John Dickerson performed a valuable public service last Sunday in his “Face the Nation” interview with Donald Trump when his tough questioning led Trump to display his disdain for minorities and the rule of law, two fundamental American values.
Dickerson’s persistent focus on Trump’s view of judges who do not agree with him led the Republican presidential candidate to repeat his disparaging remarks about Hispanics and Muslims — remarks roundly condemned by many Republican leaders.
Rep. Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House, called Trump’s remarks “racist.” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said Trump’s remarks “were the most un-American thing since [Sen. Joseph] McCarthy.”
In the half-hour interview, however, Dickerson failed to press the presumptive Republican presidential nominee on several vital issues on which Trump has displayed ignorance, poor judgment and a complete lack of respect for the American people and the U.S. Constitution.
Dickerson is a first-rate journalist. His anchoring of televised debates has shown balance and professional acumen rare among moderators.
Yet on Sunday, other than the discussion of a lawsuit against Trump University and the American-born, Hispanic judge overseeing the case, he failed to even mention other important issues and allowed Trump to babble on and dominate the conversation with smart soundbites about Hillary Clinton’s email use, Ryan’s endorsement and the Zika virus. As a result, there were no questions or explanation by Trump of his bizarre and uninformed stances on economic policy, foreign affairs and his ridicule of the most basic rights in the U.S. Constitution, free speech and freedom of the press.
For example, why not frame this question for Trump, given his nasty attacks on a president who has presided over a remarkable turnaround from the disastrous economic meltdown under the Bush administration: “While the entire world has experienced slow growth due to global and technological developments, the American economy is regarded as the strongest in the world today — with upwards of 200,000 new jobs created every month. What can you do to improve growth and create even more, better-paying jobs?”
On foreign affairs, Trump has backed reckless ideas such as withdrawing from NATO, encouraging Japan and South Korea to develop nuclear weapons and praising Vladimir Putin’s aggression.
His positions have drawn scorn and outright condemnation by a broad range of both Republican and Democratic national security experts. He has called America a “third-world country.” With all that nonsense, Dickerson might have asked Trump if he is an isolationist and if he favors the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Or ask him to back up his depiction of a defeated country. He also could have asked Trump what he thinks of leaders of several countries who have compared him to Hitler or Mussolini.
The most obvious question for Dickerson would be to challenge his attitude toward the press. Last week, Trump vilified The Washington Post and other media for doing nothing more than normal reporting on donations to veterans from a Trump-run debate.
Trump unleashed a scathing attack on “most” reporters — whom he called “extremely dishonest,” (one) a “sleaze” — despite the fact of an accurate report. He said his press conferences would be the same if he were elected president.
This disrespect for the role of the press in American society recalls the comments of fascist demagogues such as McCarthy or Richard Nixon’s enemies lists. They are a virtual admission that he does not respect the Constitution of the United States.
Free speech and freedom of the press are usually about the first freedoms eliminated by dictators and authoritarian governments. Two key themes of such governments, threats and control of the press and scapegoating of minorities, are now hallmarks of Trump’s behavior.
Norm Ornstein of the conservative American Enterprise Institute is one of few experts who predicted Trump’s emergence. And he blamed it on the anti-government dysfunction and contempt for compromise of the Republican Party. To think that Donald Trump is a serious candidate for the presidency should bring honest, open-minded Republicans to their senses. Both Bush presidents decline to endorse him; the last GOP nominee, Mitt Romney, said he is a fraud. John McCain, whose war record Trump ridiculed, is a reluctant supporter.
Note to Republican voters: There are options other than voting for Clinton, the certain Democratic candidate, or for Trump, the hate-filled TV reality star who has hijacked the GOP. There is the oddball but principled Libertarian Party ticket headed by two ex-GOP governors; and there is a new option that would prove that the party of Abraham Lincoln has not gone off the rails into the land of the “Know-Nothings.” You can write in the name of Ronald Reagan.
Frederic B. Hill is a former foreign correspondent and editorial writer for The Baltimore Sun. He lives in Arrowsic.