The terrifying implications of Donald Trump's affectionate remarks about dictators

It's all too clear how appealing he finds brutality

Donald Trump is walking on thin ice.
(Image credit: REUTERS/Nancy Wiechec)

I have a rule about campaign "gaffes." If a candidate says something just once and if he'd take it back if you gave him the chance, then he ought to be forgiven. We all make slips of the tongue all the time, and they don't reveal some secret self that we've been trying to keep hidden. On the other hand, if a candidate says something repeatedly, especially even after he's been criticized for it, then it probably does represent a real sentiment that might tell you something important about him.

So when Donald Trump offered words of praise for Saddam Hussein at a rally on Tuesday, it wasn't exactly out of the blue.

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Paul Waldman

Paul Waldman is a senior writer with The American Prospect magazine and a blogger for The Washington Post. His writing has appeared in dozens of newspapers, magazines, and web sites, and he is the author or co-author of four books on media and politics.