The sound and fury over what President Donald Trump is alleged to have said during a meeting with congressional leaders over immigration over the nature of certain developing world countries continue unabated. The media narrative has shifted somewhat due to disputes over what the president actually said and about which countries he said it. Trump, by the way, has changed into denial mode and is threatening to tape every meeting for now on so that there can be no disputing what words were used. Then, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, had some interesting perspective on Trump’s real attitude toward people in some of the not so nice parts of the world.

President Trump cannot be a racist because—

Sen. Paul sat down on Meet the Press and, of course, the question of the president’s objectionable language came up. Paul made a little news that, naturally, is not being widely reported.

Sen. Paul, who is a practicing ophthalmologist, occasionally takes the time when the Senate is not in session and travels to poorer countries with a group of surgeons and performs procedures pro bono. His last trip, in 2015, was to Haiti and Central America where he restored sight to hundreds of people. Paul mentioned in passing that significant financial backing for the trip came from none other than Donald J. Trump, then a private citizen. How can a man who pays good money to restore the vision of people in the developing world be a racist?

Virtue signally by pointing fingers

To be sure, Paul agreed with the consensus that the president’s remarks, whatever they actually were, did not help matters. Any kind of compromise on the immigration question is now moribund, though mainly because many people in Congress of both parties think a great deal consists of them getting everything that they want.

Nevertheless, there is something noxious about all of the virtue signaling through finger pointing and accusations of racism and worst. Then the controversy surrounding the Clinton Foundation and the tens of millions raised for Haiti relief that somehow never made it to the troubled island continues to fester. WikiLeaks published a private email that suggested that Chelsea Clinton used Foundation funds to pay for her wedding and to finance her lifestyle, something that her father took to Twitter and denied.

Even so, Sen. Paul’s revelation suggests that the president is a far more complicated man than the caricature that Trump has played a role in creating would suggest. Can a mad be rhetorically obnoxious while still doing good deeds in private? President Trump would appear to be a case in point.
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