Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. CREDIT: AP Photo/Evan Vucci.
While Trump’s latest vileness has caused some more repubs to jump ship, even some evangelicals, plenty of them are sticking, and attempting to defend the indefensible, Trump talking about women as convenient walking vaginas, there for him to grab and use, because white and wealthy.
One group wrote the comments off as harmless banter.
Former Trump campaign manager and CNN commentator Corey Lewandowski dismissed the tape’s importance because, “We are electing a leader to the free world, we’re not electing a Sunday school teacher.”
On MSNBC, Michele Bachmann, former member of Congress, called Trump’s comments “bad boy talk.”
And the chair of Trump’s Virginia campaign who is also running for governor responded to his candidate’s comments by saying Trump “acted like a frat boy, as a lot of guys do,” adding that people already “knew he wasn’t an angel.”
The co-chair of Trump’s campaign in New York, Carl Paladino, said Trump’s comments were something “ all men do, at least all normal men.”
That’s something all normal men do? That’s news to me. The man I live with doesn’t do that, say that, or think that. I’m pretty sure he’d be considered a normal man. All the men I’m friends with don’t do that, say that, or think that, and yes, normal men. It’s men like Paladino who give all men a bad name, perpetuating the idea that men are barely restrained beasts, who can’t be trusted to be thinking creatures.
Another group came to his defense by saying we’re all sinners.
When asked for former Republican candidate Ben Carson’s reaction, spokesman Armstrong Williams told BuzzFeed, “People commit adultery. It happens. Ministers. Heads of state. Everyday people. People are human, they do human things. It’s nothing unusual that somebody committed adultery on their spouse. Women do it. Men do it. Should we be shocked by it? No… Hey, the flesh can be weak, my man.”
Unsurprisingly, Carson doesn’t even manage to address the remarks and behaviour in question, although one wonders if he’d be so casual about adultery if he was talking about Bill Clinton. Anyroad, the question wasn’t one of adultery, even though Trump has exhibited no particular trait of fidelity. Trump talked about women as walking holes he could grab by the vagina, and use them at his whim. That would be assault and rape, not the same thing as adultery.
Sean Hannity, Fox News host, seemed to echo that defense, saying, “King David Had 500 concubines for crying out loud.”
I have absolutely no idea just what the fuck relevance this is supposed to have, unless one wants to point out that David did get his spouse via murder, and did rape her after god decided to punish David by killing his infant child. All of which is a spectacular derail. What in the hell does that have to do with saying “I can grab any woman by her pussy”?
Washington State Republican Party Chairwoman Susan Hutchison argued that they shouldn’t matter now because they “were made when he was a Democrat.”
Uh, I, no. I can’t even.
And Fox host Bill O’Reilly pointed out that the comments were in a “private conversation.”
Oh FFS, it’s hardly a private conversation if someone is wearing a microphone, you idiot.
Via Think Progress.
Well, the problem isn’t adultery. Now, cheating isn’t nice and you really shouldn’t betray your spouse, but you can cheat and you can leave your partner for someone else, but you can do all these things without viewing women as mindless bodies with parts for you to grab as you wish to. Typical tactic: Admit to the lesser crime to distract from the bigger one
Nothing Trump is saying is new. From his “Mexico is sending its rapists” to his “women will let me grab them by the p—-“, there’s nothing there that I haven’t heard from him and others like him before. The only difference is now there finally seems to be consequences for it. So, all this hand-wringing from the GOP strikes me as hypocritical. They have been perfectly willing to practice and/or exploit racism and sexism for decades but now that they have someone who’s not willing to use the dog-whistles and code-words they have to act shocked when he finally goes too far.
There’s a new Trump building opening up near me soon. The previous one was able to get away with “he’s not involved, he only licensed his name”, but now the name has become so toxic, it’ll be interesting to see if they’ll be able to rent enough apartments to stay afloat. There are a lot more high-end choices here now, so I’m not optimistic about their chances.
This is, was, and always will be what the phrase “family values” means -- casual support for rape, assault and degradation of women as long as it’s being done by the powerful, white in-group, as opposed to the out-group (like those supposed “Mexican rapers”).
Every single one of Trump’s supporters thinks that women exist to be “grabbed by the pussy”. Everyone of them should be reminded of who and what they support for the rest of their pestilent existence.
Whenever Falwell Jr. goes to debate someone the opposition should simply loop his high praises for Trump with Trumps remarks back to back. Do that whenever Hannity or O’Reilly go to yap somewhere outside the coziness of their putrid studios. Do it whenever anyone of his proud voters posts some inane post on Facebook.
Never let the assholes forget what they are.