Reading Time: 2 minutes
Caught in his web of contradictions, Donald Trump lost ground in the presidential debate in Houston, on Thursday; he seems to have run out of his gambler’s luck. Marco Rubio demolished the Republican frontrunner. Here’s a report.
Donald Trump is a bundle of contradictions. Like the proverbial joker in a pack of cards, he proved to be a ‘Trump card’ a few times.
Earlier, he had managed to get away with various inconsistencies in his records and had remained convincingly unfazed. But, on Thursday, he seemed to have run out of his gambler’s luck at the Republican presidential debate. Unlike three other primaries, Trump did not get a victory at Houston.
Marco Rubio ripped Trump for hiring unauthorised immigrants from Poland, in 1980, for his real estate project, the Trump Tower. It was a scathing attack. Rubio asked the audience to Google and check that Trump was fined $1 million for hiring Polish workers on a project of his.
Rubio was not totally off the mark. Trump did pay a substantially large sum, an undisclosed amount, in an out of court settlement for hiring 200 undocumented (read illegal) immigrants. But it was not $1million.
Rubio heckled Trump. Got under his skin and made him look exhausted and irritated. Rubio charged him of repetitions. Trump repeated himself even in his denial and his response was drowned in the thunderous applause for Rubio. Despite his efforts to spring back, he failed. It was his worst debate.
Rubio reminded the audience that Trump is predictably repetitive. He parrots few slogans, time and again. These are, ‘Make America great again’, ‘Build the wall’, ‘Win’ and ‘Stop losing at trade’. Take these away from him and Trump is lost. He is confused.
Rubio launched a searing attack when he said that if Trump had no inheritance from his father, he would be ‘selling watches in Manhattan’.
Rubio slashed Trump, ruthlessly, in the debate. It was a free-for-all circus. The three-way clash between Trump, Rubio and Cruz had Rubio shining. Trump, however, had an edge over Cruz.
The sidelight is that Trump wants to deport all 11 million unauthorised immigrants and impose ban on Muslim immigrants from entering the US. The piquant situation is that despite his anti-immigrant stance, he is married to Melania, an immigrant. His third wife had immigrated to New York via Milan and Paris, in 1996. She had a visa and became an American citizen in 2005. That is when they married.
Trump calls the Mexican immigrants ‘rapists’ and ‘murderers’.
In other news, former Mexican President Vicente Fox made it categorically clear that Trump’s wall at the US-Mexico border should be paid by him. In an interview with Jorge Ramos of Fusion, Fox said, “I’m not going to pay for that fucking wall. He should pay for it. He’s got the money.”
Furthermore, the current Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto is in no mood to cough up the money either.
Trump had claimed that he would make Mexico to pay for the wall. This proved to be another bogus claim of the Republican frontrunner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3gZLJQ0sIA
