Marcus was also of the opinion that “Bill Clinton’s conduct toward women is far worse than any of the offensive things that Trump has said.” Perhaps Marcus missed the coverage of Ivana Trump’s divorce allegations, though they were widely reported months earlier.

Eugene Robinson was slightly equivocal, but claimed: “If Ted Cruz is the Republican Party’s cure for Donald Trump, the antidote may be worse than the poison.” Robinson wrote: “Trump, at least, cloaks his unthinkable policies beneath a certain populist appeal. Cruz’s self-assured extremism tells whole classes of voters — independents, minorities, women — to look elsewhere. He would be like Barry Goldwater without the avuncular charm.” Again, Trump’s attitude towards women, Mexicans, Muslims, and the disabled (to name a few) were known when he wrote this.

Amanda Marcotte rooted for a Trump nomination, arguing that “if you actually look past the surface, even by a millimeter, to the policy level, this notion that Trump is somehow more hateful than his competitors Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio simply becomes laughable.” She later doubled down on her preference for Trump over Cruz.

This is not surprising, as Marcotte began the cycle arguing that “while Trump has a big mouth, he is, policy-wise, one of the least anti-woman candidates in the 2016 Republican field.”