Trump

Ron Smith complains that the media "won't let" Donald Trump be elected president ("Donald Trump will never be president," April 21), but in fact he is not a serious candidate and deserves no serious coverage unless he acts like one. Not only does he show a poor grasp of the hard questions of policy and pander to racists with his fatuous demands for birth certificates and transcripts, he has no political web site. A search for contact information turns up only the business site, which includes an explicit note that unrelated emails will not be answered or forwarded.

Donald Trump unveiled a new strategy recently in a speech in Las Vegas. He's abandoned birtherism and is now embracing profanity-laced stand-up comedy.  During his speech to a Vegas crowd that laughed uproariously at his jokes (or political positions? It's hard to tell when he's being serious) Trump decided that he'd pump up the crowd by dropping some "F Bombs" in the mix.   Some examples:  • "We build a school; we build a road. They blow up the school; they blow up the road.

Tonight was the moment political geeks from around the country wait for all year: The White House Correspondents Dinner, where political humor rules the evening.  There were two speakers at the event in Washington: President Barack Obama and Saturday Night Live comedian Seth Meyers. Each spent a significant amount of time making fun of Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, who did not seem pleased to be the butt of jokes.  Trump sat in his chair humorless throughout much of the night, looking sternly ahead as Obama and Meyers cracked on him.  Here's a quick summation of the best jokes of the night, followed by video of Obama's talk.  Obama's best material:  • On his birth certificate: The president entered with Hulk Hogan's theme music playing the line "I am a real American" as the television screens showed his birth certificate.

Jimmy Fallon last night broke out his Donald Trump impression -- and demanded additional documents from President Barack Obama.  Fallon's Trump wants to the president to release:  • His driver's license. ("Has anyone ever seen it?")  • His Starbucks card.  • His Netflix queue ("I've got one and I'm not afraid to let people see it. It's a fantastic, beautiful queue. ")  • His hall passes from middle school.  This would be funny if it wasn't so true -- and that just makes it sad. Trump's harping on Obama to release various documents (from his long-form birth certificate to his college grades)

On weekday mornings, I'll post the most controversial, shocking and (of course) ridiculous stories for your reading pleasure. That way, when you walk into work, you'll be the master of witty conversation. National • The biggest, most important news of all time: William and Kate married! (Daily Beast)  • This is seriously crazy: Tornados devastate the south . (AP)  • I think he was an illegal immigrant from space anyway: Superman renounces U.S. citizenship . (Comics Alliance)

On weekday mornings, I'll post the most controversial, shocking and (of course) ridiculous stories for your reading pleasure. That way, when you walk into work, you'll be the master of witty conversation. National  • Because he's such a proven political winner: Ralph Nader plans to challenge Obama (Politico)  • The spook shuffle: Gen. Petraeus to the CIA in shuffle  (AP)  • I miss Bush: George W. Bush jokes with ABC (The Blaze)  • She's got the look down: Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin (Gawker)

When Donald Trump was publicly proven wrong yesterday by President Barack Obama releasing his long-form birth certificate (reiterating what we already know is true: He's a U.S. citizen), most people expected Trump to react with some variation of "I'm an idiot. I was wrong. " Instead, Trump used the opportunity to praise himself.   "Today, I am very proud of myself," he said at a news conference. "... I feel I've accomplished something really, really important and I'm honored by it. "  How does one make sense of this inexplicable behavior?

"There is a tragic flaw in our precious Constitution, and I don't know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nut cases want to be president. " — Kurt Vonnegut Yes, yes, this is harsh, I know, because if the nut case in question is on your political party's team, you think he's a good man eager to help the common person and equipped with all sorts of valid ideas for fixing the various messes in which we find ourselves. So just consider it a thought to ponder. Besides, Vonnegut had a thick shell of cynicism around him. His view of humanity was part instinctual and in no small measure soured by the experience of being a World War II prisoner of war who was among those being held in a subway station in Dresden, Germany the night British Lancaster bombers incinerated about 135,000 inhabitants of that city.

President Barack Obama released his long-form birth certificate today in an effort to shut up wild conspiracy theorists like Donald Trump. His spokesman called Trump's behavior a "sideshow. "  "We do not have time for this kind of silliness," Obama said. "... "We're not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers. "  Anyone with half a brain knew that Obama was born in Hawaii. First off, he never even lived in Kenya. He lived in Hawaii until he was 6, then Indonesia until he was 10 and then back to Hawaii.

Last night, Jon Stewart deftly skewered the idea that Donald Trump's high poll numbers mean that Trump deserves more and more media coverage (even as he says more and more ridiculous stuff). See posts here and here .  Stewart rightly pointed out that Trump and the media have a reciprocal relationship in which the more crazy stuff Trump says the more he gets covered and the higher his poll numbers (and presumably the ratings) go.  "His poll numbers are high mostly because they keep putting him on television to spew the craziest s--- he can think of," Stewart said.  But Stewart's next point was his most salient: He pointed out that Trump's early polls are "completely and totally meaningless.