Trump’s antics energize his legion of supporters

Any other contender for the presidency who made fun of a newspaper reporter with a physical disability, launched personal attacks on his competitors and seemed to hedge his bets on the support of a white supremacist group would have been relegated to the dustbin of history. But not Donald Trump, the billionaire businessman from New York City.

On the all-important Super Tuesday Republican primaries and caucuses, Trump tightened his grip on the party’s nomination by winning seven of the 11 states up for grabs and, more significantly, increased his delegate count over the second and third place finishers, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. The other two candidates Tuesday night, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Dr. Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, continued to lag.

Kasich, who placed second in Vermont, after his second-place finish in the New Hampshire primary, has said he intends to stay in the race until the March 15 primaries, including the one in Ohio. The governor has acknowledged that a loss in the Buckeye State will end his bid for the presidency.

Carson dropped out of the race Wednesday.

But it’s Trump who continues to grab the headlines, not only because of his surprisingly strong showing in the sweepstakes, but because of the controversial and divisive positions he has taken on a myriad of issues. Among them, his plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and have the Mexican government pay for it; his insistence that all 11 million illegal immigrants must be deported; and his proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the United States.

How will he accomplish those? He won’t say – and his supporters aren’t demanding details.

When he imitated the mannerisms of a New York Times reporter who suffers from a muscular condition, many of Trump’s disciples laughed. And when he denigrated Rubio and Cruz, at times making the attacks personal, his backers egged him on.

But to us, the most discouraging aspect of Trump’s candidacy is his lack of a moral compass.

Fortunately, there are Republicans, dismissed by the candidate as being part of the GOP establishment, who have been willing to stand up to him.

GOP leaders react

That happened Tuesday when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan denounced Trump for failing to immediately and vociferously denounce the Ku Klux Klan and its former leader, David Duke, who embraced the billionaire’s candidacy last week.

“This party does not prey on people’s prejudices,” Ryan said. “We appeal to their highest ideals. This is the party of Lincoln.”

McConnell warned that anyone who wants the Republican nomination must reject racism.

Unfortunately, many in the GOP do not share those sentiments, as evidenced by Trump’s strong showing on Super Tuesday.

The Vindicator has had a long tradition of standing up to racists and others who seek to divide us as a nation. In the heyday of the Ku Klux Klan, which had chapters all around the country, including the Mahoning Valley, The Vindicator took on the white supremacist organization not only in the news columns and the editorial page, but also in the courts. We sued the Klan to stop its practice of inserting racist, hate-filled literature in the newspaper’s boxes in the rural parts of our circulation area.

Our strident opposition to the Klan led to a standoff at the Boardman homestead of The Vindicator’s owners. There was a cross-burning by a group of hooded Klansmen on horseback across the property on Route 224. Members of the Maag and Brown families armed themselves and faced down the Klansmen. Fortunately the confrontation did not result in violence.

Donald Trump’s refusal to denounce David Duke and the Klan on a Sunday talk show speaks volumes about his candidacy.

Thoughtful Republicans now realize that their party is being hijacked by an individual who is selling fear.

Trump’s nomination will harm the Republican Party and send a clear signal that too many Americans are easily swayed by the rhetoric of a demagogue.