Are Rubio or Cruz (or the Republican Base) Any Less Bigoted Than Trump?

by Lowell

All the media coverage regarding the Republican 2016 presidential field these days seems to be about Mussolini impersonator Donald Trump. To an extent, that’s justified, given Mussol…er, Trump’s months-long campaign of bigotry against pretty much every group in America, culminating with his fascistic, un-American proposal to ban Muslims from coming into the U.S. Yet what the media’s ignoring, in its obsession with Trump (and the ratings he brings) are several things.

1. The Republican “base” largely agrees with Trump (e.g., see Trump Getting Stronger in NC; Islamophobia Helps Fuel That Strength), so simply condemning Trump isn’t getting at the root causes of Trump’s popularity.
2. The Republican Party and its right-wing echo chamber has been pushing bigotry and intolerance for years, even decades (e.g., its infamous “Southern Strategy” of appealing to racism among working-class whites).
3. So far, very few Republicans have stated point blank that they won’t vote for Trump if he’s the party’s nominee. Nor have Republicans told Trump he’s not welcome at their debates, forums, etc.
4. The corporate media is so focused on Trump that it’s ignoring the heinous statements – in some cases, equally disgusting as Trump’s; in some cases possibly even worse – by Trump’s top Republican rivals — Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.

On that last point, here are just a few examples to give you a flavor.

Marco Rubio

• Used a Muslims/Nazis analogy, “show[ing] clearly he doesn’t even understand what he’s talking about.”
• Denied that there even is any anti-Muslim bigotry, asking incredulously, “Where is there widespread evidence that we have a problem in America with discrimination against Muslims?”
• Hired a guy who “urged an audience to watch the insane birther film “Dreams From My Real Father,” which posits that President Obama has been hiding the fact that his real father was labor activist Frank Marshall Davis, who groomed him from birth to stage a communist takeover of America.” That same guy is also a vicious, anti-LGBT bigot.

Ted Cruz

• Ted Cruz Offers The Weakest Possible Criticism Of Donald Trump’s Anti-Muslim Plan 
• Listen here as Cruz and his extremist/bigoted pal E.W. Jackson rant about “radical Islam,” “Sharia Law,” gay marriage, etc. 
• Ted Cruz, the Syrian Muslim Hunter: “You see, Cruz, as opposed to Marco Rubio and Donald Trump, who oppose any Syrian refugees being admitted into the United States, has a more creative way to deal with this human catastrophe. He’s announced plans to introduce federal legislation to ban the Muslim refugees, but accept the Christian ones.”
• Cruz was endorsed by Rep. Steve King, arguably the most extreme member of Congress, a wild-eyed bigot, etc.