On Friday, the tape came out. On Saturday and Sunday, Trump allies and others warned that there was more to come. And so here we are. The Republican presidential nominee's campaign is in chaos, fending off allegations from four separate women -- all going public on the same day, "coincidentally" -- that he fondled, kissed, or groped them without their consent. The alleged incidents date as far back as the 1980's, through as recently as 2013. None of these women went to the authorities at the time, but all have friends or family who confirm that they reported the episodes contemporaneously. Matt told you about the New York Times report last night. As those accusations entered the media bloodstream, more pieces dropped. A Yahoo! News story links to a Facebook post from a 2013 Miss Universe contestant who describes Trump's degrading treatment of the women in the pageant, later commenting that Trump "continually grabbed my ass" during the process. She is daring Trump to sue her, saying that she has "worse stories" she could share. Separately, here's a Florida allegation via the Palm Beach Post:
For more than 10 years, it was something Mindy McGillivray said she shared only with a close circle of family and friends. That changed Sunday night. Donald Trump was asked during the presidential debate about when he bragged that he kissed women without their consent and grabbed their genitals – remarks captured on audio that surfaced last week. Trump apologized for the remarks and dismissed them as “locker room talk.” But the debate moderator, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, asked Trump to clarify: “Have you ever done those things?” “No, I have not," Trump replied. Watching at home in Palm Springs, McGillivray said she rose from her couch and yelled at the TV screen: ‘You liar!’ McGillivray, 36, said she was groped by Trump at Mar-a-Lago 13 years ago. She said she never reported it to authorities. But her companion that day, photographer Ken Davidoff, vividly remembers when McGillivray pulled him aside moments after the alleged incident and told him, "Donald just grabbed my ass!"
These women's stories come in addition to the two women quoted in Wednesday's New York Times report, one of whom reported unwelcome kissing; the other, an up-the-skirt groping on an airplane by Mr. Trump. This brings the total of women accusing Trump of unwanted physical touching to six, by my unofficial count, including another pageant participant ("he kissed me directly on the lips") and a writer for People magazine ("he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat"). Besieged by allegations they call untrue, Trump's team is reportedly mulling lawsuits against various media outlets. But there are a few problems here. First, some of these women have told the same consistent story in private for years, which lends credibility to their claims. Second, and most damning, they are telling the world that Donald Trump did to them...precisely the sort of thing he is on tape saying he does to women:
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Biggest problem for Trump amid new allegations: He said on tape this is what he does to women.
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) October 12, 2016
"Just kiss," he told Billy Bush in 2005, explaining his attitudes on making sexual advances. "When you're a star...you can do anything. Grab them by the p***sy." Lawsuits will draw even more attention to the story, and Trump is very likely to lose in court, if he even pulls the trigger because the standard for proving libel of a public figure is quite high. And in the court of public opinion, Trump's own words add to the plausibility -- if not probability -- of his accusers' stories. Ever since he flatly denied that he'd ever followed through on the actions mentioned in his so-called "locker room talk" during a nationally-televised presidential debate on Sunday, women began coming out of the woodwork. These details come in addition to yet more tales of Trump's conduct, including barging in on naked beauty pageant contestants -- some as young as 15 -- in their changing rooms, which he later boastingly confirmed in interviews with Howard Stern. And there's this old chestnut dug up by CBS News, in which a 46-year-old Trump charmingly tells a group of ten-year-old girls that he'll be dating one of them in a decade:
That's little more than a creepy joke, but it's not the first time Trump has talked about young girls in the context of their future sexuality -- including this mind-bogglingly appalling comment about his own daughter, who was an infant at the time. (Seriously, what the hell is wrong with this man?) By the way, the clip above comes courtesy of the same CBS News that lavished enormous amounts of overwhelmingly positive coverage upon Donald Trump throughout the Republican primaries. But now, just like we've seen at NBC, it's destruction time. The media chose the GOP nominee, then turned on him with a vengeance. As predicted. And so Trump -- losing badly, and toxic to most women, non-whites, and young voters -- is entering a bunker mentality with his inner circle:
INSIDE TRUMP WORLD: Facing a storm, they're digging in. 'Us against the world' mood in inner circle... lashing out against media, GOP, Dems
— Robert Costa (@costareports) October 13, 2016
Their reported battle plan? Lawsuits doomed to failure, and tailspinning to defeat while trying to adjudicate a grope-off with Bill Clinton (whom Trump defended and whose accusers Trump attacked):
SCOOP: Trump campaign going nuclear. Will soon roll out new accusers. "We're going to turn him into Bill Cosby," vows Bannon. @bw story soon
— Joshua Green (@JoshuaGreen) October 12, 2016
Third look at SMOD, anyone? I'll leave you with this. Please do tell us how deeply disturbed you are by all of this, Hillary:
Hillary is horrified -- horrified! -- by all of these serious allegations against her husb...I mean opponent. https://t.co/3wbgc0hQsX
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) October 13, 2016
UPDATE - As this news broke last night, we discussed it on-the-fly on Brit Hume's panel. Via Right Sightings:
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