It
seems that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s failed attempt to
hold a campaign rally last spring at the University of Illinois at Chicago made
a bigger impression on him than we would have envisioned.
 |
| Has Trump ever really been in Chi outside his tower? |
But
in true Trump fashion, the event has become a distorted twist of fantasy that
makes no sense on just about any level.
FOR
MEMORIES OF that time came up during television interviews on the national
cable news channels as Trump and his allies tried to seriously twist the
happenings of that Friday night into something it was not.
The
reality was that the would-be rally Trump wanted to hold on the Near West Side
campus wound up being cancelled because the unruly crowds of spectators got out
of hand – although Chicago Police have since said they never advised Trump to
cancel the event outright.
It
was Trump himself who didn’t have the backbone to face off against people
inclined to be critical of him. It is to be expected considering that most
Trump rallies are programmed to devolve in the true faithful harassing,
intimidating and even beating on the candidate’s critics.
Which
is what made the comments by Trump’s former campaign manager, Corey
Lewandowski, during an interview with CNN all the more laughable.
HE
TRIED TO describe that Chicago appearance as one in which Trump tried to speak
out to African-American voters, only to be rebuffed by them.
As
Lewandowski said, Trump, “went to the heart of Chicago to go and give a speech
to the University of Chicago in a campus, which is predominantly
African-America, to make that argument. And you know what happened? The campus
was overrun, and it was not a safe environment.”
It
seems to me that Trump, if he really believes this, didn’t have a clue what was
going on – and not just because he wasn’t anywhere near the Hyde Park
neighborhood that actually has the University of Chicago.
Or
that the University of Illinois at Chicago is in a neighborhood bordering on
upscale that has more white people living in it than any other type.
PERHAPS
TRUMP THOUGHT he was at Chicago State University? Then again, probably all
Chicago college campuses look alike to Trump because they’re not a part of
Trump University.
The
reality is that Trump wasn’t anywhere near the “ghetto” that he envisions all
of Chicago is. Perhaps he has spent too much time watching reruns of “Good
Times” and comedian Jimmie Walker’s humor-tinged vision of life at the old Cabrini-Green.
But
if that wasn’t ridiculous enough, Trump himself had to open his mouth during a
Fox News Channel interview, saying he had met with high-ranking Chicago Police
Department officials who he says told him they could “stop much of this horror
show that’s going on” if they were let loose to actually enforce the law.
As
Trump then put it, the officer said, “I’d be able to stop it in one week.”
GEE,
ONLY ONE week to resolve the problems confronting Chicago? It’s just too bad
that the likely solution suggested by this mythical cop is use of more force
that would actually enhance the real problem law enforcement has in dealing
with people.
Plus,
there’s also the fact that Chicago Police officials on Wednesday insisted that
no department officials ever met with Trump. Which leads me to believe this may
have been a lone cop who was present at the University of Illinois at Chicago
that night who was just shooting his mouth off.
Similar
to how Trump often engages in that phenomenon known as “diarrhea of the mouth.”
Saying whatever thoughts come to mind without regard to whether they make any
sense.
Which
is why those people who get all worked up over the violence level of Chicago
(personally, I remember the late 1980s when it was much worse) are living in
the ultimate fantasyland if they think a vote for Trump means a thing!
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