Thirty years ago, during a heated re-election campaign, Sen. Ernest “Fritz” Hollings (D-S.C.) faced a challenger who dared him to take a drug test. “I’ll take a drug test if you take an I.Q. test,” Hollings responded.It’s hard not to wonder if Hillary Clinton had a similar thought over the weekend.
Donald Trump took aim at the war on drugs on Saturday — by challenging Hillary Clinton to take a drug test.”Athletes, they make them take a drug test,” Trump said at a Portsmouth, New Hampshire, rally. “We should take a drug test prior to the debate because I don’t know what’s going on with her. But at the beginning of her last debate, she was all pumped up at the beginning. And at the end … she could barely reach her car.””I’m willing to do it,” he added.
This is ordinarily about the point at which I’d let readers know whether or not a candidate was kidding, but in all candor, I have no idea if Trump actually believes what he says. It’s possible he doesn’t know, either.When we talk about trolls in the political discourse, we’re not referring to small, mythical creatures who live under bridges; we’re referring to people who intentionally say ridiculous things in order to get attention and rile those who disagree with them.Donald Trump is the first major-party presidential nominee whose entire candidacy is an elaborate trolling exercise — and his call for drug tests is only the most recent evidence.For what it’s worth, Mike Pence, Trump’s running mate, appeared on “Fox News Sunday” yesterday and Bret Baier asked the Indiana governor whether or not he wants Clinton to take a drug test before the third and final debate. Pence wouldn’t answer, saying only, “Well, look, all I know for sure is that Donald Trump is going to be ready for the debate on Wednesday night.”It’s hard to blame Pence for dodging the question, but he should know he’ll forever be tied to Trump’s nonsense.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."