Dems swing and miss on Trump
Mayor Marty Walsh, like nearly every Democrat in Massachusetts, is blasting President Trump at packed protests, on radio shows and in print over his immigration restrictions and threat of federal funding cuts for sanctuary cities.
Problem is, Walsh is not always prepared in his rush to lambast the controversial president.
Did Boston Marathon bombers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev live in America as Chechen refugees?
“I don’t even know the situation,” Walsh recently confessed on Howie Carr’s show.
What is the difference between sanctuary cities like Somerville and Boston, where city councilors passed the Boston Trust Act in 2014?
“I’ve never really heard the definition or the technical of what a sanctuary city is, but we have the Boston Trust Act,” Walsh told Kirk Minahane and Gerry Callahan before sidestepping the question and detailing former President Obama’s immigration policies.
I don’t expect the mayor of Boston to have every little fact at the ready when he calls in to radio shows — ours included. But these weren’t even gotcha questions. Walsh is the one taking to the airways to oppose Trump on sanctuary cities and the refugee ban. If he’s looking to score easy political points off a conservative president — and get himself some prime-time media coverage in the process — the least he can do is be prepared.
Walsh isn’t the only Bay State Democrat who’s whiffed while taking a swing at Trump. Attorney General Maura Healey leapt on early reports of hate crimes following Trump’s election, creating a hotline for victims. Nearly 1,000 calls were logged in the first two weeks, 46 concerning gender, race or sexuality.
One call was to insist Healey investigate a claim that two Babson College students drove through the Wellesley College campus with a Trump flag, allegedly spitting at students and yelling bigoted remarks. But the two men were cleared of any crime, and Healey declined to look into the violent hate speech that rained down upon the students on social media.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren mistakenly took aim at hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson, whom she targeted as, “thrilled by Donald Trump’s economic team of Wall Street insiders.” Tilson turned out to be a top Trump critic.
And even the media has joined in the fun. Many of the breathless reports in wellknown outlets like NBC have turned out to be either incorrect or lacking context. An NBC report indicated the Trump administration was easing sanctions on a Russian intelligence agency, stoking rumors of close ties between Trump and Russian President Vladmir Putin. The move was actually planned during the Obama administration.
Outraged opponents probably won’t let facts get in the way of an opportunity. Trump is offering Massachusetts pols a juicy chance to boost their political profile — they better not wilt in the national spotlight.