2016 race devolves into ugly fight over treatment of women
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally.
LAS VEGAS >> Already deeply divisive, America’s campaign for president is quickly devolving into an ugly fight over who has treated women worse: Donald Trump, whose White House bid is floundering, or former President Bill Clinton, who isn’t on the ballot.
Trump’s campaign is now openly signaling it will spend the election’s final month relitigating Bill Clinton’s marital affairs and unproven charges of sexual assault, as well as his wife and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s unverified role in intimidating the women who were involved. But Trump is a deeply imperfect messenger, given that his attacks on the Clintons’ treatment of women are being overshadowed by a flood of allegations that he kissed and groped women without their consent.
On Wednesday, The New York Times and the Palm Beach Post reported stories about three women who alleged Trump had inappropriately touched them. Separately, a People Magazine reporter wrote a detailed first-person account of being attacked by Trump while interviewing the businessman and his wife, Melania Trump.
The stories come less than a week after the publication of a 2005 recording in which the Republican nominee boasted of using his fame to kiss and grab women. The revelation prompted a flood of Republicans to revoke their support for Trump, with some even calling for him to drop out of the race — though a handful of GOP officials have since switched back to supporting their party’s nominee.
Clinton adviser Jennifer Palmieri said the latest revelations match “everything we know about the way Donald Trump has treated women.”
Trump’s campaign denied the reports and threatened to sue The New York Times if the paper did not retract its story.
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Taken together, the revelations about Trump and his counterprogramming about Bill Clinton have plunged an already rancorous campaign to new lows. The real estate mogul has also aggressively charged that Hillary Clinton not only needs to be defeated in November, but also “has got to go to jail.” His campaign is also facing questions about ties to Russian interests accused of hacking Democratic groups, as well as the hacking of a top Clinton adviser’s emails.
For Trump, the cumulative effect of his brazen strategy appears to be a tumble in the battleground states he needs to win in November. What was already a narrow path to the 270 Electoral College votes needed for victory is virtually indiscernible for Trump unless there’s a significant shakeup in the race between now and Nov. 8
Rather than trying to make up ground by shifting attention back to issues like trade that have energized Trump backers and could appeal to new voters, the Republican campaign appears to be moving swiftly to make Bill Clinton’s past a centerpiece of the campaign.
Building on Trump’s decision to bring three Bill Clinton accusers to last week’s presidential debate, the GOP nominee is expected to have the women appear with him on stage at rallies and do a series of television interviews, according to a person briefed on the plan but not authorized to discuss it publicly.
Trump supporters are also confronting Hillary Clinton with the accusations about her husband. Multiple Clinton rallies were interrupted this week by hecklers shouting “Bill Clinton is a rapist.” Earlier this week, right-wing radio host Alex Jones offered to pay $5,000 to anyone who can be heard on television shouting about the former president and wearing a “Bill Clinton rape” T-shirt.
Bill Clinton never faced any criminal charges over the allegations, and a lawsuit over an alleged rape was dismissed. He did settle a lawsuit with one of the women who claimed harassment.
The Trump campaign’s hope is to showcase the decades-old accusations to young voters, particularly women, who may not have been old enough to remember the controversies that dogged the Clintons in the 1990s. And if the campaign can’t get them to vote for Trump, the person briefed on the plans said the goal is to convince young voters to stay home and depress turnout, which would likely hurt Democrats.
Former Trump senior adviser Michael Caputo said the businessman’s only way to win is to “go nuclear” on the Clintons.
“There’s no way Trump can do anything positive to earn back women,” Caputo said. “The only way he can stave off the bleeding is to drag them into parity.”
But it’s unclear whether Trump’s strategy is even aimed at winning the election at this point. Increasingly, Trump’s campaign feels like an opportunity for longtime Clinton opponents to air decade’s worth of grievances about the Democratic power couple on the biggest stage in American politics.
Trump confidante and informal adviser Roger Stone has long been encouraging Trump to make Bill Clinton’s alleged assaults and the way his wife treated those woman a centerpiece of the campaign. Steve Bannon, the Trump campaign’s chief executive, ran Breitbart News, a right-wing website that eagerly promotes an endless string of conspiracy theories about the Clintons.
Hillary Clinton, who is on pace to become America’s first female president is her lead holds, has tried to stay above the fray in recent days. She is yet to respond directly to Trump’s decision to resurrect accusations about her husband.
And during a pair of rallies Wednesday in Colorado and Nevada, Clinton appeared to be looking toward how to heal the country’s deep divisions if she’s elected president, pledging she would be a champion both for her supporters and those who don’t vote for her.
“I know how important it is that we stay focused on the concerns that people have, not on the demagoguery and distraction,” she said.
35 responses to “2016 race devolves into ugly fight over treatment of women”
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Well whose fault is that? The progressive media is working full time to dig up the dirt on a candidate they don’t like. So it shouldn’t come as any surprise that the so-called alt-right media is forced to remind people of Bill Clinton’s tawdry behavior. The AP is acting like the audience in an x-rated film that they wrote, produced and directed. Let’s do some analysis of real issues for a change. AP and SA, you’re not serving the public by narrowly focusing on this slime to the exclusion of everything else. Time to grow up.
That’s right. Mr. Trump’s profound mental illness and serial sexual assault is all made up by the liberal media.
Great analysis.
Not sure if you noticed, but he’s losing in a landslide. He’s finished.
Slick Willy ~~ the first of the first of the pampered, preachy, pettifogging, preening, pusillanimous, puerile, pretentious, post-war degenerates of the draft dodging, flag burning, dope smoking, veteran cursing Cry Baby Boom cohort to reach the White House ~~ is getting no more than his due. The so called “news” media have worked tirelessly for the last quarter century to provide this nasty bit of white trash and his power lusting “wife” cover by spiking unfavorable stories.
Don Trump is to be commended for educating millennial cohort as to the true nature of the Clintons. My only suggestion would be that he relentlessly shine the glare of publicity on the fact that Slick Willy is an historic first: the first elected president ever to be impeached.
Trump is no doubt elated to find himself in such a target rich environment.
The medias job is to report the truth–period. When it’s reported does not take away from its veracity.
Here is the thing, Trump was living “the he man” dream; big job, big buildings, big money, big press, big everything. Now, instead of being just happy, per his definition of happiness, he got greedy, real real greedy. He knew he lived like this for decades, but somewhow he thought he could keep the lid over it. Like many other phases of his life, he operated from an equal combination of hubris and instantaneous desire.
Now, he will not just cost the party the White House (that’s a done job) the Ds will sweep the entire Hill. Can’t wait for the Supreme Court nominees!!!!!! Hope all you Trumps sycophants choke on it……
“The medias job is to report the truth–period.
BULL [scatological noun redacted] !
Our so called “news” media have often admitted they consider their job to – – gag me with a spoon – – “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”
This means they do not dig up and report news. They take dictation from the DNC and present that pap as news.
They now make no pretense of journalism and admit they are all in for Hillary.
But, here you are, in a so-called liberal paper everyday. You know why, Rs would not be so open, objective and transparent in their own journalistic endeavors.
Even the other player in town, Civilbeat, is accused of being L leaning, but you know what, Rs, like to talk a good game, until it is predicated on actually doing work and placing their own dollars in play. So, very telling……
I consume the effluent of this liberal rag often because of the sound advice given by the legendary (if fictional) NYC olive oil importer Vito (‘Don’) Corleone (nee Andolini) to his sons, to wit: keep friends close and enemies closer.
If you value Vito’s thought process so much, thosser, perhaps you should consider never speaking your mind to anyone outside your family…? Go for it. You won’t be missed. I promise.
Have you seen the poster of Ted Kennedy and Slick Willy that is now going viral?
Caption under Ted: “I drowned a girl”
Caption under Slick: “I raped several”
Both in unison: “Thank God we didn’t talk dirty.”
“Hillary Clinton, who is on pace to become America’s first female president is her lead holds, has tried to stay above the fray in recent days.” is her lead holds….” Who is writing for the SA? Only HilLIARy supporters? HilLIARy has been riding the ridiculous tape for days now, wallowing in it every chance she gets, but it appears to be backfiring, since the recent polls are tightening up again, as HilLIARy helps out the Trump campaign by talking and reminding people just how corrupt she and the mainstream media bias really is.
It’s called winning. She’s ahead by double digits.
Thanks for helping Mr. Trump win the Republican nomination!
Poll reported this morning has Donald up by two points.
If you think this horse race is over, you are in for one whale of a surprise.
Indeed, as the late great Al Jolson was often given to exclaim, BABY YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHIN’ YET!
What poll? The Appalachian illiterate down by the hollow journal??
See, 538, it’s not a poll, but rather is takes analysis, very robustly, of all mainstream legitimate polls in real time–see:http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/?ex_cid=rrpromo
In short, you are entirely wrong.
Go ahead then.
Rest on your oars.
Watch what happens.
Anyone who thinks this race is over needs to recall that denial is not a river in Egypt.
IRT Ike, Oh my, have you checked you beloved 538? You would find that “Rasmussen” released poll this morning has Trump 43%; Clinton 41%; Johnson 6%; Others 6%. Trump +2 over Clinton. Please wake up and be truthful.
Kuro, then be straightforward, Rasmussen is a R leaning poll, and often, very inaccurate, and there were 11, yes 11 other polls that said the literal opposite.
Check what the Ramussen poll said at this exact time four years ago……if you did, and bet on it, you would be out on the street selling oranges with Pat Saiki.
1. The poll weights for many tiny categories; weighting for very tiny groups, which results in big weights. For example, instead of weighting for a small category such as like 18-to-21-year-olds, the poll weights for 18-to-21-year-old men, and even admits that group comprises roughly 3.3% of the general population. As Cohn points out, “But for those voters to make up 3.3 percent of the weighted sample, these 15 voters have to count as much as 86 people — an average weight of 5.7.” One 19-year-old black man in Illinois was “weighted as much as 30 times more than the average respondent, and as much as 300 times more than the least-weighted respondent. Alone, he has been enough to put Mr. Trump in double digits of support among black voters. He can improve Mr. Trump’s margin by 1 point in the survey, even though he is one of around 3,000 panelists.” Cohn added that the reason Clinton was finally listed as leading Trump on Wednesday was that the young man was not included in the poll.
2. The poll weights by past vote. Cohn notes that the poll weights the sample according to how people said they voted in the 2012 election. This can be inaccurate because, as Cohn explains, “People don’t report their past vote very accurately. They tend to over-report three things: voting, voting for the winner and voting for some other candidate. They underreport voting for the loser.” Thus the poll included 27 Barack Obama voters and 25% Mitt Romney voters. Cohn states, “If the survey didn’t include a past vote weight, the past vote of its respondents would be Obama 38, Romney 30. This is a lot like national surveys that were published around the same time as the U.S.C./LAT poll, like those from NBC/WSJ or the NYT/CBS News. By emphasizing past vote, they might significantly underweight those who claim to have voted for Mr. Obama and give much more weight to people who say they didn’t vote.”
Or, see this update as of an hour ago:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/polls.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur
IRT Ike, other polls are 2 days earlier. Typical Ike, choke when the truth is fed to you. Take care. Keep your air passage clear.
Hey Kuro,you washed up old man, you cite one poll, against eleven others, despite this poll being deeply histocally flawed, but instead of the other eleven, you choose to believe the one that supports your abberarional postion. There is a word for this–I’m the incompetent okole that help lose Pat Saikis governor race.
Buahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah.
You read anything else besides underground conservative rags, every, and I mean EVERY poll has HRC up between, 6-11 points. It’s done, put your head in a bucket and continue to ignore the rest of civilized society.
Guess you missed the poll earlier this AM that has Donald up by two points.
Then again, what can one expect from an intellectually challenged, fact averse, graduate from the poison ivy league, eh, Ike From Eli (aka Yale)?
http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/?ex_cid=rrpromo
Wrong.
And it’s Elihu.
Elihu.
Oh my.
Drew blood, did we?
If you are going to attempt to be sardonic, at least try to be accurate….
Thosser, you couldn’t draw blood if you picked your nose with a broadsword.
A couple germane points:
One, this is a total and definitive failure of the GOP to both self-regulate and moreover, to do an appropriate vetting of their candidate. In short, they did none and now are stuck in the perverted and unprepared temperamental quagmire that is the cesspool of Trump.
Two, Rs should realize that Ken Starr spent almost 100 million, in 1990 dollars, to investigate Bill Clinton, and basically found nada. What we already know, is what exists–and all further claims are just fictious claims.
And three, Trump, will not follow through with his rather bold threats of suing the NYT. Why?? Well, summarily, he can’t afford and does not want the attendant discovery that will take place. The discovery portion would just kill Trump–and his lawyers know it–it’s like many things with Trump, he is a bully, until he gets false cracked in the jaw by one bruddha from Halawa Housing.
Buahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
If Ken Starr was such a dud, how come Slick Willy earned his asterisk in history by becoming the first elected president ever to be impeached, eh?
Exactly how did Henry Hyde’s Judiciary Subcommittee come up with the compelling detail such that the articles of impeachment were agreed to and passed by the House, eh?
My point, dear effete lady, is that attempting to dredge up new dirt about Bill ( last I looked his last presidential race was in 1996) is futile, as the task is already done……
There is no need to dig up NEW dirt on Slick Willy. There is more than enough OLD dirt waiting to be recycled before the eyes of millennials by way of educating them ~~ as for example his twenty six trips on his pals a/c, the Lolita Express, to Orgy Island where he could schtup nubile pre-teens to his hearts content.
Slick Willy is a degenerate piece of white trash, Cry Baby Boom scum, a gift that keeps on giving from the Trump perspective.
Ahhhhhh, Trump only has the best, only hires the best…..so what is this clown parade that consists of his otherwise inept and pathetic surrogate crew???
Donald Trump just loves to talk about hiring magnificent people. “I’m going to surround myself only with the best and most serious people,” he told the Washington Post in August. From his current campaign staff to his future adoring presidential coterie, we are told, all Trump political entities will be filled with the finest, most competent human beings Planet Earth has to offer — so terrific, in fact, they’ll resemble those sexy-yet-logical aliens on Star Trek! With this grandiose vision in mind, it’s always a bit jarring to see Trump’s actual surrogates in action, stumbling through an unending trail of hilarious, horrifying, and jaw-dropping moments, all aired on live TV. It’s almost like all four seasons of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo combined. Take the soft-spoken surgeon and former Evangelical darling Ben Carson. If you’ve been paying attention throughout this ramshackle election, you’ve probably noticed that Carson is a bit of an odd duck, beyond his baffling crusade to elect a man who once implied he was a child molester. Carson offers offbeat theories about the Pyramids. He wistfully discusses childhood knife fights. His Maryland house is filled to the gills with shrines to — you guessed it! — Ben Carson, including a plaque with “Proverbs” misspelled and an oil painting featuring Carson posing with a very approving Jesus. Many CNN viewers, alas, were less than approving this week, when Carson sleepily took to the airwaves to defend Trump from his latest scandal. To clarify, this would be the scandal in which Trump was taped saying he could forcefully grab women by their private parts and get away with it because he’s a “star.” It is also the scandal that many prominent Republicans dismissed as simple “locker room talk,” leading me to wonder if those same Republicans had been unknowingly sharing locker rooms with the Crotch Grabber, the notorious sexual predator who haunted my college campus for two terrifying quarters in the late 1990s. RELATED: Bending to Trump’s Star Power Carson, for his part, gave a similar line on CNN: Waxing poetic about power-trip crotch grabbing is common “banter,” he said. It is distasteful, he argued, but certainly not rare. Anchor Brianna Keilar, looking slightly perplexed, informed Carson that few normal people have heard “locker room talk” of this amped-up variety. “I haven’t heard it,” she said, “and I know a lot of people who have not heard it.” “Well maybe that’s the problem. Maybe that’s the problem,” Carson replied, calm as a Xanax factory. “People have not heard this. Maybe that’s the problem.” Keilar stared in wonderment. Yes, folks, this was happening: Carson was blaming America for failing to frequent scarier locker rooms. Viewers scratched their heads, wondering why Carson couldn’t just call the remarks a mistake and move on. Carson, after a pause, started to ramble about a train going off a cliff, which, to be fair, seems appropriate enough. RELATED: The Tenth Life of Donald Trump At least Ben Carson didn’t blame the lyrics of Beyoncé for Trump’s remarks, like surrogate Betsy McCaughey. Nor did he blame the tawdry women’s book-club hit 50 Shades of Grey, like spokesperson Scottie Nell Hughes. He did not credit the Donald’s remarks to an “alpha” personality, as did Trump’s son Eric. But let’s move on to Rudy Giuliani, a semi-tragic figure who has morphed from competent New York City major and 9/11 hero into a lively Trumpian opening act. Here’s a quiz question: Your boss has been dogged by a crotch-related scandal for days. Your poll numbers with women have dive-bombed. Evangelicals are getting edgy. Mike Pence, “the sincere cop,” is busy telling people that Trump is dreadfully sorry, ashamed, and that his heart has changed since those days long ago. It’s all very unconvincing, but at least he’s trying. What do you do? MORE DONALD TRUMP ANTI-TRUMP SCHOLARS AND WRITERS GROUP EMERGES LIBERTY U. STUDENTS: ‘DONALD TRUMP & JERRY FALWELL JR. DON’T REPRESENT US’ THE TRUTH OF THE TRUMP ALLEGATIONS MATTERS MORE THAN THEIR TIMING Well, if you’re Rudy Guiliani, you get up at a rally and make a joke about Hillary Clinton stuffing socialized medicine up her you-know-what! No, seriously. On Wednesday, Giuliani stopped short of specifically where Clinton should shove said medicine. “I didn’t say it! I didn’t say it!” he joked, throwing his hands in the air. “I suggested it, but I didn’t say it!” But the meaning was quite clear. In pure Trumpian style, it was a not-so-subtle middle finger to all the prudes and haters and losers out there. But no one should be surprised, should they? Once you’ve defended Trump for so long — past the Clinton donations, the abortion flip-flops, the call for war crimes, the praise for authoritarian governments, the admiration for single-payer health care, the never-ending conspiracy theories, the personal instability, the compulsive lying, the statist urges — you’ll defend anything, and with relish. Hence, we continue to witness the embarrassing spectacle of Trump’s line of surrogates. Buckle up: It will likely get worse before it gets better.
Who wrote this entirely damaging repudiation of Trump??? Once again, it’s the thoroughly conservative standard bearer of conservative politics and public policy—the National Review.
Buahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahah.
Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/441022/donald-trump-media-spokesmen-defend-indefensible
Wassup SA?
If you want to see eloquence, wisdom, self-reflection, sage guidance, civility, and the advance of most greater human qualities, watch Michelle Obama just kill Donald Trump and all his repugnant actions, in her speech in New Hampshire today.
THURSDAY’S ‘OUTLIERS’ – Links to the best of news at the intersection of polling, politics and political data:
-Nate Silver finds Donald Trump facing big trouble in post-debate polling. [538]
-Steven Shepard summarizes Trump’s polling “tailspin.” [Politico]
-Kyle Kondik sees mixed signals about Republicans’ strength in this year’s House races. [Sabato]
-David Wasserman, Reuben Fischer-Baum and Ritchie King chart the counties where Trump and Hillary Clinton have the most potential upside. [538]
-Sean McElwee, Jesse Rhodes and Brian Schaffner analyze the nation’s divides by race and class. [WashPost]
-Toni Monkovic talks with Decision Desk HQ’s Brandon Finnigan (R) about the race in Pennsylvania. [NYT]
-Frank Luntz (R) has a replica Oval Office in his house for some reason. [Hollywood Reporter]