في أمريكا فقط..Only In America

(CNN)Fareed Zakaria says he wasn't using the label "bullsh** artist" lightly when he used it to describe Donald Trump.

Zakaria, host of GPS on CNN, received both flak and praise earlier in the week when he said Trump continuously tries to clarify his positions with "a tweet or a statement... it's sort of amusing to watch -- how's he going to pull it off this time؟ What is he going to argue؟ Usually he adds that the press hates him. But there's a term for this kind of thing. This is the mode of a bullsh** artist," Zakaria told Wolf Blitzer. Zakaria took to his show to explain why he decided to use this term to describe the Republican presidential nominee. "He boasts and boasts and boasts about his business, his buildings, his books, his wives; much of it is a concoction of hyperbole and falsehood. And, when he is found out, he's like that guy we have all met making wild claims at the bar, who when confronted by the truth quickly responds, 'I knew that.'" Zakaria said. One of the examples Zakaria points to is the "non-relationship" between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. At the National Press Club in May 2014, Trump said he spoke to Putin, who "could not have been nicer." During the Fox Business and Wall Street Journal debate in November 2015, Trump said he got to know Putin "very well." "Did Trump really believe that you can say something like that on live TV and no one would check؟ Did he think that no one would notice that the '60 Minutes' show consisted of two separate prerecorded interviews with Putin in Moscow, and Trump in New York؟ By that logic I've gotten to know Franklin Roosevelt very well because I've run some clips of him on my television show. In fact, it was just BS." Zakaria quips. Another issue that Zakaria brings up is the one that fueled Trump's political rise: President Barack Obama "birtherism" conspiracy theories. In 2011, Trump said that he had sent investigators to Hawaii and "they cannot believe what they're finding." "For weeks, Trump continued to imply that there were huge findings to be released soon.... That was five years ago, in April 2011. Nothing happened. It appears highly unlikely that Trump sent investigators to Hawaii in the first place," Zakaria says. "As the crazy talk continues, standard rules of fact, truth, and reality, have disappeared in this campaign. Donald Trump has piled such vast quantities of his trademark product into the political arena that the stench is now overwhelming and unbearable," Zakaria says.

OPEN LETTER ON DONALD TRUMP FROM GOP NATIONAL SECURITY LEADERS

We the undersigned, members of the Republican national security community, represent a broad spectrum of opinion on America’s role in the world and what is necessary to keep us safe and prosperous. We have disagreed with one another on many issues, including the Iraq war and intervention in Syria. But we are united in our opposition to a Donald Trump presidency. Recognizing as we do, the conditions in American politics that have contributed to his popularity, we nonetheless are obligated to state our core objections clearly: His vision of American influence and power in the world is wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principle. He swings from isolationism to military adventurism within the space of one sentence. His advocacy for aggressively waging trade wars is a recipe for economic disaster in a globally connected world. His embrace of the expansive use of torture is inexcusable. His hateful, anti-Muslim rhetoric undercuts the seriousness of combating Islamic radicalism by alienating partners in the Islamic world making significant contributions to the effort. Furthermore, it endangers the safety and Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of American Muslims. Controlling our border and preventing illegal immigration is a serious issue, but his insistence that Mexico will fund a wall on the southern border inflames unhelpful passions, and rests on an utter misreading of, and contempt for, our southern neighbor. Similarly, his insistence that close allies such as Japan must pay vast sums for protection is the sentiment of a racketeer, not the leader of the alliances that have served us so well since World War II. His admiration for foreign dictators such as Vladimir Putin is unacceptable for the leader of the world’s greatest democracy. He is fundamentally dishonest. Evidence of this includes his attempts to deny positions he has unquestionably taken in the past, including on the 2003 Iraq war and the 2011 Libyan conflict. We accept that views evolve over time, but this is simply misrepresentation. His equation of business acumen with foreign policy experience is false. Not all lethal conflicts can be resolved as a real estate deal might, and there is no recourse to bankruptcy court in international affairs. Mr. Trump’s own statements lead us to conclude that as president, he would use the authority of his office to act in ways that make America less safe, and which would diminish our standing in the world. Furthermore, his expansive view of how presidential power should be wielded against his detractors poses a distinct threat to civil liberty in the United States. Therefore, as committed and loyal Republicans, we are unable to support a Party ticket with Mr. Trump at its head. We commit ourselves to working energetically to prevent the election of someone so utterly unfitted to the office.