Senator Mike Rounds spent a lot of time at a Yankton meeting last month shouting Donald Trump’s campaign slogan and blaming the media for the negative tone of the Presidential campaign:
Rounds said he’s been disappointed in what he’s witnessed throughout the election campaign.
“I think the tone in this presidential election has been revolting,” Rounds said. “I think we ought to be talking facts. I think we ought to be talking policy. We ought to be talking about what we’re going to do to make America great, and I think it’s up to the press and up to the people asking the questions to continue to pound on the fact that that’s what the American voter wants. They want facts, they want plans, they want the vision but they also want to know how you’re going to get things done. They want results and we all want to make America great again, but I also think that if they make a commitment, that that candidate will honor that commitment” [Rob Nielsen, “Rounds Discusses Contentious Election Cycle During Yankton Stop,” Yankton Press & Dakotan, 2016.04.01].
Rounds is revolted, but it’s up to the press to demand discussion of the facts. Ah ha.
Asked about the big jerk who really is responsible for much of the revolting primary discourse, Senator Rounds again deflected, talking not about what Trump says and stands for now but how Trump spoke in some private meeting two years ago:
While Rounds didn’t highlight a candidate he favored for the GOP nomination, he took time to speak on a meeting he had with frontrunner Donald Trump.
“I’ve met Mr. Trump,” he said. “I met him two years ago or so. I can tell you that our conversations were normal, reasonable and businesslike.”
Like Senator John Thune (also here) and Rep. Kristi Noem (though she was more straightforward back when her guy Marco Rubio was still in), Senator Rounds can’t take off his weasel skin and call Donald Trump out.
The South Dakota Democratic Party says calling Trump out for his scummery shouldn’t be that hard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVdOhZUeQVk
Donald Trump: not normal, not reasonable, not businesslike, not Presidential material. Just say it, Mike!
I wished that people like Mike Rounds would say what a Republican president will do to make America great again. In what areas is America not great right now? How did America become not great? What is Mike Rounds doing as his part of making America great again?
Rounds said. “I think we ought to be talking facts.
Riggggght, clueless. Whose facts? The real truth or the whiny garbage wingnuts spew and hope their followers swallow it? When has Drumpf spoken the whole truth?
Rounds, Thune and other establishment republicans are feeling trapped and have to at least put up a front of party unity going into the convention.
It is nearly a certainty that Trump will have the delegates to secure the nomination.
Thune and Rounds can’t rock the boat, they have no options excepts to support Trump.
It appears that the backroom deals to derail Trump and have a contested convention have all been lost.
The only question now is whether or not establishment republicans will support Trump or Hillary.
So Mike Rounds doesn’t think America is great? Imagine the uproar if a Democrat said that.
Drumpf’s campaign plane,owned by Drumpf, has expired registration. At least 2 of Drumpf’s kids failed to register to vote for dad in the primary. Those be facts. I suppose it is the media’s fault,as well.
I agree with Rounds. Most of the electronic press has played an awful role in aiding Trump to create a circus atmosphere that ignores issues, plans, and the grimy details of how those plans would be implemented. I’d say MSNBC, ABC, CNN have hit rock bottom in political coverage this election cycle. I mean, really, they covered Trump speeches wall-to-wall and ignored anyone who actually had policy and program initiatives. They encouraged Trump and others to be as bombastic as possible, and they loved it when they could put shoving matches between supporters and protesters on TV. They mostly covered the campaign as a horse-race or wrestling match, or as some bad Japanese reality TV.
But Rounds let’s the politicians and his party off the hook too easily. The unsightly food fight that is the Republican nominating process is the direct result of decades of Republican hate speech, hate policy and, increasingly, hate activity. None of these Republican “leaders” had the guts to take on Trump when he was lying about President Obama’s place of birth. They cheered him on. They didn’t have the guts to follow through with immigration reform, which would have taken much of the hate off the table. They tanked it. None of them had the guts shown by President Bush, who stood up for the US Muslim community after 9/11. They increasingly fed the hate.
What did Senator Rounds do to change that course? Nothing. If he wants to find a culprit, maybe he should look in the mirror.
Cory, would you consider Monica’s and Billy’s activities in the White House normal, reasonable, and businesslike? Actually the people are looking for someone who is not the normal politician. That is why Bernie Sanders is doing better than expected for a far-left radical admitted socialist.
I love it when Don Pay says it like it is – thanks for this.
Monica and Billy are not running for the presidency in 2016.
Sitxth and Minnesota Thursday the 21st workers will be letting their thoughts known on the pension cut coming from one to four.
To be fair, the Trump campaign has not been very media friendly. It is a wee bit hard to report the facts when the candidate won’t give you a straight answer, or side steps the question.
It is interesting looking at how Donald Trump is running his campaign. He is running without a political filter. The people are eating it up. No matter what dirt they dig up, it doesn’t stick, Mr. Trump is still full speed ahead. The GOP leadership can’t stop him, they have tried. The DNC isn’t doing much better.
Anyone who the DNC hates and the GOP can’t control is worth a second look.
Yup, and if we had Democratic Reps, they would be excusing Hillary who has a poll dislike rating nearly the same as Trump’s. 300 million people and party establishments can’t come up with better candidates.
Roger, however important party unity may be, please don’t ever give me a pass on calling out a Democratic nominee as offensive, racist, and overtly fascist as Donald Trump.
Donald, good separation of what Rounds gets right and what Rounds gets wrong. The press wants to cover the food fight when it should say, “The food fight isn’t news; let’s talk about farm policy. Let’s talk about tax policy.” In that regard, much of the media is performing about as badly as it does in every election.
But Donald Trump is throwing the food and encouraging fascists and racists to throw it with him. His fellow party members have a primary obligation to tell him to knock it off or lose the privilege of representing their party in the general election.
Steve, no. Douglas, I’d be as uncomfortable with excuses from alt-universe Senators Herseth Sandlin and Hunhoff and Congressman Varilek if they were making excuses for patently vile language and fascist policies from alt-universe Dem nominee Hillary Clinton. But that would have to be an alt-universe, because this-universe Hillary Clinton isn’t a racist fascist pig. She might be faintly corporate-fascist, but she’s a lot easier to excuse than Trump.
MC, if Trump isn’t sharing policy details with the media, that should be the headline every night. What policy we can make out from his statements look like fascism, so that should be the subheadline every night. “Trump Offers No Details, Continues Appeal to Fascism.” A paragraph near the top of each story should be Mike Rounds, John Thune, or some prominent Republican saying, “Trump’s fascism makes him unfit to be President.”
No excuses. Hitler and Mussolini didn’t deserve a second look just because they outraged the opposition and bucked others’ control.
And you all expected what from Rounds? Straight answers? Uh huh! Since when??
Me? Let Cory off the hook for something racist, bite your tongue.
When Democrats on Facebook that hate Hillary post things like, “Anybody But Hillary”, does that mean they will vote for Trump?
I’m inclined to agree with most of what Donald Pay has posted especially that no one (including Thune & Rounds) in the GOP establishment had the courage to stand up to Trump and call him out for his madness. They empowered Trump by their silence and now they don’t have a clue what to do about him.
Blame can only go so far, Rounds and Thune need to accept responsibility for what is happening to their party.
At the New York gala before the New York primary Trump was talking about how good a manager he was. He told about a hockey rink the city was building that took six years and the workers were slow and stole the copper out of the cooling system again and again so the rink was not getting done. So someone in Montreal told him to put in rubber hoses and brine rather than the copper pipes and Freon. So he was so proud of getting a job done that had been plagued by lasiness and stealing. Then about two minutes later he said that the New York values was hard work and honesty. Well his own example of how things work in New York was of laziness and corruption. So if you have an attention span of less than two minutes then Trump makes sense.
Roger C, I’m glad to have back-up consciences here on the blog.
Roger E, that’s a good point about the two-minute attention span. That perhaps reinforces Donald’s point about the media: We can’t cover the food fight and shouting and other distractions. We have to focus on a consistent message, clear facts, and pound them into people’s heads over and over. “Trump Offers No Details, Continues Appeal to Fascism—Unfit for Presidency, Says Leading Republican.” I can write two thirds of that story; Mike Rounds needs to give us the final third.
The Senator blames the Feds for EB5. He blames the state of the presidential race on the press and not Trump. But then, who are we to blame for the Senator and his words and actions?…..Let me guess… Kirby and Barnett?
One of the more curious things I saw this year was on Morning Joe a while back: a reporter from the New York Times said “I just have one question: all of you know Donald Trump personally. Is the person campaigning the same one you know?”
And everybody at the table said he’s a different person, that there are two Donald Trumps. Mika even said “he’s a democrat.”
The press seems to be crazy about him. They certainly can’t stop talking about him.
Interesting thing now on Facebook showing how Trump is saying the same things Obama said in 2008 and we all know how the press ate that up.
“Trump is saying the same things Obama said in 2008″—whoa, Anne. That’s a radical statement, if not a complete departure from reality. Could you show me transcripts where candidate Barack Obama insulted women, called Mexican immigrants rapists, called for building a wall, said women should be punished for having abortions, called for tariffs on automakers for building cars in Mexico, or anything else that sounds like candidate Trump?
“don’t ever give me a pass on calling out a Democratic nominee as offensive, racist, and overtly fascist as Donald Trump.”
Still waiting for you to cover the offensive racsist Islamic fascism of Obama.
Still waiting for Sibson to provide more than words about his hatred for President Obama.
Where’s the evidence?
Trump loves the media, just loves it, he can’t get enough!
Rounds will be an easier candidate to beat than Thune in the future. He never seems to have any substance when he’s talking his mouth off, and is clearly just your typical pandering politician. EB-5 will continue to follow him and if the Dems find someone highly charismatic and an exceptional debater they will definitely have a chance.
I’m sure even Thune has told him to take a couple of how to deal with the media classes. First rule – shut the mouth. You’re in primetime now, not conservative SD where they wet their pants when they see you.
Ah, Steve, like Stu, wants me to spend time writing about unicorns. I’d like to write a novel, but I’ll stick with non-fiction blog journalism.
Well Cory, there seems to be a lot of discussion regarding his wedding ring.
Cory, if you ever decide to write fiction, string together the posting on the sometimes Sibby Online.