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Amid Criticism, Trump Pulls Out Of Major GOP Event At Last Minute To Do What He Does Best
Presidential candidate Donald Trump bowed out of a major GOP event in South Carolina at the last minute, causing some to question whether the decision was related to criticism stemming from his reaction to an adversarial question at a Sept. 17 town hall meeting.
Trump’s campaign said the Republican front-runner had to change his plans about attending the Heritage Action Presidential Forum because a “significant business transaction” was delayed.
“He sends his regrets and looks forward to being with the great people of South Carolina,” the campaign said.
The timing of Trump’s cancellation comes after two audience members put the billionaire on the spot in a town hall meeting by calling President Barack Obama a Muslim who isn’t an American citizen.
“We have a problem in this country — it’s called Muslims,” the unidentified man said. “We know our current president is one. You know he’s not even an American,” the man added. “That’s my question, when can we get rid of them?”
Trump didn’t address the accusation but said he would consider options.
“We’re going to be looking at a lot of different things. A lot of people are saying bad things are happening, [and] we’re going to be looking at that and plenty of other things,” Trump said.
A second town hall attendee endorsed statements made by the questioner. Trump quickly moved on to the next person without confronting the statements.
Both Democrats and Republicans have condemned Trump’s response. Many look back to a similar incident in the 2008 campaign, when Sen. John McCain corrected a town hall participant with those claims, and state that Trump should have done the same.
Trump was part of the “birther” movement when Obama first took office, and even said he had his own investigators looking into claims that the president was born outside the United States. Obama has repeatedly stated publicly that he is a Christian and released a birth certificate in 2011 showing he was born in Hawaii in 1961.
Even without Trump, the South Carolina event will be highlighted with the majority of the GOP presidential candidates. Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Carly Fiorina, Scott Walker, Chris Christie, Rand Paul, Rick Santorum and Bobby Jindal are expected to speak.
Source: http://www.westernjournalism.com/amid-criticism-trump-pulls-out-of-major-gop-event-at-last-minute-to-do-what-he-does-best/
Donald can pull out of anything if he so wishes to. He is not obligated to be put to anyone’s test or to have baited questions thrown at him by annonymous men.