I can’t even…
On Wednesday, real estate tycoon Donald J. Trump seemed to switch his position on the Common Core State Standards mid-speech. Millennial Josh Perry caught The Donald on video declaring “Common Core, we’re going to keep.”
Re: https://t.co/9Sn7LLBCum pic.twitter.com/pU5u1hJ21f
— Josh Perry (@MrJoshPerry) February 11, 2016
That’s Trump defending Common Core, caught on tape by Perry, social media director at Ted Cruz for President.
We are going to do something special, ok, you ready? Common Core, we’re gonna keep. Trade we’re gonna make great. Military we are going to go through the — we are going to make it so great.
But earlier in the speech, Trump had said, “Common Core — a total disaster [applause] a disaster. We’re going to educate our kids. By the way, Jeb Bush loves Common Core, he wants people educated from Washington.” Trump likely didn’t change his mind — he just misspoke. But The Donald never misspeaks. He won’t admit any failure on his part, so here’s his response to being called out on it.
I was referring to the fact that Jeb Bush wants to keep common core. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 11, 2016
Others had different ideas. Here is CNN contributor Amanda Carpenter:
Sure, I believe Trump is still against Common Core. But I don’t think he knows what Common Core is or how to get rid of it.
— Amanda Carpenter (@amandacarpenter) February 11, 2016
The nearly anonymous Just Karl also had a great response.
I’m not gonna make a meal of the Trump gaffe on Common Core. People misspeak. But less likely when you have some clue about policy. — Just Karl (@justkarl) February 11, 2016
On Jeb Bush’s position, Trump is right on, however. Bush was booed off the stage at a Heritage Action event in South Carolina for supporting Common Core.
This one misstatement is unlikely to have any real negative impact on Trump’s campaign, but it may confirm the suspicions of some conservatives that Trump has switched sides too fast, without deeply considering the issues.
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