Some folks on Twitter and elsewhere have tried to defend Donald Trump, or at least minimize last night’s impact, by saying we already had all this on tape. He called Mexicans rapists. He called Rosie O’Donnell a pig. He said racist things about a judge, Miss Universe and a thousand other people. But the rest of the world has gone nuts about this? What is up with that?
To me the answer is pretty simple. There are curses that everyone more or less tolerates. Schmuck. Asshole. Turd face. Horse fucker. Even calling someone a murderer, rapist or son of a motherless goat won’t automatically get you shunned by society as long as you stay on the right side of slander and libel laws. But then there is a whole other category of insults. You know the ones. Fag is maybe the only one I can safely print, even just to discuss it. The rest you know by their first letters alone. C-. N-. Unless you are Tyrion Lannister then your reputation will not survive saying those. Something about those words makes them stand out from anything else you can say to someone.
I think an important clue is to look at what happens to a terrible ethnicity-based insult when the ethnicity goes mainstream. At one time being Irish or Italian had real consequences in America. Back in the day a vulgar term for Irish had weight. Those vulgar terms were a way to put someone in their place. It said you have privileges that they don’t. You can shut them out or hurt them. Can you imagine someone getting turned away from an apartment today because they are Irish? Of course not. That has a lot to do with why barely anyone even remembers the old insults. There is no threat there. The Jewish insults still have some weight. In related news, Twitter tells me that there are thousands of people out there who still have a weirdly singular hatred for Jews. Maybe millions. Meanwhile the twentieth century provides an indelible reminder that no amount of assimilation should make Jews feel entirely safe from threats. Saying the K-word today does not have anywhere near the impact of when I grew up (the local ritzy golf club started letting in Jews beyond its token one-family limit when I was in high school, in the early 90s). Nonetheless if you say the k- word today it will mean something, to me and to your reputation.
That is the one thing our short list of unforgivables has in common. They all imply a threat. Black people can still be turned away from a mortgage. In many places a white person can still expect the overwhelming benefit of the doubt if he shoots a black man in the street, where a black man would be convicted before any detective opens the case. A woman can be assaulted or raped at any time, and too often the justice system just heaps on the shame and abuse. I thought I was sufficiently jaded about rape and ‘justice’, until I found about the disgraceful state of rape kits nationwide. These are easy convictions. In many cases the perps are already in custody. In many, many cases catching the perp quickly would have saved three, ten or more women from being assaulted later.
Donald Trump did not ‘insult’ women or make ‘vulgar’ statements about women. He talked about making threats and then acting on them. He bragged that they had no defense against his assaults, and no recourse afterwards. Imagine that Trump called a black man the n- word and then beat him with a cane. Aside from being an anachronism in this age, would it be so different?
Donald Trump committed unforgiveable acts in his life. In 2005 he bragged about it. People may not get that explicitly, but fundamentally they get it. You cannot uncross this line.
MattF
I had a relative who used the N-word repeatedly and in public. At one point, after an outburst in a restaurant, he got crossed off my list. It was painful for me, because I was attracted to him when I was a child– but once I’d grown, I saw that his immaturity and his lack of any self-discipline wasn’t so great. Most of us put away childish things at some point, some of us don’t.
Wag
Yesterday was wonderful, but not wonderful enough. I think Ms Clinton is just getting started. I will make a prediction. Within the next 4 days, and possibly as early as tomorrow night at the debate, there will be another mind blowing escalation about Donald that will blow p=sstgate out of the water This will be followed by an ever increasing fountain of truth that will last until the weekend before Election Day.
Donald will be lucky to reach crazificatiin factor by the end of it.
Gary Johnson may come in second to Hillary.
There’s not enough popcorn to satisfy my appetite for the destruction of the GOP over the next few weeks.
Corner Stone
I’ll tell you what is unforgivable. The fact that I do not have Joy Reid on my TV for 12 freaking hours today! That is unforgivable!
Mary G
Republicans were fine when he was attacking the black and brown people, but now that he’s touching their white townsfolk, he’s beyond the pale. Only for the ones out of office though; the office holders are hoping that their mushy-mouthed condemnation will cover their assets. Cowards and poltroons.
Corner Stone
This kind of makes one wonder about the beautiful shoehorning of Alicia Machado into the first debate by HRC. Of course they knew Trump has had many problems with women so it was useful all by itself. But did they know or even suspect there was this level of damaging tape of Trump talking about sexual assault?
dnfree
Here’s a sad headline.
Some Republican Leaders Condemn Trump’s Leaked Comments About Groping Women
Corner Stone
@Mary G: His entire political prominence came to be due to his driving the racist birther bullshit. He then kicked off his official campaign by calling Mexicans rapists and murderers.
No one should ever interview any R politician that backs away from Trump and allow them to get away with letting this be the line that was too far for their support.
schrodinger's cat
Thanks for getting it. As a woman this hits close to home.
Tom Levenson
Good stuff, Tim. Thanks. I got nuthin, at least for a while. I’m still in a gob smacked fugue state.
Except this: every GOPster who couldn’t figure out the monstrousness of Trump before this tape came out proves, again, that they are who we thought they were.
debbie
Unforgivable is Ralph Reed’s continuing support of Trump.
Blueskies
He bragged about committing sexual assault from a position of power. The only questions he should get at the townhall are:
1. Were you just bragging, but didn’t actually commit those crimes? If so, why is it OK to brag about committing such crimes?
2. If you weren’t just bragging, but actually did commit those crimes, why haven’t you turned yourself in at the nearest police station?
Baud
@dnfree: “Why couldn’t he have called it her ‘crotch’? Then it would all be ok.”
schrodinger's cat
Check out #notokay if you still don’t get why this is so devastating for Orange Glow.
Judge Crater
The next shoe to drop is what will Mike Pence do? The remarks are indefensible, but if you are Trump’s conservative, Christian running mate, how do you finesse this kind of outrage? Pence has sold his soul to the Devil. How will he redeem it?
Baud
@debbie: The modern moral majority. Neither modern, nor moral, nor a majority.
MattF
@debbie: The whole ‘a seat at the table’ argument is going down in flames. Question now is– where, exactly, is this ‘table’ of which you speak?
H.E.Wolf
Correction: In 2005, he bragged about it. ETA: Thanks; already fixed.
Everything else is spot on. Thank you for pointing out the threat aspect of the Unforgivables.
Corner Stone
@Blueskies:
1a. What kind of man talks about women this way? To be clear, I am referring to the comments you made when you were 60 and had a 20 something year old daughter.
Corner Stone
@Judge Crater:
*Exasperatedly*
“No he did not. He did not say those things.”
schrodinger's cat
I don’t tweet, but this would have been my reaction too.
Citizen_X
He basically just bragged that Droit du Seigneur exists for famous billionaires, and he takes advantage of it.
Iowa Old Lady
@schrodinger’s cat: Yes. It reminded me of a friend’s story about a male coworker’s report on an all male meeting where men were saying crude things about another woman co-worker. I found that horrifying. It was like there was this secret malevolent male world where women were never going to be treated like human beings, and then these men were going to come out of their meeting and work at the next desk. It makes the whole world look worse.
I’m just catching up on this story and am boggled by the idea that Trump wants to keep talking about Bill Clinton. Apparently all he learned from Alicia Machado was how to keep a story going.
Iowa Old Lady
@MattF: Apparently it’s Corey Lewandowski’s dinner table.
Chris
@Mary G:
This.
It’s one thing to attack Those People. Or even specific white people. But Trump is now saying things that the average Gooper could actually imagine applying to HIS precious little daughter, or sister, or wife, or whatever. That is big time no bueno.
amk
@dnfree:
Some Republican Leaders: We are roaches. We don’t like sunlight.
indycat32
Did anyone else find Paul Ryan’s comment offensive? My first thought was, no Paul, I don’t want you to champion me or revere me, I want you to respect me and treat me as an equal.
Iowa Old Lady
@indycat32: I had the same reaction. I can champion myself if people like Paul Ryan and his fellow Rs get out of the way.
hovercraft
@Corner Stone:
Wish I was home to watch her. Oh well at least I have something to look forward to later. Last night I just wanted to reach into my TV and slap Tweety. That man is a total waste of space. If morons like Bachman want to use God as their excuse for supporting Trump, the we get to ask them hat message their God is sending by allowing shit like this to happen to his chosen one. Asshole.
The Thin Black Duke
I guess it’s going to be the day after November 8 when we find out which America the majority of voters in this country want to live in.
schrodinger's cat
This is the tweet that started it all. I think Lamh36 posted it one of the threads yesterday.
Corner Stone
How is this significantly different than when R Governors and R state lege pass a forced transvaginal probe before any abortion?
White men with power telling women their bodies can be violated anytime a white man feels like it, and there’s nothing they can do about it.
Schlemazel
BTW – for those who believe Trump can’t drop out now because he could not be replaced on the ballot: Remember that the real election takes place in December when the electors meet. They can vote for whomever they choose. If Trump dropped out the GOP would be free to say, “vote for Trump & we will deliver the EC votes for X” or even “Trust us, it will be someone better than Hillary”, just vote GOP”. That might work in their favor.
#endtheelectoralcollegenow!
Zippity
I came into work one morning to an e-mail that a supervisor was no longer with the company. No one knew what happened. We found out later that he had been making sexual comments about me to other guys, and one of them let HR know. I always felt like he liked me a little too much, but he was married, so I never thought he was hitting on me. After I found out why he was fired, I felt dirty, but glad that there were guys that put an end to it.
hovercraft
@Mary G:
Not just white folk the symbol of purity, white women. Remember attacks on white women have been used for centuries to justify violence against those who are different, ethnically, religiously, and or racially. Attacking Mrs Khan and Alicia Merchado was bad, but now that he’s attacking white women that is too far.
Baud
@The Thin Black Duke: The GOP has won the white vote in every election since 1964. I would like to think that streak ends with Trump, but I have to admit I’m pessimistic.
Thankfully, there are other voters.
Baud
@Schlemazel: I don’t think Trump will drop out. His ego won’t let him. In any event, it’s out of our control.
scav
@indycat32: The whole champion or revere thing just somehow re-emphacized that women are what men think they are, are what men chose to do with them. They’re still men’s little objects, Donnie’s just playing with them wrong.
Elmo
@Iowa Old Lady: Co-sign.
Any man who will still vote for Donald Trump to be the President of the United States does not view women as human beings. Full stop.
Elmo
@scav: Oh god YES. This this this bygod THIS.
Jim
But…but…Bill Clinton said worse. Perhaps, but
a) Bill Clinton was impeached by a Republican House
b) Bill Clinton isn’t running in this election
c) Bill Clinton’s peccadilloes were 20 years ago, Trump’s were only 10
d) It’s all about power. Sex is just the instrument used.
K488
@indycat32: That struck me, too! It’s still objectifying women.
hovercraft
@schrodinger’s cat:
That stream is so painful to read, every person who continues to support this scum should be forced for the rest of their lives to explain their support. Two years four years from now, the pain caused to these women never goes away, and the GOPers who stand with him should also have to bear the scars for the rest of their lives. Nazi supporters are stigmatized for life, Trumpsters should be too.
Baud
Remember the Trump-Meghan Kelly dust-up in the primary was about her question to him on how he treats women.
Tokyokie
What Trump has been revealed as having said reminded me of the sort of braggadocio I’d hear from the jocks in the high school locker room. I thought it was demeaning even back then, but I’m inclined to give those guys some slack because they were only 16-17 years old at the time and probably don’t talk like that now.
Trump was 60 when he said those things.
hovercraft
@Judge Crater:
Reports are that he’s really, really pissed, and his wife even more so. But as pissed as they are, that is not enough, inaction is complicity. Standing up and continuing to say this is the man I believe should be president is condoning him and his behavior.
Amir Khalid
@Schlemazel:
I think Trump would have to agree to any such deal. If the Republican party were to say that — “vote for Trump, and we promise to put someone else up for the Electoral College vote” — what’s to stop Trump from being Trump, and simply reneging on the deal to claim the presidency?
sdhays
What I still can’t quite wrap my head around is the surprise of it all. I mean, just the way he talks about and acts around his own daughter is disgusting enough to reveal what kind of man he is with regards to women (every time I see him with her, it seems as clear as night and day that she’s the woman he wants to “grab” most of all, and it kills him that he’s not allowed to – it’s probably what makes her so tantalizing to him). And the account of him raping his first wife that she made under oath is horrific. His many, many public statements have made it clear that Donald doesn’t see women as people but as objects to critique and acquire. That Donald Trump likes to assault women is about the least surprising thing you could possibly say about him.
I know that things are cumulative, as others said last night, and you reach a tipping point, but I guess I had gotten to the point where I had started to believe that we had already tipped as far as we were able to tip. Glad to be wrong!
Also – it’s breathtaking how much Trump’s rivals in the primary failed to bring him down. It’s clear that they didn’t even try. I think that should be an election issue for Rubio – he ran such an incompetent campaign, he couldn’t save his party from Donald Trump.
Baud
@Amir Khalid: No matter what, Trump will still win several states. He’s not going to voluntarily give that up.
Tokyokie
@debbie: Ralph Reed and every other fundie scumbag should have their support for Trump thrown in their faces as proof that they are now, and probably always have been, actively supporting the devil, and that those who follow their teachings do so at the peril of their immortal souls. Shitbags like Reed are why I don’t go to church. If that’s the sort of moral guidance they provide, I figure I’m better off figuring it out on my own. “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you” isn’t all that hard to figure out. It means, basically, “Don’t be an asshole.” And Reed and his ilk, first and foremost, are assholes.
nonynony
@Schlemazel I think you are severely overestimating the GOP’s ability to put out a unified message.
Also you are forgetting the 40% of their base that will scream bloody murder if they try to oust Trump now. Even with this new horribleness. No way they can get rid of him short of a major health issue on Trump’s part.
peter
@Tokyokie: Righteous. Thank you.
Corner Stone
@hovercraft:
“I am proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with Donald Trump on this campaign.
Of course, it does make it more difficult to grab the women by their p_ssy, but sometimes you’ve gotta take the bad with the good.”
chopper
if he said this stuff about brown women it probably wouldn’t be as much of a deal.
burnspbesq
And then you see a self-styled progressive woman arguing that Trump’s words don’t matter because they’re just words and Hillary bombs countries, and you see the full extemt of CDS in some quarters on the left.
rikyrah
I think men are trying to get it – those that do.
But, what he said on that tape is a direct line to the insults of O’Donnell and the Beauty Queen. It’s ALL related. And, it’s all wrapped up in a ‘rape culture’ bow, that all women have been touched by, even if they, themselves, haven’t been assaulted. There is a REASON why the overwhelming number of sexual assaults against women are NEVER EVEN BROUGHT TO THE POLICE.
You honestly don’t think that this muthaphucka hasn’t RAPED multiple women?
Really?
Seriously?
It reeks from every pore of his being. And, women can sense it. They can sense it over the tv.
He is bringing back bad memories for huge swaths of women in this country.
hovercraft
@Corner Stone:
And they were all feeling so proud of themselves, Kellyanne’s counsel had kept the entire party on the straight and narrow, there were no forcible rape, shut that whole thing down moments, they passed draconian abortion laws in the states but no one was paying much attention, they only had to get through a few more weeks, and the Trump himself blew it up. This is so much worse than shut that whole thing down, this is an IED that has gone off in the middle of the party, and it’s loaded up with ball bearings and nails, how fr will the shrapnel travel, how many will it kill, or will there only be injuries, and if only injuries, how extensive?
Kellyanne told the GOP to never talk about rape, to regard it as a four letter word. I guess she should have added and never confess let alone brag about sexually assaulting women, especially while wearing a microphone. Whocouldaknown.
Corner Stone
@sdhays:
Joy Reid did a segment about a woman named Jill Harth who filed a sexual assault (or maybe harassment) claim against Trump in the 90’s. When interviewed by The Guardian she said he pushed her into the children’s room (Ivanka’s), pushed her against the wall, started groping her and was “making his move” until she forced him to stop.
Think about that. He pushed a woman into his daughter’s room and tried to force himself on her.
Iowa Old Lady
@chopper: And now stories are coming out about him groping various women. HRC’s debate prep team must be testing out various responses, while Trump’s team is drinking heavily.
enplaned
I think it is also that, while the GOP has more-or-less resigned itself to doing without non-white, non-straight people, it knows it cannot do without women, and this is the kind of statement that they know is poison among almost all women, of whatever ethnicity. So the GOP powers-that-be are more likely to react strongly against vile anti-women statements than the are for vile statements that are anti-gay, or anti-minority, or whatnot.
Put it this way — the unacceptable line (as far as the GOP is concerned) is a lot further away for homophobic or racist statements than it is for sexist statements.
scav
@Corner Stone:
To the Photoshops! Between those two magnificently shouldered men is captured a blond soap star!
What is it with shoulders that gets them like that? Every election.
ETA PS. Kid’s room, table conversations, this episode of Leave it to Beaver is EPIC.
schrodinger's cat
@rikyrah: Yes, I agree, we have all known a Trump in our own lives.
A Calculus prof. who used to leer at his female students, call women in the class “honey”
You knew, never to go to his office hours, alone.
The Dangerman
@Judge Crater:
Almost certainly ride it out…
….but what is interesting to ponder is what person would step up to replace Pence if he did step down? It would have to be a whackjob (Bachmann/Palin?) or something way out there (Ivanka?). It’s so farfetched that Pence will have to ride it out … but I could see him cutting back on his campaign appearances.
Amir Khalid
@Corner Stone:
Another Republican lie! i have seen photos of Mike Pence and Donald Trump together. Pence would need to stand on a box to be shoulder-to-shoulder with Trump.
Corner Stone
What I am loving is how loudly and repeatedly these R politicians are screaming that, while they can no longer support Trump, “THERE’S NO WAY NO WAY I’LL EVER BE FOR CLINTON!!!”
Their CDS and the depth of the CDS they have sewn into their base is so bad they are now scared to death. If they are not constantly screaming against HRC that they may be physically torn limb from limb by their own mob. Chaffetz was borderline hysterical in his voluble refutation of any hint of HRC last night. I could sense the flop sweat even over the phone.
hovercraft
@Iowa Old Lady:
She will tread very lightly and leave most of the heavy lifting on this with the moderators, who absolutely have to go there with him, when Trump lashes out with Bill Clinton bullshit, then she can hit him and hit him hard. There is basically zero chance Anderson and Radditz will give him a pass on this, it’s a sex scandal, and villagers love being able to plumb the salacious legitimately.
Tokyokie
@scav: Pence’s tenure as the future of the Republican Party lasted less than a week. His only hope for future electoral relevancy is to condemn Trump and withdraw from the ticket, but he’s too dim to realize that.
Kay
I sort of disagree, just because the tipping point is often irrational. This happens all the time. People are like “I put up with him burning down my house, but when he borrowed the car and returned it empty I said “no more!”
It’s cumulative. Often they’re looking for the next thing.
When I started at the postal service I had a reputation for being on time for work. No one was supervising me- I’m generally on time for everything. As they years went on I fudged and often I was showing up right ahead of the rest of the crew. They didn’t even see it- they thought of me as the person who was on time :)
People start looking for the next thing that reinforces the general impression they’re getting.
JPL
I sickened that it took a word that should never be used, to highlight how repulsive this man is. As long as he made racist statements, they were fine with him. As long as he attacked the non-white, they were fine with him. This is your republican party.
Lizzy L
@indycat32: I posted this on my FB page:
Hildebrand
@Iowa Old Lady: So, how should Hillary play this out at the debate? There are so many different ways to go – what do people think is the best course?
Corner Stone
Donald Trump just tweeted:
Certainly has been an interesting 24 hours!
Keith P.
I’m in the minority here, but I was raised that the C-word is OK to say. My mother used it all the time when referring to other women (particular bad drivers). She could be a pretty crass women, and she was OK with my brother and I cussing because people cuss in the real world. Something like the C-word was an upper-level insult, but definitely not verboten in her household. Now, the N-word was a BIG no-no (my grandmother was raised by old North Carolina money and had a fondness for her servants growing up). Other than that, I don’t think anything else was off-limits…even “faggot” was OK, and she was super-close to my gay uncle (but the, I’ve heard his partner call themselves faggots and queens all the time).
My other uncle was of the opinion that you say what you mean. He had a big beef once with someone saying “Horsefeathers!” because he thought they were too chickenshit to say “Bullshit” and were copping out.
JPL
@Corner Stone: Surely that was his phone. I can’t imagine that his campaign would tweet that.
Ceci n'est pas mon nym
@The Thin Black Duke:
And which country the majority of my fellow white males want to live in. Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure those will not be the same thing, and despite being a pretty Pollyannish sort, I don’t expect that to change in my lifetime.
I’ve been thinking, semi seriously, about the culture of asshole worship in this country (in Western civilization in general?). My wife and I have seen over and over at first hand how somebody can be completely incompetent, but if they project enough assholishness, they will be perceived as geniuses and receive promotions. IF THEY ARE WHITE MALES. It doesn’t carry over to females or non-white males.
I guess I can talk myself into the tiniest sliver of hope for humanity’s soul (my Pollyanna voice talking me down) by saying that maybe some of Trumps numbers come from asshole-worshipers rather than all of them being outright bigots. That A-worship has more of a hold on our culture than bigotry. There’s precious little evidence of that, but I can pretend to believe it.
p.a.
I don’t have the chops, but I would love to see someone explain away this T-bomb online in Schlafly’s voice. Dead Philly tweets out a defense of Trump…
Corner Stone
What is with this latest incarnation of BoB?
Kay
@Corner Stone:
I listened to his panicked apology and he does have an interesting theory there. He’s telling us he has turned into a completely different person at 70 years old as a result of a Presidential campaign.
That’s opposite the conventional wisdom, I’ll give him that. The idea is the campaign reveals the person.
Very innovative. A bold stroke. We’ll see if this bullshit flies.
Kay
@Corner Stone:
I’m kind of glad he’s back. Now we just need the person who called everyone “Leftists”
Ceci n'est pas mon nym
@Thing Three: Is this random OT Holocaust denial? Some sort of Tourette’s? Did you have a different window open that you meant to post this nonsense to?
Corner Stone
Joy Reid just said “asshole” live on her air!!
What a time to be alive!!
hovercraft
Robert DeNiro is not a Trump fan.
This get out and vote video is sure to piss Trump off.
Iowa Old Lady
@Hildebrand: I’m happy Clinton’s team is so good at prepping her (except for whoever thought of Trumped-up trickle-down) because I’d be terrible.
scav
@Kay: Well, it’s the first time ever he’s met so many people, so many little people: he’s stunned. They’re quite possibly people (at least some of them).
But, still, he’s the star, he’ll just walk up to them and grab them by the ballot. They’ll let you do anything.
Ceci n'est pas mon nym
Huh. That’s weird. I just responded to the post that appears to be random off-topic Holocaust Denial by Thing Three at #72, and my post vanished. Not moderated, just vanished.
The Fat Kate Middleton
@scav: THIS is exactly what I’ve been trying to articulate. Exactly. Thank you!
Ceci n'est pas mon nym
OK, I just had two posts disappeared. Did my nym just suddenly get banned?
hovercraft
@Corner Stone:
It’s always here with barely veiled antisemitism. Mostly it gets ignored. Unlike the other trolls there is absolutely no entertainment value.
Ceci n'est pas mon nym
@Ceci n’est pas mon nym: Nope, it was something specific about responding to #72. Though that post survives, apparently responding to it causes automatic deletion. Not moderation, just silent desaparecido.
Corner Stone
O M G
This pic on twitter is amazeballs!
Trump kissing Ivanka
The Fat Kate Middleton
@hovercraft: Yes. I had to stop. It was literally nauseating me by the tenth reminiscence. And then I started recalling instances from my own life – some I had managed to repress for years. It was just too painful.
Corner Stone
Don’t go there Brabender. Aww….he went there.
Neabinorb
@Corner Stone: I think shoulders are the only body parts manly men like these can allow to touch.
Judge Crater
@The Dangerman: But if Pence sticks with Trump, his future political career is almost assuredly over. Not to mention the damage to his reputation. I don’t think he can just “wait it out.”
Corner Stone
Kurt Eichenwald going old school levels of off on this R buffoon!!
Kay
@Corner Stone:
It’s bad how much I’m enjoying this. So rarely do assholes get their due in a timely manner.
Betty Cracker
@Ceci n’est pas mon nym: I ban-hammered the creepy anti-Semite who was babbling about ovens. If your posts were collateral damage, I apologize.
Amir Khalid
@Ceci n’est pas mon nym:
Maybe FYWP has just learned to read French.
hovercraft
@Corner Stone:
Gross
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Me too. It’s like an all-you-can-eat schadenfreude buffet.
hovercraft
@Betty Cracker:
Thank you.
Ceci n'est pas mon nym
@Betty Cracker: ‘Sokay. I spent most of last Saturday finally seeing the Holocaust Museum as my wife was otherwise occupied in DC. It’s got me a little raw about this particular subject.
I just thought if it was banning, that the software behavior was a little odd, seeming to retain the original comment but banning responses to it. Guess I caught it in some weird intermediate state.
Corner Stone
@Kay: I woke up this morning and I was angry I had to wait two hours until Joy Reid’s show.
I mean, I couldn’t even enjoy a Saturday sleep-in because I enjoyed last night so much I had to have another hit. I’m a little worried about myself that now I actually can’t wait for SNL tonight. And the debate tomorrow night? I may not even be able to watch football all day this shit is so good!
MattF
@Kay: Significant, not because Hewitt himself matters but because he is the pure partisan hack. It’s pure Republican angst.
Corner Stone
@MattF: AM Joy is going to talk with HH on this in the next segment.
And you’re right. He has no significance except in that he is the purest hack we may have to see what’s happening inside the quivering Quisling party.
schrodinger's cat
As I mentioned yesterday, its kinda ironic that its happening during Navaratri (9 nights) celebrations in western India (Gujarat and Maharashtra) and eastern India (Bengal). Navaratri is the celebration of women for women. The Godess that celebrated is not the docile Lakshmi (Vishnu’s consort) who sits dutifully by her husband’s feet but war like Parvati (Amba, Durga, Shakti, Ekveera etc.etc) vengeful and angry and not ready to take any shit any more.
I so miss Navaratri, but this is a good consolation, when women have come to the rescue, again.
Navaratri celebration in Ramleela.
Frankensteinbeck
Sigh. Okay, Thing Three is Holocaust denying. Somebody break out the banhammer. I was going to say it sounds like BoB with the incoherent non-sequesters, but I guess now it doesn’t matter.
@Corner Stone:
Ways it’s different:
Most men can’t imagine a transvaginal probe. It’s just a medical procedure to them. Pundits certainly don’t care.
Trump was crass, which is more important to many people than offensive.
There is a strong racist element to abortion politics. As Palin once let slip, they think it’s lazy black women getting abortions because it’s easier than abstinence.
He described a physical action anyone can perform. As a writer, you learn there is great power in that. People feel it emotionally.
Many people hearing it imagine Trump doing the grabbing, and their emotions say ‘Ew, gross.’
All of this is magnified because the older white men of the press think in these ways, so the discussion is loud and everyone can react.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
Frankensteinbeck
My post was eaten because I was pointing out the Holocaust denier for banning – and I’m fine with that.
It doesn’t matter now, but I think it was BoB. That same barely coherent non-sequeterism.
Brachiator
The opening comment for this thread is magnificent. Here’s the problem.
Sadly, some people, almost all of them men, will look at what Trump said as little more than braggadocio. And maybe a fantasy that they would indulge in themselves if they were rich and powerful.
Was Billy Bush trying to get Trump to say something outrageous, or had he heard numerous male celebrities, from rock stars to actors, say something similar?
And some voters appear to have crossed a line on callousness. I’ve listened to some callers to talk radio proclaim that they don’t care about what Trump said 15 years ago. They only care about what they want Trump to do for them tomorrow.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Corner Stone:
She is the gold standard of panel discussions. Smart, prepared, focused, calm, no bullshit, on point. So glad she has her own show, and hopefully shows all of these other mediocre white men what doing that job should look like.
Corner Stone
@Corner Stone: Hewitt is fucking disgusting.
Chyron HR
@Corner Stone:
Hey, with so much focus on Trump being a rapist, I think it’s good to take a step back and remember that he’s also a neo-nazi.
Soylent Green
Pence’s smartest move is to quit the race. If he does, who can they persuade to take his place?
hueyplong
Hang on through Nov. 8, Trump. Hewitt and the GOP haven’t suffered nearly enough yet.
I want America to pass judgment on Trump (and maybe on itself) on Nov 8.
hueyplong
@Soylent Green: “Pence’s smartest move is to quit the race. If he does, who can they persuade to take his place?”
David Duke.
Why? Because Phyllis Schafly is dead.
Corner Stone
@Soylent Green: Pence has no smartest move. He was never going to be the GOP candidate in 2020. And now, gloriously, Trump has also taken Ted Cruz’s political future out behind the woodshed and shot it fucking dead.
Love!
Mike R
@hueyplong: The GOP can’t suffer enough.
Soylent Green
@Corner Stone: The Christianists will always get behind anyone they think will deliver their theocracy. Cruz, Pence, or equivalent. So one or more of these guys will be in the 2020 mix. By then Trump will have been written off and forgotten.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
Why is my twitter feed showing the time stamp on all tweets 2 hours behind? Is there a setting on my end?
Corner Stone
@Soylent Green: Not so sure. Pence will not have been in office for some time. Cruz may not even make it through a primary in 2018.
I do agree the GOP is going to do their very best, “Who? Who is that?” routine after Nov 2016. And the media will let them get away with it. I wonder if social media, and particularly black and brown social media presences, can continue to grow in strength and not allow the GOP to get away with it.
Exit 135
Oh really. Since this orange shitstain got the nomination, 3 different people have said anti-semetic stuff right to my face. (I am Jewish on both sides since records were kept – but people assume I am Italian). “Jew me down.” Stuff like that. trump normalized hate. It is not going back in the box.
Exit 135
Oh, and fuck Pence. And Ryan. And all the rest of them. I could care a rats ass if they withdraw their nominations or not.
cynthia ackerman
@Brachiator:
They only care about what they want Trump to do for them tomorrow.
Because of what BJ Klinton did twenty-plus years ago.
Makes perfect sense.
Soylent Green
@Exit 135: I lived in Oklahoma City for a few years. I was meeting with my credit union loan officer for a new car loan when she said, helpfully, “Let me tell you how to Jew down the dealer.” Not many of us in that town, and I pass for White.
MomSense
@rikyrah:
He is not safe.
Frankensteinbeck
@Corner Stone:
The media will lead the charge. They’ve been pretzeling themselves all year from the terror they might have to admit the GOP and conservatism itself is racist.
EBT
Of course as awful as c#nt is here. It’s shoved in the 2nd least offensive collum in the UK.
Suzanne
@Corner Stone:
This is what just staggers me. They are such shitty, spineless, brainless party shills that they can’t even come near even the vaguest suggestion that a centrist Democrat just might possibly could be not as bad for the country as someone who was caught on tape admitting to sexual assault. Like, FFS. Just fucking sack up and admit it.
agorabum
I initially thought “it’s just another example of Trump being a piece of garbage; different day, same dumpster fire” but either it is an unforgivable curse or there’s been the steady drip, the water done rise, and the levee broke.
Either way, a national campaign sure is different than the primary, huh?
dnfree
@indycat32: That was my first thought also. “Revering” is just another form of objectifying. How about you just treat me like a fellow human being?
Suzanne
Something I am just IN LOVE WITH: Ted Cruz still hasn’t rescinded his endorsement of Trump.
What a complete sack of shit. Craven, ratfaced shit-swizzling LOO-HOO-HOO-ZER.
dnfree
@Judge Crater: Some on the Christian right have been saying for a while that God will smite Trump somehow or another and Pence will emerge to run the country. It’s God’s will that Pence is where he is.
john fremont
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: This!!!!!
Corner Stone
@Suzanne:
And just like the unbelievably no good, very bad, awful decision and timing to endorse Trump in the first place, the longer he waits to un-endorse the worse it will look for his craven-ness. Cravanity? Cravosity?
Uncle Cosmo
@EBT: In the British lexicon “fanny” is considered nasty slang for a woman’s private parts. I was going through security check at Heathrow about a dozen years back & had emptied my pockets & placed my jacket into a tray for X-raying when the older male screener pointed to my waist. I looked down & said “Oh, of course, I need to take off my fanny pack.”
The man flinched visibly.
“That’s right, in the UK you call this a ‘bum bag,’ don’t you?” He sort of smiled & nodded. As I removed the item & dropped it into the tray, I leaned over the belt & in a stage whisper said, “Well in the States we call it a FANNY PACK!” Just to see him flinch again. He did not disappoint! :^D
patrick II
President Trump would be so good for international relations. I can’t imagine Prince William and Princess Kate coming to visit President Trump at the Whitehouse, such a pretty married lady would be too tempting.
Corner Stone
@patrick II:
Princess Kate: What’s that odd rattle I hear?
Prince William: *blanching* Good God, Kate! You’ve got to get out of the house! Hold your lady bits tightly but run as fast as you ever can!
Exit 135
@Soylent Green: Being Jewish is also a cultural transaction with yourself and the world. Josh @ TPM has been talking about millennials who never experienced antisemitism until the advent of trump. I did in HS in the 1970’s, but it stopped when I entered college and the office environment workforce. It’s back. It is hard to just walk away and not fight back. trump is solely responsible for antisemitic normalization.
I’ll tell you this, we were taught to NEVER let anyone drag you out of your house in the middle of the night because of who you are.
Aleta
@Suzanne: On the one hand, he has the proverbial wife, daughters, mother. On the other, remembering the way he displayed his wife, daughters, mother as items to perfect his image, it’s so in character that he’s waiting for the consultants to make the call.
evodevo
@hovercraft: Yes. Tweety interrupted Joy Reid’s perfectly logical question to nutjob Xtian Michelle, because he didn’t want to go there – he’s Catholic to the bone, and doesn’t welcome introspection LOL. I thought Joy’s question was justified, since Michelle is the one always going on about how God told her this and that, and Trump is God’s choice, (not to mention all the other primary candidates God picked to win LOL) etc. etc. Too bad Tweety didn’t let it go further…Michelle is NEVER challenged on any of this in public discourse.
LongHairedWeirdo
I can’t help but wonder if he’d made these comments about, say, a housekeeper, or other low power woman, or especially about a sexy black/hispanic/etc. woman, if these would be the big deal they are to Republicans. But he was talking about a white married woman of some importance.
And it’s not that I’m 100% convinced that race plays a role, it might just be that he said the quiet part *far* too loud. But I do have more understanding of people who’d feel comfortable that race *did* play a role – or those who refuse to believe it didn’t.
SiubhanDuinne, liberal mob enforcer bitch
@Lizzy L:
Nine hours after you posted this (just saw it, for reasons which I’ll mention many threads later from now), but I feel strongly moved to point out that Paul Ryan is not a Senator, and gods willing will never be one.