This feels like the right note on which to end the week.
It wasn’t just Jessica Leeds, the first woman to speak to the Times on Monday, whose looks he slighted. He got Natasha Stoynoff, the People magazine writer, too:
“When you looked at that horrible woman last night, you said, ‘I don’t think so,’ ” Trump said, referring to former People magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff, who says the GOP presidential nominee pushed her against a wall and forcibly kissed her in 2005 during an interview at his Florida resort…
He added, “I don’t think it would happen with her and many people, but they certainly aren’t going happen with me.”
“Check out her Facebook page, you’ll understand,” he added, in case the point wasn’t clear. What bothers him more, the fact that he’s being accused of sexual assault or the fact that he’s being accused of sexual assault by women who aren’t 10’s? Would a 9 meet the threshold for some hypothetical unwanted p***y-grabbing?
He even got Hillary, sort of:
From the lectern in Greensboro, NC today, Trump made direct allusions to that debate, brushing off criticism that he encroached upon Clinton’s personal space during the town hall-style event.
“When she walked in front of me, believe me, I wasn’t impressed,” said Trump. “But she walks in front of me, and she takes a question, and then she walked back. And that was the end of that, no problem. Then she said the next day I invaded her space. Give me a break.”
The Times reported this morning that big donors are begging the RNC to formally cut Trump loose. I thought there was zero chance of that until the last 24 hours or so, for the simple reason that congressional Republicans have too much to lose if the leadership declares war on the nominee. If Trump retaliates by demanding that his voters boycott the downballot races, enough will listen to bring about the blue wave that Reince, Paul Ryan, and Mitch McConnell fear. They’ve got to stick with him — I thought. But now that the campaign has become an utter sh*tshow, with new accusers coming forward every few hours and Trump resorting to goofing on their looks amid repurposed nationalist tirades about shadowy global media-finance cabals, I don’t know. I’d guess there’s a fair chance we’ll see resignations next week at the RNC or even within the campaign, especially since Democrats are probably sitting on their most damaging oppo for the final weeks of the campaign. Might as well head for the lifeboats before that drops and the boat disappears under the waves completely. Sounds like Reince, for one, needs a long vacation:
For all Mr. Priebus’s public expressions of loyalty, he has been deeply shaken by revelations about Mr. Trump and the rifts within the party, seeing years of Republican organizational work potentially being undone, according to multiple people who described private conversations with Mr. Priebus on the condition of anonymity. He has said he feels adrift, fearing that Mr. Trump is headed for disaster, and told one longtime associate that he was having sleepless nights. Mr. Priebus did not respond to requests for comment.
I hope Priebus doesn’t quit. Not because the party can’t afford to lose him but because it’d be grotesque for him to hand off this fecal election, which he enabled by crushing the “Dump Trump” effort at the convention, to an underling at its darkest moment. He should stay to the bitter end and enjoy every second. But his deputies? What are they hanging around for? Does the RNC need someone to write the inevitable “MOAR AMNESTY” election autopsy next month?
Exit quotation: “I don’t think Donald Trump could do anything to upset me. There’s nothing he could do to make me change my vote for him. Absolutely nothing.”
Update: Among the critics who think Trump insulting his accusers’ looks isn’t a yuge, terrific strategy is, apparently, Kellyanne Conway.
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