The Slatest

Having Spent a Week Slandering the Troops, Trump Has Now Moved on to Firefighters

Donald Trump today in Columbus, Ohio.

Jay LaPrete/AFP/Getty Images

If you were teaching an alien to run for president in the United States and had to write out a list of absolutely unbreakable rules to follow during a political campaign, these two would probably be on it:

  • DON’T PICK A FIGHT WITH THE PARENTS OF A FALLEN PURPLE HEART RECIPIENT
  • DON’T QUESTION THE INTEGRITY OF FIREFIGHTERS

Having violated the first rule in re: the Khan family in the same week that he also disparaged a four-star general, Trump has now moved on to number two: Picking a fight with America’s firemen. Twice in the last four days, the Republican nominee has accused a local fire marshal of being politically biased against him. The first incident was on Friday in Colorado Springs. As quoted inThe Hill:

So I have to tell you this. This is why our country doesn’t work. We have plenty of space here. We have thousands of people outside trying to get in. And we have a fire marshal that said, ‘Oh we can’t allow more people.’ … And the reason they won’t let them in is because they don’t know what the hell they’re doing. Hey, maybe they’re a Hillary person. Could that be possible? Probably.

Trump later added that the fire marshal is “probably a Democrat.” The Colorado firefighters’ union responded in a statement that “occupancy levels are set to protect the public’s safety and we find it unfortunate that Trump’s campaign would question our judgment.” (City firefighters, as it happens, had retrieved Trump from a stalled hotel elevator shortly before he attacked them onstage.)

Today, in Columbus, Ohio, Trump pulled the same stunt. From CBS reporter Sopan Deb:

The Columbus FD says Trump’s campaign agreed to the 1,000-person limit four days ago