Donald Trump has issued a statement about his beef with Judge Curiel:
It is unfortunate that my comments have been misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage. I am friends with and employ thousands of people of Mexican and Hispanic descent.
Unfortunate indeed. But no one has construed his comments that way. We’ve all construed them as a categorical attack on Curiel. That’s because Trump has explicitly said that Curiel is “a hater” of “Mexican heritage” who is handing down unfair rulings because he dislikes Trump’s anti-immigrant politics. “I think that’s why he’s doing it,” he told Jake Tapper, just to make sure there was no question about it. Then this:
Due to what I believe are unfair and mistaken rulings in this case and the Judge’s reported associations with certain professional organizations, questions were raised regarding the Obama appointed Judge’s impartiality. It is a fair question. I hope it is not the case.
“Questions were raised.” Golly. I wonder who raised them? No one knows, I suppose. But raised they were, and then Donald had no choice but to address them. But he really hopes these questions all turn out to be unfounded. Really. He does.
There it is. You have the whining, the lying, the passive voice rowback, and the faux sorrow that this has become such a divisive issue, all in just a few sentences. It’s vintage Trump, folks.
