Also Tuesday night, the political crisis in the Republican Party came to a head over Trump's incessant and openly racist attacks on the federal judge hearing the civil suit brought against Trump University by former students who claim that the real estate training program was a scam run for Trump's personal profit.
Trump has blamed legal setbacks, including adverse rulings by Judge Gonzalo Curiel, on the fact that the Indiana-born judge was of Mexican ancestry. "He's a Mexican," Trump said in one interview. "We're building a wall between here and Mexico."
The racist vilification of the judge has provoked criticism of the Republican nominee within his own party, culminating in back-to-back statements by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, disavowing his comments. On Tuesday, Republican Senator Mark Steven Kirk of Illinois publicly withdrew his support for the presidential nominee, citing the attacks on Judge Curiel.
Trump gave a televised speech Tuesday night, ostensibly to thank voters in the Republican primaries held that day, all of which he won in the absence of any remaining opponents. Its real purpose was damage control. Earlier in the day, the Trump campaign released a brief statement claiming that his statements on Judge Curiel had been "misconstrued." Trump did not refer to the affair in his speech, but his promises not to embarrass the party were clearly aimed at assuring party officials and candidates that he would avoid further controversies of that type.
The speech included an appeal to Sanders supporters, claiming shared opposition to "the terrible trade deals that Bernie was so vehemently against -- and he's right on that." Trump also professed sympathy for "communities in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Indiana, and Ohio, whose manufacturing jobs, literally, these jobs have virtually disappeared."
While Clinton's victory speech oozed complacency and promised to continue the supposed progress under the Obama administration, Trump presented the condition of the United States as disastrous. "We're broke. We are $19 trillion in debt," he said, "going quickly to $21 trillion. Our infrastructure is a disaster. Our schools are failing. Crime is rising. People are scared."
He combined this indictment with a rant against immigrants, characterizing them as robbers and murderers. This echoed the infamous speech in which he announced his campaign a year ago, when he vilified Mexican immigrants as rapists and murderers. It sets the tone for an increasingly fascistic turn in the Republican Party.
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