Thought experiment: A hypothetical demagogue — let’s call him “Candidate T” — has trailed in polling averages for pretty much the entire election season. He develops a catastrophic PR problem just a month out from election day when a video surfaces that shows Candidate T skull-fucking a kitten.
Candidate T assembles his brain trust in his comically clichéd super-villain lair, and they decide they must change the subject from the kitten skull-fucking at all costs. So they send Candidate T out at a high-stakes event watched by tens of millions of voters, and he skull-fucks a puppy on stage.
After the event concludes, all anyone talks about is the puppy skull-fucking, so mission accomplished, right? Nope — not if the goal is to get people to stop talking about the kitten AND win the election. The first part of that objective has been temporarily met, but now Candidate T has disgusted even more voters.
I suspect PussyGate isn’t over, not by a long shot. Soon, women in addition to Miss Utah will speak up about being forced to endure Trump’s unwanted, Tic Tac-scented advances. Other contestants besides Miss New Hampshire will describe what it was like to be ogled by Trump in the dressing room at pageants.
What we saw last night was desperate flailing by a candidate who is going to lose bigly. That he attempted to turn a presidential debate into a Jerry Springer spectacle is a measure of his desperation. He lied and lurked and smirked and stalked, and he threw the contents of Ken Starr’s 1990s recycling bin at his opponent, who remained cool. It didn’t work 20 years ago. It won’t work now.
I also suspect I’m not the only woman who is angry and disgusted this morning. I’m pissed off that a malignant, gross predator like Trump has jack-hammered through the gutter to drag our already dysfunctional politics into the fucking sewer. I find it revolting that an accomplished woman like Hillary Clinton is required to be in the same ZIP code with a tawdry creep like Donald Trump, let alone in his physical proximity.
But one thing I’m NOT this morning is worried. We can’t let up. We should use this opportunity to demoralize and heap derision on all the gutless elected Republican cowards who won’t stand up to Trump, and we should lift up their opponents in any way we can. We should continue to donate, phone-bank, canvass, etc.
But she’s got this. And I so look forward to watching that grotesque buffoon Trump get an indelible “LOSER” stamp on his forehead, family name and brand. It will be exquisite to watch the sanctimonious hypocrites, bigots and bagmen in the Republican Party brawl over who is responsible.
Eyes on the prize, pedal to the metal, and a correction: WE’VE got this.
ETA:
Ha!
MattF
Josh Marshall:
Ceci n'est pas mon nym
We can’t get complacent. They will fight like cornered rats to the end and beyond.
We must also remember that the presidential race is not the only high stakes race on the ballot. We MUST take the Senate.
BTW Nov 8 is my birthday. Hoping for a nice present this year.
amk
don’t talk like that about the bestest job creator.
Gin & Tonic
My largely apolitical wife gets more active as she gets angry, and one of the things she does as a de-stresser is to clean. I can confess that last night by 11:00 pm EDT our bedroom was fit for a visit from the Queen of England.
I just try to stay out of the way.
BR
Exactly — you know what to do: sign up to volunteer, knock on doors, register voters, make calls. Less than a month to go. Let’s bank those votes.
lamh36
Speaking of assholes
This is the guys some folk think should be the next Prez. Think about that…
Report: Trump Camp Wanted Bill Clinton Accusers To Sit In Family Box At Debateia @TPM
mali muso
@Ceci n’est pas mon nym: Hoping you have a truly joyeux anniversaire!
As I mentioned in the debate thread last night, yesterday I got out and canvassed for the first time this election cycle (and I’m 6 weeks away from giving birth to my first baby.) No excuses. I won’t be able to live with knowing that there was more I could have done at such an existential crisis moment for my country and my as-yet-unborn daughter. DH is black, nominally Muslim and a naturalized citizen (immigrant!), so this is very personal to me on a variety of levels.
We’ve got to put this one over the top. GOTV!
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
Who here remembers Mark Foley? He was the guy from Florida who was harassing House pages while he was in office, and the House leaders knew about it and did nothing to stop him. This all came out about a month before the 2006 election, and it was one of the things, I think, that shoved 2006 from being a pretty good year for Democrats over the line to being a rout. I said to my wife this weekend that I think maybe this pussy-grabbing shit might do the same in 2016. Most Republicans running this year have stapled themselves to Trump. I can kind of understand why they did it. They’re kind of fucked, whether they staple themselves to him or turn their backs on him, and they seem to have calculated that they’d be marginally better off with him than trying to run against him. But now this shit spews forth, and they see that they’ve chosen wrongly, and it’s too late to pry themselves off him. So they’re fucked. I think we’re going to see a lot more people we thought would be safe suddenly finding themselves in a lot of trouble.
bemused
You said it, LOSER. Most women, if not all, have experienced crass, sexist behavior from men ranging from annoying to vile. I know I immediately identify these creepy morons as losers. Losers, plain and simple.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
I’m in moderation. Help!
Poopyman
Just a quick note as I head out the door:
THAT part, at least, has already been accomplished. All Trumps and their brands are toast. The only question is how many disgusting things can be tied to the Trump name at this point. Racism & misogyny are already in the can, although more is coming, no doubt.
And added to the list is what?
amk
so how many rats have come back since yesterday night debacle?
AxelFoley
@MattF:
Josh should know by now that Michelle said she won’t run.
Chris
I was genuinely worried in September. Feel a lot better after the last week or two.
amk
nobel committee trolling the thug and his ilk.
lamh36
this is likely the scenario they are hoping for
A path to President Pence: A President-elect Trump could take the oath of office and then resign:
amk
low-tech cyclist
It’s time for Team Clinton to start emphasizing the need to win back Congress. And in particular, the message needs to get through that no matter how nice a person that Republican congresscritter of yours is, s/he almost always votes against everything you’re voting for when you’re voting for Hillary. If you want what Hillary’s selling, you’ve gotta vote D all the way down the ticket.
OzarkHillbilly
@Poopyman:
rank ignorance.
Hal
I mentioned below that Trump’s behavior at the debate was reminiscent of Hillary’s first Senate run when Rick Lazio decided to walk over to her podium to hand her a pledge he insisted Clinton sign. I had to go back to look up the details, but it’s eerily similar to how some media pundits are missing the creep factor in Trump’s performance last night.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/03/hillary-clinton-rick-lazio-2000-senate-sexism
Chris
@lamh36:
Hell no. Can you imagine the power trip he’ll be on if he wins? Proving everyone wrong, the Republican elites, the media, the Democrats, everybody who said he’d never make it and would sink the party?
There are really Republicans who think their best chance is for him to win and then give up the presidency? Once again I think the rest of the party might just be more delusional than Trump.
msdc
One good anecdote from canvassing this weekend: the organizers in the suburban northern Virginia office we’ve been using said that volunteers were pouring in yesterday. And this was before the debate.
schrodinger's cat
@Chris: I agree, he is not going to resign if he wins.
slag
It’s official. Trump needs a Tick cartoon villain name.
I’ll start.
Villain Name: Pantalon d’arancia.
Villain Superpower: Spraying citrus juice on his face convinces him that he’s invincible.
msdc
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.): I was thinking the same thing.
msdc
@slag: By general consensus, isn’t it Hair Furor?
sunny raines
…and be subject to his verbal abuse.
sunny raines
also the ignorant flotsam that support him. trump and all his disgusting supporters need to be put back under their rocks.
slag
@msdc: Good name. Needs a superpower.
hovercraft
@MattF:
Give me the keys America, you’ve had too much to drink.
WereBear
@slag: His Asshole Fu is pretty impressive.
Shell
Now Im sure Trump wears the bes-ests, most expensive suits out there, but they don’t look well on him. Which only added to that creepy lurch he was doing last night. What also didnt help was a Frankenstein movie marathon on TCM at the same time.
Frankensteinbeck
Last night was the best Trump’s got. Accusing Bill of rape was it, his only bullet. It got him squadoo. Nobody even remembers. It only goes downhill from here for him.
msdc
@slag: A real estate developer of limited intelligence and no moral code, afraid of his looming male pattern baldness, strikes a terrible bargain with an alien invader who looks like a thatch of orange straw. In exchange for posing as the developer’s coiffure, the alien inserts his follicular probes into the developer’s brain stem. Finding the organ largely unused, the alien takes over and initiates his plan to conquer the world, freeing up the developer’s hands to sexually assault any women who cross his path. Together they are… HAIR FUROR.
hovercraft
So The Granny Starver is going to focus his energy on saving the House majority. Who is on phone watch right now? Quick lets watch Twitter.
There will be blood.
Ryan
Hey, at least Trump can go back to his business. I’m sure a presidential run will only heighten interest among potential licensees and increase the value of his brand!
Tom Levenson
Fuck yeah, Betty. That is all.
rk
Want to know how I fee? I hate this man so much. I want to stomp on his face repeatedly and then kick him with steel tipped boots. He was allowed to get away with this nonsense for decades. NBC didn’t care when they gave him show for years. It’s been in plain sight. Now they’re shocked when the tape comes out? I’ve had men grope me (touching my breasts and pinching my thigh on a crowded train) and there have never been any consequences for any of them.You can be a hideous sexual predator be a candidate for President and no one really cares if you’re a white male republican. The media will love you, the deplorables will vote for you. Bill Clinton was investigator for years. Ken Star tried to get him on anything and everything and got nothing. So the two things are not the same. Hillary is humiliated for Bill’s behavior, but Trump gets to be the republican nominee? I’m really angry and bitter.
kirbster
For the love of Dog, TV news celebrity correspondents that have been covering the candidates for months have too many conflicts of interest to be “debate” moderators. Moderators need to be from outside the national news-infotainment complex and have the power to cut a candidate’s mic and award penalty time to the opponent if the candidate fails to at least address the topic of the asked question. Any normal political candidate should be able to abide by those rules.
Applejinx
@lamh36: He turned to Russian mobsters when he stopped having access to New York banks. He turned to Jeffery Epstein when he stopped having access to his own daughter Ivanka. And yet they think he’s gonna get access to the Presidency and just… walk… away? D:
aimai
@MattF: So, so true!
laura
@Ceci n’est pas mon nym: tacos! Lots of birthday tacos. From a truck. On every conrner. I wish you delicious, tasty tacos while you savor the election returns. Victory = birthday tacos!
Ken Adler
@AxelFoley: Maybe not for President but Dick Durbin is getting up there in years.
daves09
The pic of him scowlingly looming over HRC is creepier than his sex talk-it really is like something from a bad, bad, movie.
Canvassing on Fri. actually had two people invite me in to see the Billy Bush tape. At home, two people who aren’t very PC were disgusted by it.
NV. is starting to look good, with luck the republican civil war will heat up here and Cortez-Masto will be our next senator.
Matt McIrvin
Okay, but then it turns out that 40% of the population and 70% of TV pundits really have it in for puppies.
aimai
I want to second and third Betty’s remarks. I have felt this angry and sickened before though–I felt this way every time Obama was attacked during his two elections, felt this way every time he had to take the high road and just keep on talkign about policy and being generous and sweet reasoned with people who were literaly baying for his blood. But I agree that this time its, well, even more personal–I identified with Obama as an educated person, with Michelle as a talented, educated woman and as a mother, we are the same age, we have the same educational background–but I really identify with Hillary qua woman. Like every woman I know–and there are some incredible diaries up at Kos about this–my whole life I have known what it is ilike to feel at risk from strange men–physically assaulted by totally random assholes, concerned about my safety in a public place. The way he treated her on stage was just jaw droppingly awful. And the way she handled him was priceless. She was so strong, she was so undaunted, she was so pitch perfect. And yes, it was enraging that this talented, brilliant, woman has to waste five seconds on this gibbering lout. In a just world the moderators would have got up and cold cocked him when he called for her to be jailed. I know I wanted to.
Matt McIrvin
@lamh36: I’d been hearing people trying to concoct scenarios in which Trump wins, but faithless electors keep both him and Hillary below 270 votes, so the election gets thrown to the House and they install Pence as President.
The most interesting angle here is that, in that situation, the House picks the President from the top three candidates, but… the Senate picks the Vice-President from the top TWO candidates. And one of them would be Pence.
So would they elect a Pence-Kaine ticket, or a Pence-Pence ticket? I checked, and I can’t find anything in the Constitution that explicitly says the President and the Vice-President have to be different people. Maybe he could immediately resign as VP and pick a different one.
Of course, the revolt of the Trumpists in that situation would be massive and horrifying. But it’d destroy the Republican Party as we know it, so there’s that.
WereBear
They live in fantasy land, where anything they want to be possible CAN be possible… if they beat up, arrest, and threaten enough liberals, their dreams can come true!
JosieJ (not Josie)
@msdc:
I’d see this movie!
slag
@msdc: Hilarious. Definitely a two-parter at least.
Kenneth Kohl
@Gin & Tonic:
My wife has been angry & disgusted for several months. At both Trump, but more so with his supporters.
Same at our house. Once my wife gets rolling, I stay out of the way for fear I’ll end up on the curb Wednesday morning awaiting the green truck to come by…
Kenneth Kohl
@Hal: Now, if it only works out as well for Trump as it did Lazio.
Paul in KY
@Poopyman: He will certainly rue & curse the day he first seriously thought about running for Pres.
1 more debate to slap his deluded ass around. I’m expecting some good Trump University ™ whupping! That anyone would think that POS could/should be President….Jeeezus!
Original Lee
I would feel better if there weren’t so many women on my FB feed equating Trump’s remarks with Bill’s actions. Some of them were Democrats back then, and they are still pissed off about the bimbo explosions. They don’t want Bill anywhere near the White House, and they hate Hillary for, I guess, wanting power so much that she took Bill back instead of kicking him to the curb. These are all white women, in their fifties, some of them on their second marriage, mostly blue collar, and they’re voting for Johnson.
Mnemosyne
@amk:
“Immigrants — we get the job done!”
Paul in KY
@aimai: She wasn’t scared of him in the least. Bemused & disgusted, but never afraid. When the shells get to flying, she’d be cool as a cucumber & he’d be crying for mommie.
aimai
@Original Lee: If they are on their second marriage they don’t know who to be more dissapointed in–Hillary or themselves. After all, they had a similar choice to make tht first time around and they need to feel justified in their decision to break the first marriage–and even the first family if there are kids–and throw themselves onto a new life without that lifeline. I think they could more easily forgive her if she had publicly excoirated him and taken the same chance they feel they had to take after divorce. They must hate her all the more for having obviously made it work. Probably a lot of class hatred mixed in, as well, because working class women tend not to see upper class jobs/careers as something worthy for women to become attached to as opposed to family.
msdc
@Original Lee: Not to generalize too much from demographics, but it sounds like any vote not cast for the R is a win here.
Howard Beale IV
Hate to throw cold water, but the Leave side was polling high during Brexit just up to the polling date. Then BOOM!
MCA1
@Howard Beale IV: Oh, FFS. Calm down. Boris and Nigel didn’t do anything half as ridiculous as Drumpf. Besides, that was a vote on a thing, an idea, not a person to lead a nation. It also was not conducted with a f’ing Electoral College.
Betty Cracker
@Howard Beale IV: Pretty sure if “Brexit” had been caught on tape saying it could grab women by the pussy because it was a star, it would have lost too…
Patrick Logan
For a less serious take on both candidates, take a look at this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M7MXFHE
Soprano2
I’ve been imagining women all over the country who were in his beauty pageants or on the Apprentice calling each other, saying “Did you hear him say he never did those things? Oh, but he did!! Did you hear him say it was 10 years ago. Honey, it was last year!!”. And then going, en masse, to the press.
planetjanet
@MattF: Oh, how I love this.
Mnemosyne
@Howard Beale IV:
Cool story, bro, but not actually true. The polling was neck-and-neck and the vote itself was very close, well within the margin of error of the polling. Don’t look at the outliers, look at the overall trends.
MoeLarryAndJesus
Wring the last bitter tears out of their parched carcasses and pour them out on the dirt right in front of them as they beg for water. No mercy.
Bill Arnold
@msdc:
This is internets-winning material!
Uncle Cosmo
@Poopyman:
Russian mobsters, right up through Vlad the Bareback, running Trumpolini like a sockpuppet. Wait until that tape sees the light of day.
Elie
@aimai:
Amen, sister! I was so pissed last night that I had trouble sleeping. There will be a reckoning in this country. As awful as this has been I believe we are resilient enough to overcome this test. I pray for Hillary every day and for the many women and men of all colors who are going to save our republic in a month.
Stay strong and optimistic my bros and sisters
bluefish
Thank you so much for the “tic tac scented advances.” I love how these folk talk about all this as though somehow it’s a great, deep mysterious abstraction — to be dissected and analyzed like some significant work of art. America has lost its mind. Women (and men and children) all over this country, in all walks, of life have experienced this kind of thought process in action, up close and personal. It really is just enough already. All one needs to learn about Trump can be seen in the quick Wendy Williams clip available on YouTube. With Ivanka sitting right next to him. She grins and bears it. It’s simply not gonna fly.
Central Planning
@slag: kudos for the Tick reference.
I propose “The Waller” – a villain who tries to build walls so he can keep the good guys out – like building a wall around a jewelry store so he can have plenty of time to steal everything inside, or uses his wall power to help bad guys do that. Turns out th wall is only 11″ high, or he tells people he needs $16 billion to construct it
DissidentFish
@Poopyman: There’s treason. Political and military with the Putin-fluffing, and economic with his company’s sourcing of dumped Chinese steel. So, treason.
O. Felix Culpa
So, Trump has posted on his facebook page a graphic with his picture from the debate and his words “She would be in jail.”
No shame, no understanding of – or respect for – democracy and the law. What language is forceful enough to express how horrible he is?
Barry
“But one thing I’m NOT this morning is worried. We can’t let up. We should use this opportunity to demoralize and heap derision on all the gutless elected Republican cowards who won’t stand up to Trump, and we should lift up their opponents in any way we can. We should continue to donate, phone-bank, canvass, etc.”
The Senate.