Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

“Loving your country does not mean lying about it’s history.”

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

President Biden is doing good where he can, and getting it done.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Let me file that under fuck it.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

I did not have this on my fuck 2024 bingo card.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Everybody saw this coming.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

You are here: Home / Open Threads / How creepy, on a scale from 1 to 10?

How creepy, on a scale from 1 to 10?

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The above photo (from 1996) pegs my creep-o-meter at 10. A compendium of creepy things Trump has said about his daughter can be found here:

“Yeah, she’s really something, and what a beauty, that one. If I weren’t happily married and, ya know, her father . . . ”

Trump was asked how he would feel if Ivanka posed for Playboy. “It would be really disappointing — not really — but it would depend on what’s inside the magazine. I don’t think Ivanka would do that, although she does have a very nice figure. I’ve said if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.”

Earlier in 2003 on The Howard Stern Show, Donald Trump was also bragging about his daughter’s hot body: “You know who’s one of the great beauties of the world, according to everybody? And I helped create her. Ivanka. My daughter, Ivanka. She’s 6 feet tall, she’s got the best body. She made a lot money as a model—a tremendous amount.”

Just ewww.

H/T: Gawker.

Reader Interactions

137Comments

  2. 2.

    MomSense

    Trevor Noah did a couple Daily Show segments about this. Soooooo icky.

    ETA Ejoiner got in there first (comedically speaking)

  4. 4.

    Zinsky

    Conservatism seems to attract a lot of degenerates and people who have odd fetishes. It must be the repressed sexual urges that led them to the total lack of self-awareness that most conservatives exhibit. From toe-sucker Dick Morris to diaper-wearing David Vitter, these conservative assholes always seem to plumbing the depths of human sexual depravity.

  12. 12.

    Betty Cracker

    @Zinsky: The prevalence of church sex scandals are another data point. But usually that goes hand-in-hand with repression, whereas Trump seems to revel in it and not even comprehend how weird and inappropriate his comments about his daughter are.

    My guess is Trump’s odd behavior stems more from his view that women are objects than any actual perversion. That fits in with how inappropriate he is with women he doesn’t find attractive, as well as his apparent belief that a word from him can restore their value, e.g., his “looka that face!” comment about Fiorina, then his “I think she’s beautiful” make-up remark in one of the GOP debates.

  13. 13.

    WJS

    Trump’s pride of ownership shines through. He has very few things that are actually worth something that hasn’t been used as collateral or mortgaged or traded or gotten through a questionable deal. Of course he treats his child like property. The son isn’t worth anything, so why wouldn’t he fixate on his daughter.

    A woman is property in Republican circles. Not a person, just property.

  15. 15.

    Just One More Canuck

    What is with the parrots? Who gets up in the morning and says, “what this place needs is two concrete parrots having sex”?

  17. 17.

    Kay

    @WJS:

    Trump’s pride of ownership shines through.

    Exactly. There really are two kinds of people- those who raise children and those who own some. I’ve come to believe you have to recognize that before attempting to understand anything that comes out of the two approaches.

  19. 19.

    Major Major Major Major

    OT, thank god:

    Checked the book of faces. The Bernie people are pre spinning any defeat as the fault of “the media”, with helpful links to St. Greenwald.

    I love the smell of already blaming a possible but in no way guaranteed electoral defeat on the media in the morning.

    Smells like… Republicans.

  20. 20.

    Just One More Canuck

    @MattF: The parrots are probably pining for the fjords, rather than being in a picture with the short fingered vulgarian

  22. 22.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    Speaking for me, who had three daughters pass through the age Ivanka was in this shot, that photo is incredibly creepy. The position of his hand on her hip is a romantic, sexual placement, as is the way she’s cupping his face. I was always affectionate with my girls, never afraid to hug, but never anything like that.

    To me it looks like middle aged douche with a young fuckbuddy, gone away for a long weekend while his wife is off in Europe.

  23. 23.

    Elmo

    Nobody here would find it strange for a proud father to talk about his child’s academic brilliance, or philanthropic efforts, or scientific breakthroughs. Those are things we would consider valuable, worthwhile measures of success that a father could legitimately be proud of.
    This is just Trump letting us all know – as if we didn’t already – what he considers the highest measure of a woman’s value.

  25. 25.

    gratuitous

    @Major Major Major Major: From the estimable Charlie Pierce today, on Sen. Sanders’ prospects in Iowa: “[T]he perception among the elite political press that he must win here is beginning to harden, which is not fair, but which is the way that it is.”

    I tend to agree with Pierce’s analysis, but what would be even more unfair is if Sanders “wins” the Iowa caucuses, those same members of the elite political press will twist themselves into pretzels of logic to explain why Sanders’ victory is totally meaningless. I’m not stumping for any particular Democratic candidate (Oregon’s position is way too late in the process to matter nowadays, so my primary vote in the presidential campaign is meaningless), but I’d bet a nickel that a Sanders win will be on the pundit discount rack as soon as it’s certified.

  28. 28.

    Anoniminous

    With the storm moving in, Iowa airports may close. This leads to the possibility of journalists being stuck in Des Moines. IF the storm plus aftereffects last long enough the hotel may run out of food, meaning starving journalists roaming the halls, hunting, killing and eating each other!

    Won’t happen, of course, but a boy can dream.

  30. 30.

    Roger Moore

    @gratuitous:

    I’d bet a nickel that a Sanders win will be on the pundit discount rack as soon as it’s certified.

    I think the pundits will do that no matter who wins the Democratic caucus. They want a horse race, and the best way of keeping one going is to say that everything is still wide open.

  31. 31.

    FlipYrWhig

    @gratuitous: I don’t think that’s right at all. I think if Sanders wins both Iowa and New Hampshire the story will be that Hillary Clinton is blowing it all over again because she’s a sucky candidate who sucks and nobody likes her and the establishment and Democrats are in disarray. The media is DYING to write that story.

  32. 32.

    Paul in KY

    @Zinsky: Sucking toes & wearing a diaper is not in and of itself ‘sexual depravity’.

    It’s just the lying & denying, IMO.

  33. 33.

    Betty Cracker

    @gratuitous: I haven’t read Pierce’s piece yet, but the media being the drama queens they are, I expect they’d cover a Sanders loss as DOOM for Sanders and a (widely expected) Sanders win in New Hampshire as DOOM for Clinton. Here’s one prediction about the coverage I feel confident about: It will be stupid.

  36. 36.

    Cermet

    Passed by a local church this morning and what did I see? They were advertising a “Daddy-Daughter Dance”; first off, note the use of “Daddy” and then no mention of a Mother-Son dance. So, again, just a daughter needs this interaction with a specific parent who happens to be male – always, of course.

    What is it with these strange requirements that a father dance with his daughter!? I’d be appalled to do that with my daughter at any age much less as she becomes a woman.

    These church’s also have chastity rings so these girls are “married” to their fathers. You people find that picture creepy? Try those marriage vows between a “Daddy” and his chattel property … I mean daughter … that these church’s exploit that really sick tradition of fathers abusing their daughters and I do mean traditional – that sicko Freud knew it well and after a firestorm when he dared to mention it, he quickly invent that quack theories of id and other bullshit – those dances are sick but the marriage vows are beyond creepy and just perverted and sick.

  37. 37.

    Starfish

    I don’t like the way that this discussion reduces Ivanka to nothing more than a sex object.

    When I see young women with really old guys, I usually hope that the older person is a relative and that they are out having fun and that there is nothing sexual about their relationship. And these thoughts do not even cross into speculation about incest.

    Donald Trump may say say gross things about women because he can’t see them as anything besides sex objects, but dudes who have more money go all in with that type of thing.

  38. 38.

    peach flavored shampoo

    It’s the look she’s giving him that busted my HolyShitOMeter.

    I’m sure that’s what the photographer asked for, and probably wasn’t her idea. But still, that’s just vomit-inducing.

  40. 40.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Major Major Major Major: To be fair, a big chunk of the story of the Bernie Sanders campaign has _always_ been that the media gatekeepers and Big Democrat are all against them because they pose such a fierce threat to the status quo, which is why debates are on weekends.

  41. 41.

    catclub

    @MattF: Why? I would not mind if those idiots spent all spring and summer convinced that Hillary was going to be indicted any minute now.

  42. 42.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    Yeah, eleven it is. The Creepster and Princess Dumbass of the North Woods here in my town today (shudder). My house is being used as a staging area of sorts – volunteers in and out all day today!

  46. 46.

    Betty Cracker

    @Cermet: It’s very similar in many ways to the “honor culture” associated with Islamic fundamentalists that these same evangelicals discuss with horror and loathing.

  47. 47.

    dogwood

    @Major Major Major Major:
    I think it was a blessing that the Sander’s campaign remained off the media’s radar for as long as it did. If you want to see your favorables remain high, knock on doors, engage with local media etc. Trying to get your message out through national media is becoming increasingly ineffective.

  49. 49.

    Brachiator

    @Zinsky:

    Conservatism seems to attract a lot of degenerates and people who have odd fetishes.

    Nonsense. Utter nonsense. The only difference, maybe, is that while some conservatives may hide their fetishes, some liberals may openly celebrate them.

    So, you have the conservative minister found dead in his home in a rubber suit and a butt plug, while the liberal is on a parade float proudly displaying his gear.

    Freaky don’t know no ideology.

  50. 50.

    Roger Moore

    @Cermet:
    It’s all about the traditional view that women are property. A girl is owned by her father until he sells/gives her away to her husband. That’s the view they’re reinforcing.

  51. 51.

    Steve Finlay

    My creep-o-meter exploded in a huge burst of ugly black smoke. It couldn’t handle it.

    Coincidentally, my fiancee and I are re-watching “I, Claudius”. We just saw the episode wherein Caligula becomes emperor. The similarities are striking.

  52. 52.

    goblue72

    @gratuitous: Most TV and major media “pundits” are died-in-the-wool establishmentarians. They don’t want the status quo changed. Their comfortable sinecures depend on comforting the comfortable and afflicting the afflicted.

  53. 53.

    goblue72

    Politico may be Tiger Beat on the Potomac (and mos def gunning on behalf of establishment Republicans), but interesting article nonetheless that Trump has been planning this con for awhile – How Trump Did It.

  54. 54.

    Gin & Tonic

    @peach flavored shampoo: She was 14 or 15 in that picture, and had grown up in the Trump household. I’d cut her a lot of slack.

    Through some weird series of events, my daughter and her husband share a mutual friend with Ivanka and her husband, and have met them on a couple of social occasions. By all reports they are very nice, although quite reserved.

  56. 56.

    MattF

    @catclub: The problem is that the lies leak out into the real world. Quoting Krugman:

    But there’s something else, which I keep encountering, and which I’m sure I’m not the only one to notice: even among progressives, the two-decade-plus smear campaign against the Clintons has had its effect. I keep being told about terrible things the Clintons did that never actually happened, but were carefully fomented right-wing legends — except I’m hearing them from people on the left. The sense that where there’s smoke there must be fire — when the reality was nothing but Richard Mellon Scaife with a smoke machine — is very much out there, still.

  57. 57.

    Brachiator

    @Starfish:

    Donald Trump may say say gross things about women because he can’t see them as anything besides sex objects

    Trump doesn’t seem to have a filter that censors his thoughts. On the other hand, he does seem to have some history of hiring women and trusting them to do their jobs. One of the original judges on his show The Apprentice, was one of the key employees helping to run his empire.

    Predictably, he seemed to get jealous of her when she became too popular, fired her, and I think replaced her with his daughter.

    @Elmo:

    This is just Trump letting us all know – as if we didn’t already – what he considers the highest measure of a woman’s value.

    Trump has also spoken of his daughter’s smarts.

  58. 58.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    Ted Cruz and his daughter had a WTF moment yesterday too, captured by a BBC reporter.

    It’s only 14 seconds long, and I happened to stop it a 0:10, where he has such a molester face on him, it makes my stomach actually turn. Just touching her (eeeeeewwwww) makes her scream. What a bunch of fucking psychos Republicans all are.

  59. 59.

    RSR

    Oh, efffff! I didn’t notice the parrots the first time I saw this photo. It was creepy enough before, but now? fjdksaljfnklewtrlknds!

    BTW, Ivanka’s hubby, Jared Kushner now owns a big chunk of property just steps away from my house in Philly. Known as The Piazza at Schmidt’s, it’s a big live/work residential/retail complex, with a large public space. Kushner acquired majority ownership a few years ago from the original developer.

    If Trump is still in the race by the time the PA primary comes up on the radar, maybe we’ll see a rally there. Could be quite the spectacle.

  60. 60.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Elmo: Yep. Women’s only value in Trump’s world is their sexual attractiveness to his libido. Otherwise, we’re all “fat pigs” and slobs or icky. As soon as his first and second wives lost their attractiveness, they were yesterday’s news and it was on to the next curvaceous body.

    Secretary Clinton needs to hit him upside his head with ads highlighting his sexism.

  61. 61.

    MomSense

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne:

    I saw that. Daughter seemed just as repulsed as we were watching it.

    Did anyone see the YouTube outtake footage from the Cruz ad with his family? I saw it linked on Twitter the other day and whoo boy that was weird.

  64. 64.

    Paul in KY

    @Cermet: Does Braveheart dude screw his daughter? Have never seen movie.

    Edit: Sorry Cermet, question was for Starfish in post below yours.

  66. 66.

    goblue72

    @Betty Cracker: On this we agree. The media has a hard-on for dialing non-troversy up to 11, in the never-ending 24-7 battle for eyeballs and clickbait. And then they wonder why younger people don’t buy newspapers and don’t watch cable news.

    Hillary got a haircut – is this a sign her campaign is in trouble? Trump kissed a monkey – is he pro-monkey migration? Sanders seen drinking chamomile tea – is he secretly gay? Ted Crus has the face of an asshole – but is he really an asshole?

    (Ok, that last one is true.)

  67. 67.

    Brachiator

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Yep. Women’s only value in Trump’s world is their sexual attractiveness to his libido.

    This does not appear to be entirely the case, based on Trump’s employment of women to help run his empire. However, his often crude remarks do nothing to refute what appears to be his image.

    Secretary Clinton needs to hit him upside his head with ads highlighting his sexism.

    If Trump ends up the nominee (or chooses to help the GOP if he is not the nominee) anything in this area might be noxious, bitter, and nasty, and will end up smearing both sides.

  68. 68.

    MattF

    @Brachiator: Given that Republicans are already committed to smearing with as noxious, bitter, and nasty lies as they can think of, what would you suggest that Democrats do?

  70. 70.

    JCJ

    @Brachiator:

    So, you have the conservative minister found dead in his home in a rubber suit and a butt plug, while the liberal is on a parade float proudly displaying his gear.

    I believe the proper equipment is two wet suits and a dildo

  72. 72.

    hueyplong

    This actually created my creep-o-meter, which could now use some calibration.

    Re: Cruz’s creepy intrafamilial look. Cruz is incapable of emotion directed at anything other than reflective material, so he probably just took a guess at an “emotional” facial expression and was oblivious to the fact that what his facial muscles formed was kind of pervy.

    Re: Trump vs. Kelly. It’s going to be really difficult for me to believe any narrative other than one in which Trump made a carnal suggestion that lacked a little in terms of romance and she spurned him, maybe by suggesting that he instead attempt a physically impossible act of self gratification. Public disclosure of same by Kelly after Trump has secured the nomination would be nice and something I’d view as a sign of the existence of a benevolent Creator who cares about us.

  74. 74.

    Randy P

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne:

    From your link:

    Despite this perhaps not being an abnormal reaction from a young daughter receiving public affection from her father,

    Squirming yes. I could see my daughters at that age getting embarrassed at playing for the cameras and saying “C’mon Dad” and yes, squirming.

    But this level of repulsion suggests something more to me. My first hypothesis is that the normal level of affection in this family is somewhere between 0 and negative infinity. I don’t get any feeling of warmth there at all.

    To quote from the wonderful Randy Newman theme song to “Monk”: I could be wrong now… but I don’t think so!

  76. 76.

    The Other Chuck

    @Randy P: It looked like she was just playfully brushing him off at first, what with the finger-flick gesture, but he just kept on pressing. Had to have that “loving family man” photo op, actual family be damned. Creepy indeed.

  77. 77.

    Brachiator

    @Betty Cracker:

    Some of his best friends are bla — I mean, women!

    I have no idea who Trump’s friends might be, and I find him pretty much detestable.

    But the plain fact is that he appeared to treat at least one higher level female employee with the same degree of respect as he treated one of his key male employees. And even on his stupid tv show, the Apprentice, he appears to value his daughter’s judgment, not just her looks. Maybe it was all just for show. But sometimes mockery and the broad brush has to take actual evidence into account.

  78. 78.

    gvg

    what kind of resort has parrot statues like that as decor anyway? I kind of think he took her somewhere inappropriate anyway, photographer either hated him or also didn’t get appropriate. I am kind of protective of kids. donald is so vulgar I can’t tell if that is especially creepy or just normal for him no taste.
    Cruz’s daughter appeared about 13 which is pretty moody and I wouldn’t be surprised if any candidate’s kids was mad at him a few months into a campaign so I don’t know if that film is significant.
    I recall being offended at how vulgar Trumps taste was back in the 70’s. I can’t believe he is actually running.

  80. 80.

    Benw

    If you’re Trump and you know it, then you’re creepy
    If you’re Trump and you know it, then you’re creepy
    Trump’s really into his daughter,
    And he really wants to show it
    If you’re Trump and you know it, then you’re creepy!

  81. 81.

    Gravenstone

    @Roger Moore:

    I think Davos during the World Economic Forum would be an even better target.

    I keep wanting to fill this in mentally as “Davros”. Because the Masters of the Universe being Daleks makes so much more sense.

  83. 83.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Brachiator: he had Caroline sacked as soon as she started to upstage him. He’s ok with women leading other women, but not with being led by them. His racism, on the other hand, came through pretty quickly on that show.

  84. 84.

    Princess

    @Brachiator: You’re right, but I bet not one woman employed by him in a high-level position where she has contact with him is homely or plain or overweight. The first responsibility of women is to be attractive in his world. After that, if a couple of them are smart too, that’s just gravy.

  86. 86.

    SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel

    @dogwood:

    I have heard that Ivanka Trump and Chelsea Clinton are good friends. Don’t know whether that’s accurate or purely made up.

  89. 89.

    Brachiator

    @JCJ:

    I believe the proper equipment is two wet suits and a dildo

    True dat.

    I can’t always keep my fetish freaks straight.

  90. 90.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    It’s certainly possible that Trump is less openly sexist in his off-camera life but has realized that being a sexist asshole in public plays well with the Republican base. Which is an extra level of creepy manipulativeness.

  91. 91.

    Cermet

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: In fairness to cruz, that SHOULD be normal behavior of a young daughter towards her father in public. Seems their relationship is likely normal. Not at all creeped out by that behavior between him and her. Better still, she isn’t trained to be fake and act for the camera’s.

  92. 92.

    Soylent Green

    Saw some tabloid at the supermarket checkout yesterday with a big photo of the beautiful Melania embracing her much older husband, with the headline “The Donald Only I Know.” The contents of the article no doubt telling us what a very nice man he is, nothing like those unkind things his detractors say about him.

    After Trump takes the nom, he will revert to his affable, even gracious TV talk-show personality.

  93. 93.

    SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel

    @gvg:

    Cruz’s daughter appeared about 13 which is pretty moody and I wouldn’t be surprised if any candidate’s kids was mad at him a few months into a campaign

    His daughters were born in 2008 and 2011, so the older one (the one in the video, I think) is only 7 or 8. But I’ll give you “moody.” Hell, if I were Ted Cruz’s daughter I’d be a fucking basket case.

  95. 95.

    Brachiator

    @Bobby Thomson:

    he had Caroline sacked as soon as she started to upstage him.

    Pretty much what I said in an earlier post here.

    And it wasn’t even that she upstaged him. His fragile ego seemed unable to accept that she was as popular as he was.

    Or he just wanted to replace her with his daughter. Either way, his actions were despicable. But either way, it complicates the lazy picture of him as seeing women as no more than eye candy.

    Princess:

    The first responsibility of women is to be attractive in his world. After that, if a couple of them are smart too, that’s just gravy.

    There may be an element of this. However, it appeared that he let Carolyn Kepcher run the show when he named her the Chief Operating Officer of the Trump Golf Properties and respected the decisions she made.

    If he prefers capable and attractive women, it’s still sexist. But it appears to be untrue that he doesn’t care that the women executives be capable. It’s more than just gravy.

  97. 97.

    FlipYrWhig

    BTW, this picture kinda reminds me of the notorious Gary Hart/Donna Rice “Monkey Business” picture.

  98. 98.

    martian

    @c u n d gulag: I think it’s mostly about Trump’s extreme narcissism. It’s not just that Ivanka is being objectified, it’s that nobody else is really a full person to him, and Ivanka is his daughter and therefore a reflection of him. So, Ivanka is the most beautiful, the smartest, and a thousand other things that all reflect on him. It’s not so much that Trump lusts after his own daughter, imo, but that a narcissist’s truest love is always themselves. Trump probably imagines that elegant, intelligent Ivanka is simply who he’d be if he were a woman. He talks about her exactly the same way he speaks about himself.

    Never heard Trump talk about Tiffany like that, though. Poor Tiff. Got her Dad’s weird, squished up doll face just like Ivanka did, but without enough of her mother’s genes to leaven it into something more conventionally hot.

  99. 99.

    Soylent Green

    @FlipYrWhig:

    His brand is bluster and ruthlessness.

    That’s his Apprentice persona. On talk shows, Trump is often charming, funny, and engaging in the usual showbiz way.

  100. 100.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    That one goes as high as Nigel Tufnel’s amp’s volume knob.

  101. 101.

    martian

    @Betty Cracker: @martian: Hey some kind of editing weirdness took my name off of #98 while I was trying to fix. That was a reply to Betty, not c u n d gulag.

    Edit: And now my name is back on but I can’t fix it. Oh, well.

  102. 102.

    goblue72

    Trump is playing the media and the GOP base like a fiddle. Unfortunately, he’s also playing liberals like a fiddle too – who just can’t resist getting outraged – OUTRAGED I SAY – over the latest thing Trump did or said. There are days when I feel that liberals are more focused and obsessed by Trump, than any of the actual Democratic candidates.

    And who says free media can’t win you an election?

  104. 104.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne:

    It’s certainly possible that Trump is less openly sexist in his off-camera life but has realized that being a sexist asshole in public plays well with the Republican base. Which is an extra level of creepy manipulativeness.

    Trump gets points as a plain talker. Sadly, if anything, he has stepped up the level of invective that he has used in the past.

    His early feud with Rosie O’Donnell was absolutely disgusting. As a comedian with a TV show, she was able to fight back and even made Trump look foolish. This infuriated him even more. Paradoxically, that he is open with his rage, even if it is stupid and worse, only makes some of his supporters love him even more.

    Also, for what it’s worth, some of his supporters don’t give a rat’s ass that he is sexist as long as he gets the job done.

  106. 106.

    Brachiator

    @martian:

    It’s not so much that Trump lusts after his own daughter, imo, but that a narcissist’s truest love is always themselves. Trump probably imagines that elegant, intelligent Ivanka is simply who he’d be if he were a woman. He talks about her exactly the same way he speaks about himself.

    Very insightful. There might be some truth to this.

    I don’t keep up with Trump’s every word, but I get the impression sometimes that he is more impressed with his daughter than with his son.

  107. 107.

    Brachiator

    @MattF:

    Given that Republicans are already committed to smearing with as noxious, bitter, and nasty lies as they can think of, what would you suggest that Democrats do?

    If Hillary is the nominee, the Democrats will have a deep bench to help her campaign. Obama, Bill Clinton (who seems to be getting a little old), and Joe Biden, among others. I would consider letting Uncle Joe go after Trump, deflecting the noxious with his decency. Going nasty for nasty would be counterproductive. But I am sure (I hope) that Clinton’s advisors are thinking about the best way to deal with GOP attacks.

    The only thing, though, is that Trump is not an ordinary Republican. He is a Gangs of New York level street fighter. A vulnerability, may be that he can’t separate his ego from the purely political when he attacks. He can be taken down. But a certain degree of mockery only enrages him more and makes it more likely to lash out irrationally. A more seasoned politician might pull back.

  109. 109.

    karen marie

    @MattF: My 27-year-old nephew is adamant he’ll never vote for Clinton, “because she lies.” He refuses to acknowledge the existence of the media’s Clinton hate machine. I throw up my hands in despair.

  110. 110.

    martian

    @Brachiator: Internet talk, for what it’s worth, is that Ivanka’s brothers cruised through business school in C+ Augustus style, but that Ivanka was a hard worker and sharp. I think Trump is smart enough to appreciate the difference and favour the offspring that best reflects his shine. Wouldn’t be surprised if there’s an element of competitiveness with the sons that the daughters get to side step also, too.

  111. 111.

    ruemara

    As I said in response, I get a House Lannister vibe off this pic, only with less class, discretion and money.

    Yes, it is possessive and narcissistic. Ivanka is Trump, perfected, despite gender. She is friends with Chelsea Clinton, but she is loyal to the evil that is her father most of all.

    Let me speak plainly as an acceptable negro, Trump can have and treat well, females. Ivana was the one who made his businesses profitable. He respects accomplishment. What he cannot deal with is being outshone by his lessers. His daughter is a peer who will always be subservient to him in public. It will always be good for his ego to have her succeed.

    If/When she fails to defer or be that perfect mirror to her father, he’d cut her out of everything as fast as humanly possible.

    The person he is, is quite visible. No one ever said despicable people weren’t complex.

  112. 112.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Brachiator: The others in the GOP nomination fight are handling Trump with kid gloves because they don’t want to piss off the base. This won’t be a consideration in the general election campaign no matter who wins the Dem nomination.

  113. 113.

    trollhattan

    @srv:
    You doubtless have a shot of President Clinton and Chelsea to share that connects with this pic in a meaningful fashion. While you’re at it, find a Clinton quote indicating he’d date Chelsea. Double points if he said it to Rush Limbaugh. We’ll wait.

  115. 115.

    Stacy

    It’s creepy for sure. I also think Cruz’s daughters reaction is very telling for an eight year old. I have friend whose husband had very little to do with raising his three children to the point where he never once changed a diaper and this was in the early aughts. His daughter at a very young age recoiled from him just like this and would scream if he picked her up. I find it creepy that Cruz forced her to give him a kiss good bye.

  116. 116.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: So, how far down the list of GOPers do we get before we find a dad whose relationship with a daughter is normal?

    Am I missing Bobby Jindal’s picnic table wholesome family time already? Remember when we thought that was the worst candidate ‘m their kid thing ever?

  117. 117.

    martian

    @ruemara: Ivana really deferred to Trump , too, as I recall, being the original, non-ironic originator of “The Donald”. I think she’d have hung in there, too, if Marla Maples hadn’t forced that public confrontation in Aspen all those years ago and brought about the changing of the guard. Yeah, if Ivanka ever goes against her dad, she’ll pretty much instantly face the business end of a narcissist.

    I know way too much about this gossip. My granddad was a devoted reader of the checkout aisle tabloids, what can I say. And once they were already in the house and I didn’t need to pretend disinterest…well. I sure wish I still had some of the classic Bill’s Alien Love Affair!, Hillary’s Alien Baby! issues, though. Just for days when I’m imagining that the Internet is the worst, wrongest thing ever to afflict our society.

  118. 118.

    Schlemazel

    @SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel:
    She is in fact 7. This is not normal behavior for a 7yo and a normal dad. The nicest face i can put on it is she is worn out from being dragged around Iowa as a campaign prop and needs a nap. In that case dad is just an insensitive asshole. The alternative is really creepy.

  119. 119.

    EriktheRed

    Here in Chi-town land, there was a mini controversy over a local celebrity chef and how he and his daughter seemed a little too “chummy” on his cooking show.

  120. 120.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @ThresherK (GPad):

    Is that a trick question? Anyone still a Republican is either a sociopath or a psychopath or both, plus authoritarian, obviating the possibility of having a normal healthy relationship with a child. Duh.

  121. 121.

    Underpaid Propagandist

    4. Zinsky: Correct. Alberto Moravia covered this ground in “The Conformist” relating to fascism. In the U.S., Roy Cohn, J. Edgar Hoover, Wm. F. Buckley, and Rudy Giuliani have lived it. No need to get into the Evangelicals’ closets . . . one by one, they always get exposed.

  123. 123.

    JPL

    A child dragged along the campaign trail, can show some resentment, and I doubt that’s abnormal. I’d be more concerned, if next time Cruz’s daughter is on her best behavior. I’d wonder what lesson she learned from her previous behavior.

  124. 124.

    Randy P

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne:

    Anyone still a Republican is either a sociopath or a psychopath or both

    What’s funny is that I remember Janeane Garofalo making pretty much the same observation on her Air America radio show, far enough back that there still was an Air America and Janeane Garofalo was still on it. So that’s what, 10, 12 years? (I think her characterization was “mentally ill” but same idea).

    I reflect often on that quote, and on the fact that the Republican party has had 10+ years of further distillation since that observation was made.

  125. 125.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    @EriktheRed:

    R.B.? I remember a couple of episodes where I thought, How did the producers not notice this vibe and dial it way down? Even if it was just an unfortunate, incorrect impression.

  130. 130.

    debbie

    Creepy, yes, but that photo layout feels like a Vanity Fair–kind of thing, which means Trump and kid would have been directed on how to pose.

  131. 131.

    Brachiator

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    The others in the GOP nomination fight are handling Trump with kid gloves because they don’t want to piss off the base.

    Actually, they are probably more afraid of Trump than they are of the base. Cruz and Jeb! finally got the nerve to throw in a few jabs only because Trump did not show up at the latest debate.

    This won’t be a consideration in the general election campaign no matter who wins the Dem nomination.

    True enough.

  135. 135.

    Gretchen

    @Schlemazel: The thing that struck me is that she’s not on her own feet. She’s being held on some other guy’s hip, and seems perfectly comfortable there, until her own father moves in and she recoils from him. Who is that other guy, and why is she comfortable with him but not her dad?

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