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Bobby Jindal’s tirade against Donald Trump -- like his performance in the polls -- hardly got any traction. Aziz Haniffa reports.
Louisiana Republican Governor Piyush ‘Bobby’ Jindal, who does not consider himself an Indian American but a non-hyphenated American, cannot seem to run away fast enough from his heritage.
Desperate and frustrated that his presidential campaign has not got any traction at all and he is off the charts and even below one point in the polls, Jindal on Thursday took on the Grand Old Party front-runner and eviscerated Donald Trump as no one has done before.
Jindal, who believes that immigration without assimilation is ‘an invasion’ and wants to do away with the constitutionally protected ‘birthright citizenship,’ rented a room in the National Press Club in Washington DC, to call Trump a ‘narcissist’ a ‘egomaniac’ and a ‘carnival act,’ among several other adjectives.
He said that Trump is ‘full of foolishness and nonsense,’ and while the real estate mogul has thus ‘been a lot of fun,’ argued that the problem was that ‘Donald Trump is not a serious candidate, he’s a narcissist; he’s an egomaniac.’
Jindal said, “The only thing he believes in is himself and the reality is that I want to say what everybody is thinking of Donald Trump, but afraid to say.”
“Everybody knows this is true, it should not be new, the idea of the Donald Trump act is great, but the reality however is absurd,” he added.
And, he wasn’t done hurling insults at the mother of all insulters, he continued, “Here’s the truth about Donald Trump -- Donald Trump is shallow; there is no substance.”
Jindal, who only recently had acknowledged that when you attack Trump he only gets stronger, nonetheless perhaps believing that he had nothing to lose since he doesn’t even register in the polls, said: “Trump doesn’t know anything about policy; he has no idea what he is talking about. He makes it up on the fly.”
Jindal seemed obsessed with the words ‘narcissist’ and ‘egomaniac’.
He said, “He (Trump) told us the other day that he likes Kanye West, why? ‘Because Kanye loves Trump.’ He may be an entertaining narcissist, but he is one nonetheless.
“Like all narcissists, Trump is insecure and weak, and afraid of being exposed. And that’s why he is constantly telling us how big and how rich and how great he is, and how insignificant everyone else is,” Jindal believed.
He continued, “We have all met people like Trump, and we know that only a very weak and small person needs to constantly tell us how strong and powerful he is. Trump believes that he is the answer to every question. He is dangerous. But not in the way you think. Many say he is dangerous because you wouldn’t want a hot head with his fingers on the nuclear codes. And while that’s true, that’s not the real danger here.”
Jindal argued, “The real danger is that, ironically, Trump could destroy America’s chance to be great again. As conservatives, we have a golden opportunity in front of us. The Democrats have terribly screwed things up, and are basically giving us the next election.”
But he warned that if Trump gets the Republican nomination the GOP would blow this gift-wrapped opportunity being provided by the Democrats to take the White House.
Jindal, whose angst may also have been driven by the fact that the thrice married Trump seemingly had hijacked the evangelicals, that the far-right conservative Jindal was counting as his base to catapult his campaign, also alleged that ‘Donald Trump’s never read the Bible,’ and declared that ‘the reason he has never read the Bible is he is not in the Bible.’
“The conservative cause deserves more than a power-hungry shark that eats whatever is in front of him… because sooner or later, we will be his next meal. We can win right now, or we can be the biggest fools of all time and put our faith not in our principles, but in one egomaniacal madman who has no principles,” he added, and reiterated, “If we nominate him, he will self-destruct in a massive way in the general election. He may be Hillary Clinton’s only hope.”
Jindal said, “So, it’s time for Trump to take the ride down his own elevator. It’s time to tell Trump -- no, we will not put an egomaniacal unserious person in the White House – you are fired.”
“Obviously, I think I am the right man for the job, but the voters will make that decision. America is ready for a politically incorrect conservative revolution,” he added.
But if he expected that true to form Trump would come back swinging and he could engage ‘The Donald’ in a slanging match and get himself some television exposure because Trump had consumed all the oxygen in the hustings, he apparently was deeply disappointed.
In a rather uncharacteristically restrained tweet, Trump said, “He (Jindal) did not make the debate stage and therefore I have never met him,” and dismissed Jindal’s rant, saying, “I only respond to people that register more than 1 percent in the polls.”
“I never thought he had a chance, and I have been proven right,” Trump added, rubbing it in.
Jindal later appeared on Fox News and said, “I am actually disappointed. I thought he will do better than that. I am disappointed he did not call me ugly, I am disappointed he did not question my faith. I am disappointed he did not say I had a low energy level. But he has still got time. I bet there will be better insults coming my way.”
Trump, however, was busy going after the only other political outsider candidates Dr Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina and largely ignored Jindal.
The evening news largely covered Trump’s insults and feuds with these two who were also rising in the polls.
Jindal’s invective against Trump -- like his performance in the polls -- hardly got any traction.