Hillary Clinton is in no danger of running out of ways to cast her Republican opponents as out of touch with the changing face of America.
The Democratic presidential front-runner has released a new video rounding up the many ways contenders for the GOP 2016 nomination have either alienated or outright offended broad swaths of the American electorate. Set to the backdrop of “America, the Beautiful,” the 60-second spot bashes the “Republican vision for America,” featuring a reel of candidates using fiery rhetoric targeting everyone from Muslims to Spanish-speakers to people of different cultures.
The latest instance came from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who said Tuesday that he is against promoting multiculturalism in the U.S. When asked what the federal government should do to better absorb refugees coming to the U.S., Bush warned against having isolated immigrant communities where the “process of assimilation has been retarded.”
The emphasis on assimilation has been a recurring theme in the Republican presidential race as candidates have taken increasingly hardline positions on immigration. Party front-runner and celebrity billionaire Donald Trump has led the charge with divisive rhetoric that initially targeted Latino immigrants. Others have jumped on the bandwagon by declaring their opposition to birthright citizenship and by calling for the U.S. to be English-only (though Bush, for his part, is bilingual and readily speaks Spanish on the campaign trail in spite of being berated on the issue by Trump).
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The anti-immigrant rhetoric has taken an Islamophobic slant in recent days, after Trump refused to correct a questioner who said President Obama was a Muslim and “not even an American,” while former neurosurgeon Ben Carson suggested that Muslims don’t deserve to hold the Oval Office.
The flurry of inflammatory comments mark an alarming development for the Republican Party, which is seeking to retake the White House at a time when the American electorate is increasingly diverse. Still, there are signs that the tide may be turning: When Trump was given ample opportunity to question President Obama’s citizenship — as he has done time and again over the years — The Donald refused to take the bait.
“I don’t talk about it anymore,” Trump told “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert Tuesday night. “I talk about jobs, I talk about our veterans being horribly treated, I just don’t discuss it anymore.”
Amanda Sakuma