RICHMOND — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s remarks about the “Mexican” judge presiding over a fraud case against him has drawn condemnation from many Republicans.
Corey A. Stewart is not among them.
Stewart, the chairman of Trump’s Virginia campaign and a GOP contender for Virginia governor in 2017, turned to Facebook to offer Trump his full-throated support.
When Trump travels to Richmond on Friday for an evening rally at the Richmond Coliseum, Stewart will welcome him to the commonwealth. Stewart has warned that if there are any illegal immigrants protesting at the Richmond event, “we’re going to kick their asses out of the country.”
Stewart, the chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, recently mused that “when he is president and I am governor, you’re going to see one helluva tag team in Virginia, and we’re finally going to remove illegal immigrants,” according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Trump has faced a backlash over his comments about U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is hearing a fraud case against the defunct Trump University. Trump has contended that Curiel, who was born in Indiana to Mexican immigrants, is biased against him because of Trump’s vow to crack down on illegal immigration and build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Numerous Republican leaders have expressed dismay over Trump’s remarks, with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.) calling it “the textbook definition of a racist comment.”
But Stewart told The Washington Post on Thursday that he sides with Trump. And like the Trump campaign, he blasted Curiel for supposed membership in the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group.
But Curiel is not a member of the National Council of La Raza. He belongs to the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association, an unrelated professional group for Latino lawyers.
But Stewart refuses to see the distinction.
“La Raza is a sleazy organization that works to keep criminal illegal immigrants in our neighborhoods,” Stewart wrote on Facebook. “Don’t blame Trump at all for not wanting this judge, who is a member of this disreputable organization, from presiding over his case. He could never be impartial.”
Most of Virginia’s GOP office holders have accepted the presumptive GOP presidential nominee grudgingly, if at all. Stewart is all in. When Trump comes to Richmond, Stewart will introduce him.
“I’ll be the one saying, ‘The next president of the United States, Donald Trump!’ ” said Stewart.
Corey, Corey, Corey….stop, before it’s too late. You have that Trump stench all over you. Simple math lesson–people don’t like racists. They don’t want to associate with racists. They fear it will rub off, if nothing else.
Trump’s behavior in this regard has been shameful. Please don’t join in this downward spiral of self-destruction.
It will not serve you well in the end.
Poor Corey – this is not the first time Corey has taken information out of context to further his own political ambitions. What Republicans need to realize is that this is the fire that they have been stoking for years. When Obama was running – there were many Republican organizations that were fueling the racist fire – just look at the birthers to start.
@Pat.Herve
How was questioning the legitimacy of a birth certificate, or the actual place of birth, racist?
If I seem to recall, the Democrats raised similar questions regarding John McCain, who was born in the Panama Canal Zone.
Words matter. The meaning of words matter. Having animus against someone because of the color of their skin, is racism. Having animus against someone based on their national origin or ethnicity, is nativism. Having animus against someone due to their lack of legal immigration status? Not sure there’s a pejorative that can be applied, as we claim to be a nation of laws.
Yes, words do matter. I wish Corey would use the proper legal term for those lacking a legal immigration status: Illegal Aliens. “Immigrants” are those who followed the process, and entered the country legally, obtaining “Resident Alien” status. Those who oppose the idea that someone can enter and remain in the country by breaking our laws, and oppose those who think it’s OK for them to do so, need to be very specific in the language they use. Otherwise, they leave themselves open to having their comments misconstrued, or distorted.
I would argue that immigrants are people who move from one place to the other, regardless of “permission” from the receiving location.
I think Corey wants to rehash the entire situation that happened in PWC. He is picking up laurels for himself that really had nothing to do with him or his actions. He is riding on the coattails of the Great Recession.
Regardless, Trump has said some horrific things that have drawn condemnation by folks in both parties and by people of no party. Those aren’t the words Corey wants to adopt. I am comfortable calling them racist and that isn’t a term I throw out indiscriminately.
@MoonHowler
Corey is Trump’s VA Chairman. Of course he’s going to back/defend Trump. This is a calculated risk on his part, as he begins building his game for governor. Gillespie is the favorite amongst the broader party, has the advantage in name ID, and money. Whitman has an entire congressional district to build off of. Corey? He’s working with what he has. Not saying it will work, but trying to tap the vein of anger that has worked for Trump thus far, is what I see as Corey’s underlying motivation here. Being that “unconventional candidate”, the “non-establishment” candidate.
For me…it’s the economy…and of course, the 2nd amendment. That’s what will drive my vote.
He played that “illegals” card in PWC. I am not sure where it got him. No where, I would say, other than retaining the chairmanship of local government.
I just wouldn’t want an office if I had to pimp for Trump.
What drives my vote….hmmm…well…reproductive rights, the dream act, voting rights for ex offenders, medicaid for low income people (saves the tax payer money) and I wouldn’t disagree with the economy. I am thinking locally…not nationally. Nationally, things alter.
I had forgotten about Wittman running. Nothing like a Montrose boy running for gov. Does he have enough state recognition to have a chance?
Actually, I am just disappointed in Corey. He should know better. Every time I think he has come around, he lets me down. I don’t know who he really thinks his base is.
@Steve Thomas
Steve – the actions of more than a few people – including Donald Trump – even after the ‘Certificate of Live Birth’ that is issued by the State of Hawaii (they do not issue birth certificates) is the racism part. There are people including Trump who still believe that Obama was not born in Hawaii.
This racist piece was out out by a Ladies Republican club – http://dungannistan.blogspot.com/2008/10/republican-group-guffaws-at-obamafried.html
Looks at McConnell when he was answering about Trump’s racist comment – McConnell would not even admit that Trump made a racist comment.
Not to revisit but I don’t see the difference in National Council of La Raza and the NAACP. Both are advocacy groups for people of their respective ethnicities.
Regardless, Judge Curiel belongs to neither group. Corey sees “La Raza” and he goes all ignorant.
@MoonHowler
I think you might want to do a bit more research on the positions La Raza takes on certain issues, like flaunting the laws, sanctuary cities, drivers licenses, and now…voting rights.
Let’s cut the crap and deal with reality. These Republicans know they can’t hope to win elections unless they restrict the voting population to a white majority. They make up phony allegations of voter fraud to require IDs that are hard for Democratic constituencies to get. The race baiting is a ploy to drive up turnout by their base that fears being a future minority. So this is where immigration issues apply. Republicans want to stunt the growth of the immigrant citizen population to keep them or their children from voting. Everything they say is a smokescreen to hide their real motives.
@Retired Teacher
“Republicans want to stunt the growth of the immigrant citizen population to keep them or their children from voting.”
And how exactly would Republicans accomplish this disenfranchising “immigrant citizens” by opposing illegal entry and presence in the United States?
How exactly, in an age where you can’t open a bank account or board an airplane without a government-issued ID card, do laws requiring proof of identity, somehow keep someone from registering to vote, and actually voting?
Never mind the collapse of wages for minorities and younger people coincides almost identically with the growth of the illegal alien population present in this country. When is the last time you went to a McDonalds, and the place was completely staffed by teens, as it would have been 30 years ago. No…to you it’s purely about elections.
Your comment is long on opinion, and short on actual fact. I could just as easily have made arguments that Democrats want to flood the country with illegal aliens, register them to vote, and overwhelm the safegaurds in place to ensure only those legally eligible can vote, and they only vote 1 time.
I don’t think Virginia’s laws are as draconian as many laws in other states regarding voting. However, in the absence of facts about voter fraud, many of the laws seem like overkill.
The one I resent the most is having to bellow my name out at the top of my lungs at the polling place when the voting official is sitting there looking at my voter ID and my name that is on file. There is just no reason to have to do that.
I also resent like hell Tony Guiffre and his posse of voting chastity women snooping into my absentee voting business. I felt violated. My sin was applying on line to vote absentee. The absentee website made absentee voting much easier.
I am calling for Guiffre’s head over that issue.
@MoonHowler
“I don’t think Virginia’s laws are as draconian as many laws in other states regarding voting. However, in the absence of facts about voter fraud, many of the laws seem like overkill.”
I would agree, and apparently, the courts agree as well. Several states laws have been struck down, but VA’s law passed judicial tests.
I would disagree with your “absence of facts” claim. Perhaps it’s the media you choose to consume, that under-reports. Fairfax county recently investigated and found voters who voted in both Maryland and Virginia, and apparently had been doing so for years. Now I am not claiming that voter-fraud is rampant in Virginia (a’la Chicago), but it does happen. Considering how close some of our state elections have been in recent years, a thousand or so fraudulent votes can indeed sway an election.
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/news/2014/voter-fraud-investigation.htm
One of the reasons why Republicans have pushed for voter ID in VA, is local CA’s in certain jurisdictions have chosen not to pursue prosecution, even when presented with overwhelming evidence that fraud has been occurring. The result is there is less of a deterrent to engaging in fraud, and safeguards are needed.
Our provisional voting procedure ensures that everyone gets to cast a vote on election-day. Even if you don’t have ID, you can cast a provisional ballot. The ballot requires you to furnish the proof of eligibility prior to the vote being counted. This is one of the main reasons why I reject the whole “you just want to disenfranchise minorities” argument. There is no way to effectively do so, even if mean’ol Republicans wanted to…and we don’t. If we lose, we want to lose fair & square.
I didn’t mean Virginia’s laws are overkill other than the screeching of one’s name at the check in table. I see NO reason for that.
As for media under-reporting, I guess I would believe it if I saw the documentation across the board. Otherwise, I think much “voter fraud” is hype. I can see how a person could vote in two different states, but not for the same election.
Point by point:
Trump wants to deny citizenship to the so-called anchor babies who are born here. (Of course he says stuff and then denies he said it.)
The people who have trouble getting IDs don’t have enough for bank accounts and airline tickets. These things are only available to the vanishing middle class.
Research shows that immigrants take jobs Americans won’t do and they are a net gain for the economy overall.
You are citing politically motivated arguments without any basis in fact and dismissing what you don’t want to hear as opinion..
@Steve Thomas
Trump nor any of his followers can legally alter the 14th amendment which guarantees birthright citizenship.
Retired, this blog actually started over the issue of illegal immigrants in PWC and Manassas. It has changed hands and names but our roots are there. Check out Our Beginnings.
They are an advocacy group. I see nothing wrong with them advocating for certain rights. I don’t hold it against them. The NAACP also advocates for things I don’t particularly approve of. I wouldn’t hold it against anyone who was a member.
Actually, I would support driver’s licenses with a designation that the person was undocumented. I just think licensed drivers are safer. But then again, you know my roots on this subject. I believe we need immigration reform. We need to deport criminals and welcome those who are here and contributing members of our society.
@MoonHowler
Again, I think you need to check into the “Council of “The Race”” a bit more.
I have checked into it over the years. Specifically what do you see different from say the NAACP?
http://www.nclr.org/about-us/who-we-are/
Anyway, it doesn’t matter. The good judge is not a member. However, if he were, I would not care.
Apparently Richmond doesn’t love Trump. There are lots and lots of empty seats in that venue.
I saw Cory up blustering with his tough guy face on (check out 9500 Liberty to see what I mean).
Trump is speaking out on the the former felons getting their voting rights restored. Actually, it’s none of his business. He is bitching about murderers getting to vote. Maybe he doesn’t understand that only people who have served their time have had their rights restored.
According to:
wtop.com:
Corey, keep trumpeting, even though your facts are wrong. Judge Curiel doesn’t belong to the National Council of La Raza. Corey has never let facts get in his way when discussing Hispanic immigrants.
Corey is a loser.
A lot of words could be used to fill the hollow vessel that is grasping pol Corey Stewart. However, as I am waking up slowly, I will confine myself to the Voter ID parts of this thread.
I assume no reasonable person has any objection to voter ID up the wazoo IF (and this is the “IF” that puts paid to Republican efforts to use voter ID as means of voter suppression) any improvements in voter ID are accompanied by funding and dedication to outreach to ensure that absolutely no currently eligible voter loses the ability to quickly cast his/her vote. Picture IDs, biometrics, the whole shebang are absolutely fine if there is dedication to going out to every voter and ensuring that they, at public expense, are provided the new IDs. It is this latter component that you don’t see coming from people advocating new voter IDs. I have been in Republican circles long enough to know that many of those advocating these ID measures know full well that there really isn’t a problem with people voting under false IDs and they also sense that the citizens with the most difficulty obtaining new IDs are minorities, the poor and the elderly, demographics that are more likely to vote D than R.
There is a problem in this country of crappy voter roll administration. When we move, our names don’t come off the voter rolls in our old place of residence for a very long time, if ever. There is no systematic national process to clean that up (for example, when you register to vote in California, there is an automatic purge of your registration in Virginia). The various state systems aren’t linked in any systematic way. That’s why Steve can point to possible duplicate voting in neighboring jurisdictions. But voter ID doesn’t address that problem. It requires different solutions, and many state election boards are wary of being integrated in a national net. Having said that, there is not even the slightest indication in any place other than fevered imaginations of people who haven’t thought things through very well that the outcome of any election in this country has ever been influenced by people voting under false names or credentials. It is a complete non-problem that is used to camouflage voter suppression. It is a source of embarrassment to me that this stuff comes from within the GOP almost exclusively, a party, particularly in its state and local forms, that has, over the past decade or so, become completely afraid of the citizens, and that will fall for any addlepated scheme to try to shrink the electorate down. A vibrant, successful party would be proud of its ideas and candidates and would be at the forefront of trying to get more and more voters out and to increase our shamefully low voter participation statistics.
I wonder if Corey has thought about the fact that if he becomes governor, he would be governor of all the people, even though not citizens or who are not here with documentation.
So he is going to kick people’s asses out of country? How about out of the state?
I am tired of hearing people make up excuses for Corey. If he wants to be considered for governor he needs to start acting like he has some dignity.
When I was teaching we didn’t allow students to say things like “kicking their asses” and “bullshit” in class because it was considered crude and rude. They had plenty of bad examples on the outside and we wanted to show them a better example. Now we have a county board chairman a presidential candidate who model coarse and brutish language to express their bigotry. It is no coincidence that that kind of vocabulary is used to publicly express that kind of thinking.
Corey is actually providing a valuable service making Trump look more presidential by comparison by being even more churlish and childish than Trump is.
Makes one proud to be a citizen of PWC…
@middleman
NOT!!!!!
I’m fascinated watching people defend Trump and reconcile “him” with their beliefs. Good lesson on the difference between conviction and belief.
Defend on….
@Lyssa
Many people are willing to overlook Trump’s many warts because of his strong stand on immigration and fair trade. I am generally in favor of free trade, but there is no denying that lax labor laws and low wages in foreign countries have put U.S. workers at a competitive disadvantage.
Trump has capitalized on the fact our run-the-mill politicians have ignored our declining economy caused in part by massive illegal and legal immigration of low-skilled workers and competition from low-cost labor from sweat shops overseas.
Trump has also benefitted from what has become a criminal investigation of Hillary. She has claimed that she never sent email marked as classified, but a new release on Friday shows that to be false. Those of us who have worked in the military or other national security positions know that we would already be in jail if we had emailed the same classified information that Hillary has. We would also have been prosecuted for obstruction of justice if we had made the same false statements and deleted emails as Hillary has done.
There are just some things that cannot be overlooked.
@Kelly_3406
I’m no fan of Hilary. She’s just as distasteful. I’m also in somewhat of a secured environment; I get it. But I would just be quiet and not try to defend him. It’s like having an employee with one or two very strong skills but characteristics that have a negative impact on the rest of the employees. If you can’t isolate them or correct the offensive behaviour they’re fired. It’s a shame to lose talent but the cost of keeping them will be disastrous.
I realize he’s is the presumptive nominee; I just can’t stomach attempts to rationalize or defend his behavior – it disappoints me every time. And I think he’s worse than a few “warts”.
@Lyssa
Sure. But voters have to choose between one candidate or the other. It is true that citizens can opt to remain pure and stay home on Election Day, or vote for a third-party candidate, but those choices amount to wasting their franchise.
@Kelly_3406
But not defend. Acknowledge what you’re supporting and voting for. And make sure you’re okay with it. Don’t give it a new or other name to help you. You’re not helping you.
I believe those libertarian candidates are more than just a flash in the pan. Both men have national recognition.
He definitely is worse than a few warts.
I absolutely disagree that Hillary is just as distasteful. She has decent manners, strives to present facts and attempts to stick to discussion of policy.
@MoonHowler
She’s an opportunist and most that like her don’t trust her. She may not be indicted for the email situation, but anyone else would be.
Maybe, maybe not. I have a hard time thinking of anyone running for president who isn’t an opportunist.