what Trump stands for, citing references and providing links
For example:
1) His enthusiasm for creating a database of all Muslims in the United States.
2) His ongoing lies about Muslims in New Jersey celebrating 9/11.
3) His status as birther-in-chief, cynically sowing doubt about President Obama's legitimacy as the duly elected President of the United States.
4) His misogyny -- here's just one HuffPost piece on this, but there's no shortage of these.
5) His xenophobia and scapegoating of immigrants, including his lies about Mexican immigrants and his ardent desire to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.
6) His unmistakable passion for bullying. Again, there's no shortage of examples, but you could start with his defense of supporters who roughed up a protester at one of his rallies or his ridiculing of a disabled New York Times reporter.
And we're happy to see we're not alone in our desire to present the unvarnished, un-euphemized Trump. Last week, The Washington Post's Dana Milbank opened a column by writing, "Let's not mince words: Donald Trump is a bigot and a racist." And he went on to back that up, which isn't hard and is the approach any reporter with an interest in telling the truth to his or her readers should adopt.
So if Trump's words and actions are racist, we'll call them racist. If they're sexist, we'll call them sexist. We won't shrink from the truth or be distracted by the showmanship.
Of course, Trump isn't the only candidate out there spouting extreme and irresponsible messages, but he's in a unique position in the wall-to-wall coverage, from Meet the Press to SNL, that he elicits. By not calling out Trump's campaign for what it is, many in the media, addicted to the ratings buzz he continues to deliver, have been legitimizing his ugly views.
As we've seen in the Republican race so far, Trump's worst comments don't occur in a vacuum -- or land without repercussions. They affect the tenor of the conversation, frequently moving the line between what's considered mainstream and what's considered unabashedly extreme and unacceptable.
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