MEERA JAGANNATHAN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Saturday, August 27, 2016, 4:30 PM
It’s hard to out-crazy crazy, but some of Donald Trump’s surrogates have managed to do just that.
The job of a surrogate, of course, is to sand down the candidate’s roughest edges — like when he, for example, advocates violence by “the Second Amendment people” against Hillary Clinton — but Trump’s bush-league flunkies have become media spectacles in their own right, manufacturing their own controversies instead of spinning the candidate’s mistakes.
We’re talking about these loyal Trump toadies:
Donald Trump’s national spokeswoman Katrina Pierson once claimed reporters had “literally beat Trump supporters into submission,” ignoring the meaning of the word “literally.”
Background: The unflappable Pierson, who exhibits frequent allergy to the truth, rose to prominence supporting Sen. Ted Cruz’s 2012 Senate campaign. She was arrested in 1997 for shoplifting and has appeared on a reality show about lawyers called “Sisters in Law.” She is also The Donald’s national spokeswoman.
Most memorable malfunction(s): Too many to choose just one! In late December, Pierson wore a bandolier-style necklace of bullets on CNN, later tweeting she might “wear a fetus next time & bring awareness to 50 million aborted people.” And we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention her infamous truther tweet: “9/11 ... An inside job?” (She later indicated she was referring to Benghazi — but still.) Then there’s her Voldemort-esque call in 2012 for a pure-blooded president, which she later dismissed as “silliness”: “Perfect Obama’s dad born in Africa, Mitt Romney’s dad born in Mexico. Any pure breeds left?”
In recent weeks, Pierson has invited mockery for her tenuous grasp of U.S. history — arguing that Capt. Humayun Khan’s 2004 death in Iraq was Obama’s fault and calling the war in Afghanistan “Obama’s war,” even though he didn’t become President until 2009 and was an opponent of the Iraq War. She also claimed reporters had “literally beat Trump supporters into submission,” ignoring the meaning of the word “literally.” She also claimed on-air that presidential candidates’ tradition of disclosing tax returns was a “novelty,” though she’d needled Mitt Romney in 2012 about that very issue.
Most recent malfunction: Pierson has no background in medicine, but that didn’t stop her from boldly diagnosing Hillary Clinton with dysphasia, a speech-impairing neurological disorder, without any evidence.
Kellyanne Conway
Background: The veteran pollster shamed Trump during the GOP primaries for building his businesses “on the backs of the little guy,” unfairly attacking opponents and refusing to release his tax returns. But then Conway joined the Trump team as an adviser in early July and was promoted to campaign manager earlier this month. Like his other surrogates, she had her foot firmly in her mouth right out of the gate.
Most memorable malfunction: Less than a week after taking the reins, Conway told ABC’s “This Week” that her hate-spewing boss “doesn’t hurl personal insults.” That’s a bold claim considering Trump has made “personal insults” a cornerstone of his very campaign, with broadsides against women, Mexicans, Muslims, prisoners of war, the disabled, his political rivals and even a pair of Gold Star parents.
In a whiplash-inducing 180, Conway went on to discuss how Trump recently expressed regret for insulting people.
Most recent malfunction: The Republican strategist, echoed by her fellow flunkies, has hinted in multiple interviews the tycoon might soften his stance on a “deportation force” to boot out 11 million undocumented immigrants. But Trump has made buffoons out of them by insisting he’s not flip-flopping on immigration — while he flip-flops on immigration.
More of Trumps clown Posse
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/donald-trump-clueless-army-flunkies-greatest-hits-article-1.2768270
