A letter from St. Paul to the Trumpians

It's always nice when a city council can dispense with the mundane work of reviewing city business and get on to more important topics:

Donald Trump may be welcome in the city of St. Paul, but the City Council voted Wednesday to condemn his “anti-Muslim, anti-refugee and anti-immigrant speech” in a move that had the American Civil Liberties Union defending the Republican presidential candidate’s right to speak.

Council Member Dai Thao, who sponsored the resolution, and his colleagues acknowledged that they could not ban Trump, even if they don’t like what he has to say.

I really wish they'd tried to ban Trump. It would have been entertaining as hell. May I speak freely? Dai Thao is a moron. But he's not the biggest moron in the room:

Council Member Dave Thune said he admires Thao’s action condemning Trump’s message, saying “it’s a crime to not stand up and call him on it.” He added that he was proud of Thao for bringing the resolution forward.

It was more of a squat than standing up, but I digress. We'll give Thune the benefit of the doubt and assume he actually meant it would be an unfortunate decision to refrain from condemning Trump and that he really didn't mean it's an actual crime if someone refrains from being an upholstered chair SJW with a designated parking spot at City Hall.

Meanwhile, give local ACLU majordomo Chuck Samuelson credit for having the bravery to state the obvious:

“My advice to the City Council is they should have their speeches and then table it until 2017,” he said. “What this is doing is not a role the City Council should have.”

Trump is a private citizen, Samuelson said. If he chose to come to St. Paul, stand in the center of Rice Park and yell at the top of his lungs to ban Muslims, “what would happen to him? Nothing.”

The resolution “is not an appropriate response for a city council. Their response borders on the unconstitutional,” he said. “The only thing that saves them is that they didn’t make a law and, when he shows up, they didn’t tell him he was unwelcome.”

Meanwhile, we might consider the following observation from the city's namesake, from 1 Corinthians 1:20:

Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 

Careful there, Paul. The road to Damascus ain't West 7th.