You’ve got to hand it to Donald J. Trump.
The man has zero filter. His political antennae have been blown over.
Get a load of this.
HeĀ traveledĀ to Albuquerque, the largest city — by far — in New Mexico and then for no obvious or apparent reason he launches into a rhetorical riff against Gov. Susana Martinez.
What makes this so, um, remarkable is that Trump’s comments seemed gratuitous. They had no foundation, nor did they contribute to whatever point he was trying to make.
He was talking about the increase in food stamps in New Mexico for the past dozen or so years. Then he dragged Martinez’s name into his remarks. The governor “has to do better,” he said.
OK, here’s another remarkable element.
Trump is having trouble with two key voting blocs. He is looked at unfavorably among women and, uh, Hispanics. He’ll need both of those groups’ support if he has a prayer of being elected president of the United States.
Susana Martinez embodies both of them. All at once. At the same time.
She’s also a rising Republican Party star who, incidentally, had endorsed Marco Rubio in the GOP presidential primary campaign. She didn’t attend the rally at the Albuquerque assembly hall.
My hunch is that her star has risen a good bit higher in the wake of Trump’s ridiculous criticism.