Is it Trump or Clinton? Yikes! Ray Hanania’s column & commentary and audio podcast, also available at www.RayHanania.com August 11, 2016 explores the difficult choice Americans have in the presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump
By Ray Hanania
How do you sort through the turmoil of this presidential election, the worst we have seen in generations?
Will it be Donald Trump, the popular celebrity TV businessman with the offensive rhetoric, or Hillary Clinton, the veteran politician who distorts her record from Benghazi, her emails to the war in Iraq?
It’s an ugly choice but we can’t waste a vote on a 3rd party.
This election reminds me of Jane Byrne’s election as mayor in 1979. Byrne was marginalized by the media which said she can’t win. For the first six months of her administration, she was a rollercoaster of contradictions, controversy and insanity. She ended up dumping her “reform” allies and cut a deal with the very “Evil Cabal of Men” she had campaigned against.
That “craziness” opened the door to real change.
Click here to listen to the podcast, or use the widget below.
Here are my gut feelings about this election.
For a man known for brilliant TV oratory, Trump has a horrible manner of speaking. He is unclear, often confusing, and he shoots-from-the-hip.
The ugliness of the Trump-Clinton fight is worsened by the absence of good journalism. Trump can’t seem to explain what he really means, and the news media is happy to twist it even more.
Donald Trump (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The media is like a surfer who looks for a good wave to ride. But this wave is on the Internet’s cesspool of screaming, yelling and cacophony of insanity. The media doesn’t lead, but rides that wave of hysteria driven by social media.
A good example is Trump’s plan to confront drug trafficking and violence along the Mexican border. The media and Clinton assert Trump is “anti-Mexican,” twisting Trump’s carelessly spoken words.
Trump wants to prevent drug dealers, rapists and killers from entering this country. Anyone can walk into this country from Mexico in a violation of immigration laws. Many are good people seeking better lives. But others are like El Chapo, the cutthroat gangster who killed thousands of Mexicans and many Americans, with protection from Mexican government corruption.
Clinton claims she wants to resolve this immigration dilemma. But all she has done is ignore a solution allow the status quo to worsen. We have more people entering this country illegally than ever before.
It’s much like issue of Muslims. Trump doesn’t hate Muslims. He wants people to filter out the bad from entering this country from the Islamic World, which is racked with violence. The way he said it is terrible, but the intent is good.
Clinton used the issue of Muslims by exploiting the story of Pakistani Muslim American Khizr Khan and his wife, who lost their son in the Iraq war. It was pure political exploitation. The Khan’s attacked Trump. When Trump responded asking why Khan’s wife did not speak, he was accused of “anti-Muslim bigotry.”
Trump may have poorly phrased the issue, but the truth is many women in this world, particularly in the Arab and Muslim world, are oppressed by men. More than 1,000 Pakistani women are murdered annually in “honor killings,” killings sanctioned by the society and the government because the women “disgraced” their male relatives.
In one case, a pregnant Pakistani girl was buried in the ground up to her neck and stoned to death after being accused by her father and brothers of marrying a man they did not like. In Jordan, laws protect men convicted in “honor killings” by reducing their jail time to a few months.
While Trump’s words may offend your moral compass, Clinton’s record offends mine.
Clinton voted for the Iraq War, on the false claim Iraq was involved in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Clinton voted both times to support the Patriot Act, which has undermined our civil rights, including those of Muslims and Mexicans, too! And, she is among Democratic leaders who have exploited immigration, doing nothing allowing illegal border crossings to continue.
Her failure to intervene properly in Benghazi is tragic, and her emails are filled with outrageous abuse of the public trust.
The real tragedy is the national media will not allow a real discussion of the issues. By keeping it about Trump, the media is shielding Clinton and selling Americans short.
(Ray Hanania is an award winning former Chicago City Hall reporter and columnist. Email him at [email protected].)
Hanania joins DuMont on Radio Sunday to discuss national politics
Southwest Community News Group syndicated columnist Ray Hanania joins host Bruce DuMont on Beyond the Beltway Radio Sunday, August 14, from 6 to 8 pm live on WCGO 1590 AM Radio.
The program is also broadcast live on Sirius XM Radio POTUS Politics Channel 124 on from 6 until 8 pm.
To join the discussion, call 1-800-723-8289.
You can also catch Beyond the Beltway rebroadcasts on WIND 560 AM radio from 10 to 12 pm.
For more information, visit Hanania’s website at www.RayHanania.com.
For more information on Bruce DuMont, visit his website at www.BeyondtheBetlway.com.
RayHananiaINN
Hanania covered Chicago political beats including Chicago City Hall while at the Daily Southtown Newspapers (1976-1985) and later for the Chicago Sun-Times (1985-1992). He published The Villager Community Newspapers covering 12 Southwest suburban regions (1993-1997). Hanania also hosted live political news radio talkshows on WLS AM (1980 - 1991), and also on WBBM FM, WLUP FM, WSBC AM in Chicago, and WNZK AM in Detroit.
The recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, Hanania was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media;In 2009, he received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. Hananiaalso received two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild, and in 1990 was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
Hanania writes columns for the Southwest Community Newspaper Group including the Des Plaines Valley News, the Southwest News-Herald, the Regional News and the Reporter Newspapers.
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