Normally, we expect a certain medicum of dignity from those who seek to be President of the United States.
After all, the President is a role model for citizens, including children.
Right?
Normally, we expect a certain medicum of dignity from those who seek to be President of the United States.
After all, the President is a role model for citizens, including children.
Right?

He’s a horror.
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This is the moment to put the pressure on the RNC. Politico just sent this.
“The Republican National Committee on Saturday appeared to at least temporarily halt the operations of some of the “Victory” program that is devoted to electing Donald Trump.
The move comes as the GOP nominee is under mounting pressure from elected Republicans to step aside after he was caught on tape bragging about sexually assaulting women.
In an email from the RNC to a victory program mail vendor, with the subject line “Hold on all projects,” the committee asked the vendor to “put a hold” on mail production.
“Please put a hold/stop on all mail projects right now. If something is in production or print it needs to stop. Will update you when to proceed,” Lauren Toomey, a staffer in the RNC’s political department, wrote in an email that was obtained by POLITICO.
The email was sent to at least one RNC victory program vendor. Rick Wiley, a top RNC official, was cc’d on the email.
Neither Toomey nor Wiley responded to requests for comment. An RNC spokesperson also didn’t respond to a request for comment.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/rnc-halts-all-victory-project-work-for-trump-229363
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And more from Politico just now.
Ballot Box feed
“October 08, 2016, 01:02 pm
No. 3 GOP Senate leader says Trump should withdraw
By Melanie Zaonana
The Senate’s no. 3 Republican is calling on Donald Trump
to drop out of the presidential race following leaked audio of the GOP nominee making lewd sexual comments about women in 2005 .
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) tweeted on Saturday that Trump “should withdraw and Mike Pence should be our nominee effective immediately.”
Thune, Republican Conference Chairman and chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, joins a growing chorus of Republicans calling on Trump to be replaced by Pence on the GOP presidential ticket.”
Everyone should tweet and email the RNC to drop Trump now.
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But Mike Pence would not immediately become the nominee. The RNC would have to hold another convention and select him to be their candidate. The logistics of that and then getting the new candidate on the ballot in all 50 states is all but impossible.
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If all the women tRump has assaulted physically with his imposed groping of their body parts, and kissing, etc., were to ban together and file charges against him, as Gloria Allred saw to it the Bill Cosby accusers did, he would have felony charges against him.
Can any accused felon be President? Gloria…get busy.
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It gets more complicated even than this. There are some states where early voting has already started and ballots have been cast, as well as some where absentee ballots have already been sent out.
So what then? Would this precipitate a Constitutional crisis.
Remember, too, that we have divided Supreme Court.
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Ellen, legally yes, effectively no. There is nothing in the Constitution that prohibits anyone from being selected.
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More just now from HuffPost. Rats are fleeing this sinking ship of tRump.
“WASHINGTON ― Republican lawmakers are pulling their endorsements for GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump after the Washington Post released a bombshell video Friday in which Trump makes lewd comments about women.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (Utah) was the first GOP member of Congress to peel off Friday night, declaring on a local TV station, “I’m out.” He said he didn’t know who he was going to vote for now, but it wouldn’t be Trump or Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. That was right after his home state governor, Gary Herbert (R), said he, too, was dropping his support for Trump after seeing the tape of him claiming he tried to have sex with a married woman and boasting of groping women because of his celebrity.
The floodgates were open by Saturday morning. Here’s a running list of the GOP members of Congress, senators and governors rescinding their endorsements for Trump or calling on him to step down, one month before the election, after seeing the video.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (Utah)
Rep. Martha Roby (Ala.)
Rep. Chris Stewart (Utah)
Rep. Bradley Byrne (Ala.)
Rep. Joe Heck (Nev.)
Rep. Cresent Hardy (Nev.)
Rep. Scott Garrett (N.J.)
Rep. Ann Wagner (Mo.)
Rep. Rodney Davis (Mo.)
Sen. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.)
Sen. Mike Crapo (Idaho)
Sen. John Thune (S.D.)
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.)
Sen. Deb Fischer (Neb.)
Sen. Dan Sullivan (Alaska)
Sen. Cory Gardner (Colo.)
Gov. Gary Herbert (Utah)
Gov. Dennis Dauggard (S.D.)
Gov. Robert Bentley (Ala.)
There’s also some GOP lawmakers who didn’t support Trump before but are now taking it a step further and saying he needs to drop out. They include Sens. Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Mark Kirk (Ill.), Mike Lee (Utah), Ben Sasse (Neb.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Reps. Mike Coffman (Colo.), Barbara Comstock (Va.), Fred Upton (Mich.) and Charlie Dent (Pa.).
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.”
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John McCain just took back his endorsement of tRump.
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Never mind Trump stepping down, the whole vile GOP party should step down and pass on this election cycle. Trump is the logical result of a party that has moved so far right that it has fallen off the cliff into a toxic lake of far right wing/libertarian/Randian ideology. The GOP richly deserves to self-destruct.
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Last night’s SNL: Trump APPLE-uh-gizes
(give those writers props for the fast turn-around)
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More from last night’s SNL … OMG, this is funny stuff.
Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway tries to enjoy her “Day Off”, but keeps getting interrupted to do damage control appearances on CNN:
imo, Kate McKinnon is quickly earning her place alongside the other all-time great SNL female cast members … Gilda Radner (70’s), Jan Hooks (80’s), Maya Rudolph (90’s), Kristin Wiig (00’s), etc. … and her Hillary rocks, too.
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On Twittetr Trump goes balllistic on those Republicans deserting him:
Donald J. Trump Verified account
“So many self-righteous hypocrites! Watch their poll numbers – and elections – go down!”
Oh, and he’s going nuclear with the dredging up of allegations against Bill Clinton.
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More and more stupidity is coming out.
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I’m 77, raised around many male cousins and a brother and Trumps outburst was uncouth, rude and totally out of line.
A man that lacks basic dignity and lacks good judgement should not be running for President!
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But look at the thumbs up versus down comments
People like brutal entertainment carried out with flair and indifference.
Next up: cage fighting? Not likely because Trump would have to remove his dress-up suit and his hairdo might get disturbed.
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Absolutely not. He was all wrong for public schools before. He simply wrong for any office now.
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Oh come on folks, that’s how Ronald Reagan got started, in show biz, bed Sores for Bonzo or Bozo. Though Reagan did say tear down that wall. In any event, Hillary is a liar, war monger, baby killer, and war cheerleader, she’s equal to Trump. So vote for saint Jill Stein who walks on water when she’s not raining down manna from heaven. (sarcasm alert). Jill Stein has as much chance of winning as I do, ZERO chance. I will be voting for HRC.
Professional wrestling is disgusting beyond belief, it teaches bullying and the most primitive and thuggish kind of behavior. Trump was part of that world, why am I not surprised.
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Trump is the model citizen for the deplorables. If he becomes president, we will be the laughing stock of the Western World, and that is only if we survive.
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Agree, and suggest we all repeatedly call out the tRump supporters as DEPLORABLES.
Anyone who would vote for this perverted abysmal man is equally as perverted.
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No excuses left .
Anyone still voting for Trump is a racist and a facist . Guess what ? We are about to find out what portion of Americans are bigots.
However Ellen, Pence is merely a sofisticated version of Trump. It isa party of despicables and has been for many years
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It’s sad to say that a foreign Middle East network is the one to make a serious effort to reveal the real Donald Trump.
From Al Jazeera comes Who is the Real donald Trump? – Up Front
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But then again, Vince McMahon kinda had it comin’. 😉
Seriously, here’s a bit from NEW YORK Magazine, where Trump shares his wisdom on how to interact with the fairer sex:
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/trump-hate-216539
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“11. On how to treat women
“In a NEW YORK Magazine profile, published in November 1992, a year after Trump divorced his first wife, Ivana, Trump was quoted dispensing his wisdom about how to handle the fairer sex.
” ‘You have to treat ’em like sh#%,’ Trump said in the article to friend Philip Johnson, who responded, ‘You’d make a good mafioso.’
“Trump’s response: ‘One of the greatest.’ ”
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Trump’s daughter Ivanka said the following in her Democratic Convention speech:
( 5:22 – )
( 5:22 – )
INVANKA TRUMP: “MY FATHER not only HAS THE strength and ability necessary to be our next president, but also the KINDNESS AND COMPASSION that will enable him to be the leader that this country needs.”
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Don’t forget Jack, that Ivanka, who is always her father’s daughter, plugged her pink dress on her clothing website, and sold out of them, over 5,000 sold, from her wearing it to make this talk. With the tRumps, it is always ALL about money.
Used to think she was classy, but now I realize it is all part of the Trump act. And her two brothers, the ‘great White hunters’ who get off by shooting, murdering, innocent animals who cannot fight back against their automatic rifles, are clones of the Neo Nazi groups infesting out nation.
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If Trump wins, everyone that voted against him will be shaved bald and then their foreheads will be branded with a sheriff’s star.
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I get the outrage. But what concerns me about Drumpf is less is personal behavior than the neo-fascist public policies that he, Pence, Cruz, and other so-called leaders in the Republican Party have espoused, mostly when Gingrich married the aggressive tactics of power for powers’ sake with the policy and rhetoric of a cynical David Duke agenda. Need we be reminded that House Majority Whip Scalise once described himself as “David Duke without the baggage.”
Neither the lemming press corps nor the Republican leadership flinched or expressed outrage when, on the evening that Trump returned from his ill-fated trip to Mexico, he called for “ideological certification” of immigrants. Not one raised his or her voice to state the obvious: the U.S. is not built on ideology, but on a tradition of pragmatism that is built on the foundation of the Constitution and our historical experience. When he calls for “ideological certification” certain questions must be asked. Who determines what is ideologically acceptable and correct? Is it a government agency? Does Congress have to pass that define what can be ideologically certified? Would those rules create ideological tests for military service or for civil rights? This is one of the worst case scenarios for the proverbial “slippery slope.”
While we are all rightly disgusted with Drumpf’s misogyny, it is in the personal realm and does not impact public policy. He and leading Republicans have given us great cause to be concerned that their policies, public behavior, and enabling of partisan obstruction that should disgust us even more. “Ideological certification” just sums it all up in a way that it has never been done before. But, like the tree falling in the forest, no one hears or pays attention to it. This is what should outrage us all.
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Go back to Raegan for that one. Dear Ron was
praticing ideological purity when he was a dirtbag blacklisting other artists in the 50s.
As president he great story teller whipped up the haters with talk of welfare queens and Cadilacs.
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Agreed, but there were many sane Republicans. We may have disagreed them, but we never questioned their commitment to govern–people like Bob Michel, John Anderson, John Chafee, Mark Hatfield, and Ed Brooke. Republicans like that don’t exist anymore. Even the so-called moderates like Lamar Alexander have imbibed on the right wing Kool-Aid.
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“While we are all rightly disgusted with Drumpf’s misogyny, it is in the personal realm and does not impact public policy.”
Can’t believe you said this. How could you imagine that Trump’s misogyny is “in the personal realm” and “does not impact lublic policy”??
I as a woman voter have been keeping a close eye on Trump’s treatment of women. On the surface, I have seen him denigrating opponent Carly Fiorino & opponent’s [Ted Cruz’s] wife as ugly. More recently, he has chosen to denigrate some previous Ms Universe as having become “fat”, the “worst ever candidtate for Ms Universe” etc. Thanks to recently-widely-shared video, I have also observed him referring to his own daughters in barely-concealed incestuous terms, i.e., whether their legs or future breast-size will reflect their Mum’s– & most recently, have observed that 20 yrs ago he hobnobbed extensively w/ convicted sexual-offender Jeff Epstein, & even now is defendant in a lawsuit accusing him of having raped a 13-yo during those Epstein parties.
How could you even imagine that such a person would “not impact public policy”?
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One’s personal peccadillos and perversities do not impact public policy unless a majority of of policy makers agree with them to pass legislation and make laws to implement to them into public policy. If they do, we should be both outraged and motivated to oppose them in the public realm.
His comments about “Fiorino & opponent’s wife as ugly” do not translate into public policy that will affect women in codified law. Nor do his comments about about Ms. Universe (seriously?) being “fat.” I hope we will agree that they are repugnant at worst, but they do not affect law and public policy.
The reason those of us who follow Diane’s blog are motivated to do so is because the issues she raises and highlights have real impact on policy, not just opinion. The horrible issues she raises are not just repugnant to our personal views, they have real impact on local, state, and federal policy.
Drumpf’s pronouncements about “ideological certification” have real implications that could affect constitutional law, public policy, and fundamentally distort what it means to be an American citizen–immigrant or native born. They are fascist. You, “as a woman” ought to be very concerned about the policy implications of “ideological certification.” If you value your role as a woman over that of “ideological certification” and what it entails, we will just have to agree to disagree. One if fundamentally and constitutionally more significant that the other–just like my “male-ness” has a lesser priority than my American citizenship and the privilege and obligations that come with it.
There’s a difference. If you really want to get in the weeds, Bill Clinton’s personal peccadillos had absolutely no impact on public policy. They had great impact on political partisan posturing. There is a fundamental qualitative difference. Too bad you can’t recognize the difference.
To take the argument to its extreme, the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments do nothing to outlaw racism. But they do change public policy to take racism out of the policy equation to determine who, under the Constitution, is a citizen and what their fundamental rights are (i.e., the same as every American citizen).
I’m more concerned about the neo-fascist nature of Drumpf’s pronouncements and the acquiescence of the leading Republican leadership to accept them.
I am a human being and a citizen of this nation and realize that there is a difference between misogyny and fascism. Too bad you can’t recognize the difference in terms of how laws are made and how they affect our Constitution. I can’t do anything about how people feel about women or people who are “different” whether it be culture, religion, disability, or whatever. But I can advocate and try influence policy makers to understand and act upon constitutional issues to ensure that those opinions to not translate into law.
Do you value your role as a “woman voter” more than that that of an American citizen? I value my role as an American citizen before any categorization. To me, unlike the hypocrisy of Drumpf voters who claim to deny labels while we know that is exactly what they do, I will acknowledge the individual failings of citizens, but I will oppose any attempts to make them public policy.
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Disagree Greg…the personal behavior toward, and lack of respect for, women, would affect this disgusting candidate’s judgment in areas of policy such as Roe v. Wade, appointment of ‘similar to him’ only make SCOTUS members, voting rights, equal pay, and many other areas women have spent so many years negating to arrive at equal status in the US with men.
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a typo…meant only MALE SCOTUS appointments.
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…and after reading your post again Greg, I am surprised, offended, and disappointed at how you demean Bethree for expressing HER opinion. You sound like tRump.
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Don’t see how my explanation of my views demeans anyone. I was trying to point out how a new form of fascism is infiltrating the law making process and no one seems to pay attention. Sorry if you are offended by that.
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Ouch…your quotes below show such bias against women and “different” others…Hitler also had this bias and gassed the infirm, the “different” Jews. and women who criticized him. You say below….
“I am a human being and a citizen of this nation and realize that there is a difference between misogyny and fascism. Too bad you can’t recognize the difference in terms of how laws are made and how they affect our Constitution. I can’t do anything about how people feel about women or people who are “different” whether it be culture, religion, disability, or whatever. But I can advocate and try influence policy makers to understand and act upon constitutional issues to ensure that those opinions to not translate into law.
Do you value your role as a “woman voter” more than that that of an American citizen? I value my role as an American citizen before any categorization. To me, unlike the hypocrisy of Drumpf voters who claim to deny labels while we know that is exactly what they do, I will acknowledge the individual failings of citizens, but I will oppose any attempts to make them public policy.”
Your words above, sound straight out of the Trump handbook, Greg….who made you sole arbiter of how people should feel about voting? :Looks to me like arrogance and male entitlement as to who is a “good” citizen. tRumps female hatred translates absolutely into public policy and even potential laws of the land.
Wish I could have you attend some of my public policy classes to learn that women and the “different” have as much voice as you, and other males. I would love to review the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and Amendments, with you…and “how laws are made”…..
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Yes, Ellen, I wish that Greg would attend your public policy classes, as well.
Maybe he could learn something. Something important.
Keep up the good work Ellen.
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There are only DEPLORABLES who support tRump. This is the most frightening and debilitating aspect of his running for President of the US.
First, i stand by my suggestion that he is probably a latent or active homosexual, and is so overtly homophobic to hide his own sexuality. See his statement on Golf and Marriage below. Many closeted homosexuals marry, have children, and live in the Down Low.
“15. Golf and marriage
Speaking to The New York Times for an article published in May 2011, Trump likened homosexual relationships to changing tastes in golf equipment.
“A lot of people — I don’t want this to sound trivial — but a lot of people are switching to these really long putters, very unattractive,” he said. “It’s weird. You see these great players with these really long putters, because they can’t sink three-footers anymore. And, I hate it. I am a traditionalist.”
“I have so many fabulous friends who happen to be gay, but I am a traditionalist,” he said.
Second,. see below a dangerous comment on Lloyd’s post regarding his rabid follower, Nazi lover, Andrew Anglin.
“Lynne Polelle · Nashville, Tennessee
“Heil Donald Trump – THE ULTIMATE SAVIOR.”
That’s what Andrew Anglin, publisher of the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer, had to say in response to Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump’s call for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.”
“Finally: someone speaks sense,” Anglin wrote, pasting Trump’s new proposal under the headline “Glorious Leader Calls For Complete Ban on All Moslems.”
“Make America White Again!” his post concludes.
Anglin is not new to the white supremacy scene. In 2012, he launched a website called Total Fascism, where he also wrote about racist concepts, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hatewatch blog.”
tRump is supported not only by David Duke and Andrew Anglin, but by other Neo Nazis, and is providing them a welcoming podium to rant and recruit. What is truly the most alarming aspect is how many are our neighbors all over America.
What keeps him running when the world knows he is a racist, a woman hater, an uncontrolled physical abuser of both women and men, a friend and colleague of the Mafia, a cheater who doesn’t pay his bills, a LIAR, and so many negatives that most men of his ilk are in the prison????
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Ellen,
I disagree about your suspicion that Trump is a closeted homosexual. I think he is exactly what he shows himself to be: a sexual predator. He sees women as sex toys who exist for his gratification. He is obsessed with his sexual needs, and women exist for his pleasure.
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I agree with you, Diane. Trump is a narcissistic sexual predator. But more than just a sexual predator, he not only thinks that women exist to gratify his every sexual desire, he thinks that every person, male or female, exists to satisfy his every want and need, gratify his ego, and make him more money.
A sociopath. It’s all about “him, him, him.”
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Ellen, though I usually respect & enjoy your posts, it bothers me that you seem to think that if Trump is a latent homosexual, that means he’s no good. Perhaps you mean, if he’s homosexual but doesn’t acknowledge it, he’ll promulgate anti-gay legislation? I think that’s a stretch. To me, it’s far more important that his apparent misogyny would lead (if he were elected President) to anti-Roe v Wade, anti-Planned Parenthood, et al.
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Beth…only looking at his insatiable need to defame, objectify, and use women. Some therapists theorize that homophobic men who continually behave toward women with cruel and self serving abandon do so to hide their own inner drive. I think the country and the world is looking for reasons that he continues to shoot himself in both feet with his bizarre behaviors. He was a close friend of Roy Cohn who was also his lawyer and who, it is widely reported, introduced him to the Mafia leadership with whom he did business. Cohn was infamous.
His instability could be caused by so many mental problems…it is inexplicable. I agree that his misogyny would create a gauntlet for the women of America. He has no empathy for anyone it would seem.
And I also do not understand why so much publicity as to having “good kids” keeps springing up. We, the public, know nothing about his children other than what his PR feeds the media.
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We can psychologize Trump until the cows come home. To me– just given my life experience– he is typical of those patriarchal American dads who are incestuous, whether they do or do not act on their impulses. Such fathers tend to have male offspring who defend their every move, & female offspring who either defend them to the hilt (like Ivanka) or move far away (like Tiffany).
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Do you think it was Tiffany;s mother who sent the tax returns to the NY Times? she had to sign them during their marriage. Tiffany is firmly on the tRump bandwagon now.
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Earlier this afternoon on his way to do some debate prep with Donald, Chris Christie exited his SUV and walked past reporters shouting and demanding that Christie chime in on the latest controversy.
Christie, the same guy who has always been so outspoken and will harangue anybody who questions him, like this public school teacher here …
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/04/chris-christie-melissa-tomlinson_n_4214652.html
… was noticeably silent as he passed by reporters clamoring him to give his response to the latest news. There were no defiant insistence that he will support Donald to the bitter end, or Bachman-like attacks on Hilary … just silence and rushing past: (his expression in the picture BELOW is noticeably subdued)
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/real-time/Outspoken-Chris-Christie-silent-about-Trump-lewd-comments.html
In a case of stating the obvious, Trump’s Vice-President running mate Mike Pence, after ducking reporters for the last day-and-a-hald, now finally says, “I can’t defend” Trump’s remarks. Unlike Michelle Bachman, Pence won’t just chalk them up to being some harmless “Bad Boy” talk.
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/real-time/Mike-Pence-I-cannot-condone-the-wor.html
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“As a husband and father, I was offended by the words and actions described by Donald Trump in the eleven-year-old video released yesterday,” Pence said in a statement released on Twitter. “I do not condone his remarks and cannot defend them.”
Pence released the statement amid calls for Trump to step down as the Republican presidential nominee. Trump was defiant to reporters on Saturday, insisting he would “never” abandon his race for the White House.
“Zero chance I’ll quit,” Trump told The Wall Street Journal. He told The Washington Post: “I’d never withdraw. I’ve never withdrawn in my life.”
Pence had been scheduled to appear with Trump at a scheduled campaign rally in Wisconsin with House Speaker Paul Ryan, but the Associated Press reports that Pence will not attend the event. Both Ryan and Trump also pulled out of the event after the release of a video where Trump is heard making lewd and graphic comments about women.
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In spite of Trump’s defiant claims that he’ll stay in the race, I’d rate the odds as even money that he WILL drop out, and then, of course, Pence will step in as the Republican’s new presidential candidate.
Think about it. If Trump does remain in the race, his staying in will drag down all the Republic Senate and Congressional candidates who are in close races. Perhaps some wealthy Republicans will bribe him with funding for another Trump skyscraper in exchange for Trumps taking a powder from the race.
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In that last post, there’s an obvious typo that needs to be corrected ASAP.
Sorry ’bout that one.
Somewhat ironic considering what’s been happening lately 😉
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What are the Vegas odds that Trump will drop out? It would be kind of funny if the gamblers determined his fate.
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And some hilarity from The Onion:
http://www.theonion.com/article/trump-i-know-was-pretty-bad-lets-just-say-youre-go-54130
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“After all, the President is a role model for citizens, including children.”
Hillary Clinton is a good role model though, right?
Terrible judgment, fighting for corporations and wall street against labor movements and little people, becoming filthy rich as a public servant, undermining of the poor and middle class, deceptive co-opting of the progressive and feminist movements, blaming everything she said on Russia, and support for mass killings and the destruction of foreign countries.
Trump is vile, but these things are not. Oh wait, I guess to some people who are living in la-la “i can’t hear you” land, these are “right wing attacks” rather than reality.
Waiting for the hypocrisy to end. Hey, you oppose one evil and not the other.
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She’s certainly a better role model, at least.
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As long as you don’t care about economic violence, political corruption, and imperialist warfare.
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I would disagree with the assertion that if you do care about those things, Hillary Clinton is no better a role model, than Donald Trump. There are things about Hillary Clinton that I would be comfortable with, even enthusiastic about, my daughter emulating. I’m hard-pressed to think of a single thing about Donald Trump that I would be comfortable with my daughter emulating.
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This is what I admire about Hillary Clinton. She is dignified. She is intelligent. She has poise under pressure. She has courage. She has stood up to withering attacks from rightwing critics for 30 years. She held her family together when her husband was unfaithful. She knows more about the world, about foreign policy and domestic policy than anyone else in either party. She is well qualified to be President. She will represent our country well in world councils.
She is a great role model for young girls. She shows that a girl can grow up to be anything she wants if she has the ability, the perseverance, and the knowledge to succeed. She wasn’t born into wealth. She made it with brains and personal drive.
As for her opponent, he is crude, vulgar, and a national disgrace. He is the textbook definition of a bigot, a sexist, a racist, a xenophobe.
He is a walking example of satyriasis. If you don’t know what that is, look it up.
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That’s a good list, Diane. I will be voting for Hillary, but the women in my domestic sphere consider me a “Hillary hater.” My 13-year-old daughter says I criticize Hillary because I’m a sexist. I tell her that’s not why I criticize Hillary, but I couldn’t be prouder of her.
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FLERP,
Hillary is not perfect, but then I don’t know anyone who is. Everyone who has ever been elected president has had flaws; hers are no worse than anyone else who has run for president, and she is a damn sight smarter than most of those who ran this year or in previous years.
I would have gladly supported Senator Sanders, whose views are similar to my own. I waited until after the primaries were over and the voters had chosen. The voters have chosen, and Hillary is the candidate. I get annoyed when I hear the Trump surrogates say that she “stole” the election, that the election was “rigged,” because I know they are trying to create dissension among Democrats. Senator Sanders is campaigning for Hillary Clinton, because he knows that Trump would be a disaster for the nation.
I will repeat that I support her for the right reasons; not because she is the “lesser of two evils,” because I don’t think she is evil. I think she is a smart, intelligent, compassionate, energetic woman who wants to make the nation and the world better for everyone.
She is running against an egotistical man who is running to prove that he can win everything. What a creep.
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I’m amazed at the false equivalences in this election. No, Hillary is not perfect. But to try and equate her to Trump stretches the imagination.
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Agree…
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Nobody wants Hillary to be perfect. That is an overplayed strawman argument to justify the continuing ignorance of her bad side.
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C’mon Ed Det…surely by now you know us well enough, particularly Vale Math and me, to now that your last remark is a generalized insult to those of us who well know Hillary’s flaws and have repeatedly called for her election (after Bernie got ‘jobbed’ by Debbie W-S and her group) only because tRump is such a deranged bigot and thug. I am really surprised you would accuse us of “not caring about economic violence, etc.” when for the past three to four years you have read our posted comments.
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Ellen, I didn’t accuse any of you in particular of not caring about economic violence. I said Hillary is only a “better role model” if you don’t include things like “economic violence,” “imperialism,” among other things, in the equation.
I have always been somewhat sympathetic to the “lesser evil” argument. What I will never agree with is the idea that Hillary is mostly good with “just a little bit” of bad, and I’m “crazy” for comparing her to Trump. In some ways, Hillary has done more harm. FACT: Hillary has supported and directly enabled policies that lead to unjust wars and economic austerity, potentially harming millions of people. Trump is terrible, but he sure hasn’t matched Hillary’s “accomplishments” in that regard.
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Gee, what a novel thought. The president should be a roll model of morality and go against thousands of years of leaders who almost never are.
I’ve never thought of any U.S. President as a roll model of morality. After all, most if not all powerful leaders throughout recorded history, even in the Bible, few if any are models of morality. For instance, King David, King Solomon, Moses and Abraham.
I think condemning presidents that are not models of morality started with the rise of the religious right.
The Washington Post reported in 1998, “George Washington Slept Here… and Here”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/junkie/archive/junkie082198.htm
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What you just said is that Hillary should not be condemned because other bad leaders were not sufficiently condemned. My statement that Hillary is not a “role model” is in direct response to those who are claiming she IS a good role model.
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Ed,
For many women and young girls and even for many men, believe it or not, Hillary is a role model. My grown sons admie her. I have met little girls who adore her. I know there are people who hate and despise her. But be fair, she is the first woman who has broken the barrier and might be elected President. Every negative thing you have said about her could be said about every American president.
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“For many women and young girls and even for many men, believe it or not, Hillary is a role model. My grown sons admie her. I have met little girls who adore her. ”
THATS THE PROBLEM! Hillary Clinton is an lying imperialist white feminist of the 99%, and people are INSPIRED by her because she’s a WOMAN.
For little girls inspired by Hillary Clinton.
Please read that article.
She is NOT a role model. But people keep saying she is. That’s why she is so dangerous.
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Some more women feminists who think Hillary Clinton is a phony and a terrible role model: False Choices: The Faux Feminism of Hillary Rodham Clinton
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Ed,
Are those feminists voting for Trump?
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No. Did I say to vote for Trump? Haven’t I said, repeatedly, that a case can be made for Hillary as “lesser of two evils?” There’s a difference between that, and saying things like Hillary is a role model, there’s not so much wrong with her, she’d be a great president, and so on.
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It’s safe to say “someone” hates Hillary Clinton, because the far right has been creating rumors and spreading alleged accusations (without mentioning that most of it if not all of it is alleged) about her for decades. It’s “Hate Crooked Hillary Time”, should be the title of a reality show hosted by Donald Trump.
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Lloyd said: “It’s safe to say “someone” hates Hillary Clinton, because the far right has been creating rumors and spreading alleged accusations (without mentioning that most of it if not all of it is alleged) about her for decades.”
There it is again. The willfully ignorant accusation that people who hate Hillary do so because of the “right wing lies.” Ignoring all the criticism coming from the left of Hillary, like mine. Any of your future comments toward me along these lines will not get a response from me.
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Dear Self-proclaimed “ED Detective”
You said, “Any of your future comments toward me along these lines will not get a response from me.”
Good!
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Your diatribes against Hillary Clinton could be equally made against any successful politician. You are a purist. How do you feel about Henry Kissinger, or Richard Nixon, or Lyndon Johnson? We are looking for a President who can stand up to Putin, and elicit biparisan legislation.
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I’m not a “purist,” that’s a garbage insult. I expect a leader of the world, especially one who claims to be good and whose supporters all claim she is good, to actually be a good world leader.
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Ed,
Hillary is reasonable, measured, disciplined and experienced. I expect she will be a very impressive world leader. Which world leader do you think is more impressive? Which American president did you find to have greater stature? You keep comparing her to your ideal but I can’t think of any previous president of this country who was more impressive than Hillary. Lyndon Johnson? Jimmy Carter? Richard Nixon? Bill Clinton? Ronald Reagan? George H.W. Bush? George W. Bush? George W. Bush? Maybe you were thinking of Washington, Jefferson, or Lincoln?
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“Which world leader do you think is more impressive?”
Neither, as I’ve been saying. I am not “IMPRESSED” by Trump or Hillary. Quite the contrary. I am sickened to death by both of them. EXPERIENCE alone is not GOOD. Pointing to past TERRIBLE presidents does not QUALIFY Hillary, unless you believe the office of the presidency should remain about being terrible. Maybe that’s what people mean by qualified. She as just as “qualified” as George Bush and Ronald Reagan.
What is “stature?” How “qualified” someone presents themselves? That’s exactly the problem with politics. I don’t give a damn about Hillary’s so-called “stature.” I care about what she stands for, who she is, what policies she will enact, and what her history shows.
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Ed, if both Trump and Hillary “sicken you to death,” you should be utterly indifferent about which of them becomes president. Is that correct?
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Not quite. I’ve said several times that I would rather have Hillary Clinton if I was forced to pick between the two. I’ve never said I would prefer Trump overall, or that I would vote for him. But they still both greatly disturb me.
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This video was a perfect metaphor.
Donald Trump really will beat the living crap out of the middle and working classes.
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America is throwing itself under that bus in ‘Speed’.
Yes, derail the corporatocracy, but not by suicide.
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Just read on ABC News that “Trump Retains Support of Conservative Christian Leaders Despite Lewd Comments” http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-retains-conservative-evangelical-support-lewd-comments/story?id=42670133
Wow, what a bizarro weekend! Or, is this the sort of thing we should expect these days??
What’s next???
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Oh, it’s Bizarro World, all right. If any Democrat had been taped saying even half of these things, the conservative Christian leaders would be screaming about them going to hell, and how they are unfit for office.
I think it’s time for me to have a Jack Daniels on the rocks, I’ve about had it with reading the idiocy from the right-wingers. 😦
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In Nevada’s Senate race, Republican Congressman Joe Heck has been in a dead heat with Democrat Catherine Cortez, with polling shows slight leads changing hands several times over the last three months.
Well, Heck just denounced and pulled his endorsement for Trump, then got heckled and booed:
http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/10/08/joe-heck-heckled-while-disavowing-donald-trump.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/
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The WASHINGTON POST takes us inside Trump’s bunker… errr … Tower.
Less than an hour ago, the Washington Post just posted a riveting narrative, citing inside sources, describing the outrageous goings-on inside Trump Tower during the last two days or so. It’s reminiscent of Hitler’s bunker in the last days of World War II.
In a phone conversation (presumably with one of the WashPost’s reporters), Trump comes off as utterly delusional about how bad things are:
“People are calling and saying, ‘Don’t even think about doing anything else but running,’ ” Trump said. “You have to see what’s going on. The real story is that people have no idea about the support (I still have).”
At another point, Governor Chris Christie is badgering him into putting out an apology:
” ‘Donald, you’re going to have to apologize for the first time in your life, right now. Right now. You’ve got to do it.’ ”
Trump’s Vice President running mate Pence and his people, as well as William Bennett are described as “absolutely apoplectic” and “inconsolable.”
With Donald in the same room, Trump loyalists were openly considering a new ticket:
“Even as Trump’s friends offered encouragement, some were buzzing behind his back about the long-shot notion of a ticket that no longer included him. Several of the candidate’s allies were discussing a Pence-Carson ticket, according to one person close to Trump.”
If Trump does stay on the ticket, one Trump loyalist says his only option is then to “go nuclear”, which is to bring up Bill Clinton’s past “sexual crimes”:
Michael Caputo, a former Trump campaign adviser, said he was encouraging the Trump team to immediately make an issue of former president Bill Clinton’s womanizing past and “allegations of sexual crimes.”
“In order to blunt this really bad story — and make no mistake, this is DEFCON One — they need to pull the Clintons into the same mire where Clinton has dumped him, because in fact they do exist there,” Caputo said. “They’ve got to go nuclear. That’s all they have left.”
Sweet Jesus!
Here’s the WashPost’s report:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-trump-tower-the-defiant-and-isolated-republican-nominee/2016/10/08/0b3575a0-8d8e-11e6-bf8a-3d26847eeed4_story.html
WASHINGTON POST: (1 hour ago)
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Politics
Inside Trump Tower: The defiant and insulated Republican nominee
— By Philip Rucker, Dan Balz and Robert Costa October 8 at 7:43 PM
He beamed in just after midnight Saturday like a captive in his own gilded cage. A man who demands the best of everything was speaking to America from a dimly lit, home-built studio against a fake backdrop of the Manhattan skyline he likes to call his own.
Donald Trump was a beleaguered candidate delivering conflicting messages: one of apology, insincere as it seemed to many viewers, and one of defiance. It was not clear that either message could rescue him after The Washington Post published a video Friday showing Trump making crude remarks about sexual assault.
Trump’s extraordinary campaign has been guided by his own instincts, and on Friday, his instinct was to hunker down and fight. Trump spent the next 24 hours in New York mostly ensconced in Trump Tower with only his most loyal advisers, steadfastly refusing to accept or recognize the full reality of what was happening outside.
Republican governors and members of Congress were calling for him to step aside — only a few at first, and then a rush — but Trump, talking to The Post by phone from the grandiose confines of his penthouse apartment, described an alternate universe.
“People are calling and saying, ‘Don’t even think about doing anything else but running,’ ” Trump said. “You have to see what’s going on. The real story is that people have no idea about the support.”
For the entirety of his campaign, Trump has lived in a bubble that he helped create. Inside that world, Trump could do no wrong and was forgiven for virtually all of his transgressions.
But this controversy was different. His vice-presidential running mate, Mike Pence, who has perfected the art of explaining away Trump’s missteps while trying to preserve his own reputation, on Saturday left Trump to clean up his own mess. The Indiana governor backed out of attending a GOP festival in Wisconsin as Trump’s substitute, and the statement he issued — under his own letterhead — offered no comfort to his running mate.
Pence, his wife and his aides were “absolutely apoplectic” about Trump’s comments about women on the 2005 video, according to one Republican close to the Trump campaign who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly. “They’re melting down . . . They’re inconsolable.”
As Trump grappled with the emerging crisis Friday afternoon, the circle around him was relatively small, and few of them had long-standing ties to the candidate. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were there urging a swift apology, as were Trump’s top campaign aides, including chief executive Stephen K. Bannon and manager Kellyanne Conway.
“Priebus and Christie just went at him and said, ‘Donald, you’re going to have to apologize for the first time in your life, right now. Right now. You’ve got to do it,’ ” said the Republican close to the campaign, who was briefed on the discussions.
If Trump were under the impression that an apology would get him past the worst of the crisis, he was mistaken. As the country waited for a promised video, the intensity of the condemnations gathered more strength. By the time Trump’s taped apology finally came, the content and delivery proved inadequate, and by midday Saturday, Republican leaders in red states and blue states alike were abandoning him.
As he watched the final minutes of the Texas-Oklahoma college football game Saturday, Trump ally William J. Bennett was pained as he spoke about the nominee.
“It’s a shame, a crying shame, but he can’t win,” he said. “He should step down.”
Bennett, who served as President Ronald Reagan’s education secretary and has informally advised Trump on policy, said that the Republican Party “has to make a coldhearted calculation because of what he’s done. It just can’t stand.”
“It’s over,” Bennett said with a sigh. “I hate to say it, but it’s over.”
Inside Trump Tower, the candidate and his confidants were seeing things through a different lens. Trump said in his interview with The Post that he would be able to keep Republicans united because of their common foe: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
“It’s because she’s so bad. She’s so flawed as a candidate. Running against her, I can’t say it’d be the same if I ran against someone else, but running against her makes it a lot easier, that’s for sure,” Trump said.
Trump spent much of Saturday working the phones, talking with family, advisers and friends from a sprawling network of business and political associates. Well-wishers flooded him with advice, by phone or by emails sent to his assistant.
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who spoke with Trump at length Saturday by phone, said Trump has appreciated the outreach from his supporters but has been dismayed by leaks and the calls for him to drop out.
“He’s been going through a lot,” Carson said. “He’s weathering it just fine. He’s gung ho, and he understands why this all is happening. His enemies have ammunition, and they’re dripping it out. He gets it, but he’s not frustrated. He’s not a quitter.”
Late Saturday afternoon, Trump emerged briefly from his tower to greet onlookers on Fifth Avenue. Flanked by Secret Service agents, Trump, wearing a suit and tie, pumped his fist and flashed a thumbs up. He shook hands with supporters, who were clutching cellphone cameras and shouting Trump’s name. Tourists aboard a double-decker bus gawked at the scene.
Even as Trump’s friends offered encouragement, some were buzzing behind his back about the long-shot notion of a ticket that no longer included him. Several of the candidate’s allies were discussing a Pence-Carson ticket, according to one person close to Trump.
“You’d keep Pence, and you’d bring the Trump people along with Carson, who they love,” said this person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal private exchanges. “Right now, Donald isn’t going to go and doesn’t want to go. But we’ve been texting about it.”
Other people in Trump’s orbit advanced the idea that the crisis had been manufactured by Trump’s “enemies” in the media and at the Clinton campaign. Trump mega-donors Robert and Rebekah Mercer issued a defiant statement saying Americans are disgusted with the political elite “who quake before the boombox of media blather.”
Carl Paladino, Trump’s New York state co-chairman, a former gubernatorial candidate who had his own scandals over sexism and racism, said Trump’s “gutter talk” was something “all men do, at least all normal men.”
“The only people concerned with this are Hillary people right now and the treacherous ones in the Republican Party,” Paladino said. “The people in America look at this and say it’s another day in the life of Donald Trump. It doesn’t matter to them.”
Some of Trump’s allies inside and outside the campaign wondered why he had apologized rather than own his past and punch back, a strategy that helped him survive previous controversies.
“Why didn’t he double down? If the apology was intended to stem the flow of dissent, to show that he’s sorry for what he’s said and done . . . that’s not what took place,” said one Trump friend who is close to the campaign and spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly.
Michael Caputo, a former Trump campaign adviser, said he was encouraging the Trump team to immediately make an issue of former president Bill Clinton’s womanizing past and “allegations of sexual crimes.”
“In order to blunt this really bad story — and make no mistake, this is DEFCON One — they need to pull the Clintons into the same mire where Clinton has dumped him, because, in fact, they do exist there,” Caputo said. “They’ve got to go nuclear. That’s all they have left.”
Sunday night’s debate, here in St. Louis, will reveal whether Trump sides with the hard-liners or those urging more contrition. Whichever course, Trump is guaranteed another huge audience.
“I’ve been here before, I’ll tell ya, in life,” Trump said in the interview. “I understand life and how you make it through. You go through things. I’ve been through many. It’s called life. And it’s always interesting.”
Costa reported from Washington. Matea Gold in Washington contributed to this report.
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I guess I’m not “a normal man.” And neither are any of my friends or fellow male teachers … at least according to Trump’s New York state campaign co-chairman Carl Palladino:
WASH POST: “Carl Paladino, Trump’s New York state co-chairman, a former gubernatorial candidate who had his own scandals over sexism and racism, said Trump’s ‘gutter talk’ was something ‘all men do, at least all normal men.’ ”
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I’m very impressed with The Donald in the video. He was able to hold such a big razor in his tiny hands!
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There are rape charges filed against Trump. The woman who filed them was 15 at the time.
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Very interesting to hear major Reps talk about the down ballot races this morning (particularly on the Andrea Mitchell show). There appears to be consensus growing amongst them that tRump is a lost cause, and so they must save the down ballot candidates so as not to lose Congress.
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Anyways, I don’t think Trump can win after this recent debacle. It won’t lose all of his support, of course, but it will lose enough that he can’t win.
Can relax the fear of Trump a little bit, and maybe it’s time to start more seriously considering the implications of a Clinton II administration.
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