Halperin: Trump’s Muslim Registry Controversy ‘Could Rule Him Out’
RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
HALPERIN: "Trump is defending himself current is defending himself currently for so many flaps that we could not fit them on our giant wall. Donald has been taking the heat for saying people in New Jersey cheering right after the 9/11 attack, despite pf absence of evidence that that happened. He is under fire for his apparent openness about a federal registry for Muslims, and him calling for surveillance of mosques in America and his support of waterboarding. And then there was the Black Lives Matter protester at one of his rallies, and he tweeted some questionable data. This is not the first time Mr. Trump has been embroiled in something. Is this just like other stuff he overcomes in the end?"
HEILEMANN: "It is now clear that trump has clarified his position on the Muslim registry, which he is not totally ruling it out. he says it is completely within the realm of the possible, and he says on this other item, -- to answer your question directly, Mark, I do not think any one of these things is going to bring Donald Trump down, but I do think if anything ever does bring Donald Trump down, it would look like this, a bunch of things and not just one. it is not a silver bullet. it is a range of things, but this is the way it could happen."
HALPERIN: "It is freaky Friday. we reverse roles, because I think this idea about the registry brings him down. It is so out of step with what Americans believe. He is supporting it or at least not ruling it out, but this is the kind of thing -- when voters get serious, this could whirl him out. I want to show you something out. -- else. John Kasich and the Super PAC. It is intriguing because it goes at the mockery of Trump that a lot of people think in the end will take him down."
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TRUMP: "He was a war hero because he was captured. If evolved the -- if Ivanka was not my daughter, I would be dating her. I have always had a great relationship with the blacks. I just do not respect her as a journalist. you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever. somebody is doing the raping , but who is doing the raping? how stupid are the people of iowa?"
HALPERIN: "John, the reason I wanted people to see that is if he is going to be brought down, it will be him brought down by those who think he does not have the right temperament, the right tone to be the commander in chief, undermining his persona with mockery."
HEILEMANN: "This goes to the point I was try to make at the outset, that it will be the accumulation, not one thing -- the point I was trying to make at the outset, that it will not be the -- it will be the accumulation, not one thing. again, if you are betting on the notion that it is a cumulative effect, there is some sense in that kind of an approach. OK, as he has been, Marco Rubio is a man on the rise. his campaign is going on the air this week with his first TV ad, a 30-second spot, which will be seen nationally. the focus of that ad? that would be ISIS."
