than Trump, while most Republicans and their Tea Party allies loathe Clinton. None of this is uplifting, but it injects sparks into the campaign 17 months out from the election.
There were plenty of bouts between them when I was in the US last week, even as the country was still traumatised by the killing of nine black people by a young white male in a South Carolina church.
Clinton attacked after Trump made incendiary remarks about Mexican immigrants when he announced his run for the presidency. Trump said the Mexicans “have lots of problems” and are “bringing those problems to us… They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists,” he said, “and some, I assume, are good people.”
Who would you rather have negotiating for the U.S. against Putin, Iran, China, etc., Donald Trump or Hillary? Is there even a little doubt?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2015
Clinton didn’t name the tycoon, but said such loaded race language contributed to a climate in which the killings happened.
“The people who do this kind of dastardly, horrible act are a very small percentage, but, unfortunately, the public discourse is sometimes hotter and more negative than it should be, which can, in my opinion, trigger people who are less than stable to do something like what we’ve seen,” Clinton said.
“For example, a recent entry into the Republican presidential campaign said some very inflammatory things about Mexicans. Everybody should stand up and say that’s not acceptable.”
Trump fired back with an Instagram post. “Wow, it’s pretty pathetic that Hillary Clinton just blamed me for the horrendous attack that took place in South Carolina. This is why politicians are just no good. Our country’s in trouble.”
In a poll on June 24, Trump surged to second place — just four points behind former Florida governor, Jeb Bush, and ahead of a dozen other Republican contenders.
For Clinton, too, a poll last week reinforced her position as the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination and indicated she was also a frontrunner for the White House itself, ahead of all the Republican contenders.
It is still early days, but the race looks increasingly like a match-up between the Bush-Clinton dynasties. Both are seen by analysts as their respective parties’ strongest candidates. They are the ones with the fattest coffers and widest name recognition, though Trump also has considerable wealth and is a major national figure.
Bush stumbled in interviews on questions about the Iraq war and dented his poll numbers. Similarly, Clinton earlier suffered setbacks because of controversies and questions about the Clinton Foundation. Plus, she now faces three rivals, Senator Bernie Sanders and former governors Lincoln Chafee and Martin O’Malley — though none has come anywhere close to her poll numbers.
However, O’Malley is a dilemma for Irish-Americans, who are fiercely loyal to Clinton, but who also admire O’Malley’s record on Ireland. O’Malley is as Irish as former president John F Kennedy was, since both their great-grandfathers came from Ireland.
The days are long gone when Irish-Americans, or other hyphenated Americans, voted based on ancestry and the political favours that could yield. Now, the impact on people’s wallets decides how they vote. But former president, Bill Clinton, helped broker peace in Ireland, and solidifying that peace has become essential for Irish-Americans. So far, his wife, who hasn’t a drop of Irish blood, has a clear edge on the issue over the great-grandson of a Galway immigrant.
“Both have spent considerable time in Ireland, but Martin’s experience is mostly social, and in the Republic rather than the North,” says Stella O’Leary, president of the Irish-American Democrats lobby group, who knows both candidates for a number of years.
“We — and that includes members of Congress who work on Irish issues — would consider Hillary Clinton far more experienced and knowledgeable on Irish issues than Martin and much better poised to deal with any crisis that may arise in the North.”
Former Democratic congressman, Bruce Morrison, praises both O’Malley’s and Clinton’s credentials, but he is also a firm Clinton supporter. “Martin would be considered a friend [of Ireland] for sure,” he told me. “But Clinton has proved herself when she was in the White House, the Senate and in the State Department, as somebody who understands the [peace] process completely and so she is invaluable.”
While many Irish-American Democrats are in Clinton’s camp, some are adopting the St Augustine stance — hoping that O’Malley will do well, but not just yet. Irish-American lawyer, Jim Cavanaugh, of Omaha, Nebraska, a heavyweight in that state’s Democratic politics, is unequivocal, however, describing himself as a “dedicated” O’Malley supporter.
“Martin has been a strong advocate of a just and lasting peace for Ireland, since at least the 1980s, when he worked for [then Democratic presidential contender] Gary Hart. Nobody in this race loves Ireland more than Martin O’Malley,” Mr Cavanaugh said.
But if O’Malley is to make inroads with Irish-Americans and voters generally, he, like Clinton and every other candidate, must champion a better deal for America’s struggling middle-class.
Hillary Clinton reaches new low. #TrumpVlog https://t.co/kgmQ2jVF6b
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 19, 2015
“His real appeal to Irish-Americans, who are overwhelmingly middle-class, is that he has the only coherent approach to fixing the problems of income inequality, jobs and fair pay,” said Mr Cavanaugh. “This combination of policy expertise and personal charm is part of what makes him irresistible to Irish-Americans — we love our pols to have brains and style.”
Many Republicans also view Jeb as the brainy one in the Bush family. And the Irish-American Republican lobby group is working hard to make sure their party’s candidate doesn’t cede the Irish issue to the Democrats.
But even more important than wooing Irish-Americans will be the battle for the crucial Hispanic vote, which twice ensured victory for President Barack Obama. Bush will be touting his strengths. His wife, Columba, is Mexican and Jeb speaks fluent Spanish. Trump has probably already sealed his fate with Hispanic voters after his incendiary remarks about Mexicans.
