Gov. Asa Hutchinson, through spokesman J.R. Davis, responded to my request for a comment on the raging debate on the nature of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s knock of a judge of Mexican heritage hearing the case alleging fraud in the operation of Trump University.
His statement:
“Criticizing and trying to disqualify a judge because of the judge’s ethnic heritage is antithetical to everything that is true and good about America. I must say from a personal standpoint that I have a daughter in law who is of Mexican heritage. She is a U.S. Citizen and loves America. She should be valued because of who she is as a person and not judged because of where she was born. Yes, I will support the nominee of the Republican Party because the Republican Party is the best framework to improve our economy, protect our freedoms and assure a strong defense. However, I will work to have our nominee reflect the principles of the Republican Party and that includes the essential American value of equal opportunity for all.”
I guess it’s worth noting that a statement of support of “the nominee” is not precisely a statement of support for Trump, widely expected to be the nominee of the Republican National Convention, but now merely the presumptive nominee.
Still waiting on Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton. I also sent a specific question to, among others, state Rep. DeAnn Vaught, a Horatio Republican whose district contains a large Latino population. No response so far.
UPDATE: Is Trump feeling the heat. After yesterday stepping up his attacks, today this just popped from AP:
BREAKING: Trump says comments on judge ‘misconstrued’ as an attack against people of Mexican heritage.
No word if that wall is going to be so big after all or if he still worries about all the rapists.
More Trump crawfishing from CNN.
UPDATE II: John Boozman is quoted by 40/29 as calling Trump’s remarks “out of line.” But that’s about the size of the report.