In the latest Quinnipiac poll (Hillary +5), Donald Trump trails among female voters by 20 points. In Fox News' new survey (Hillary +2), his deficit among women is ten points. That gap may soon grow, as the Washington Post has obtained audio of Donald Trump bragging about his sexual exploits on a hot mic in 2005. With a content warning firmly in place, here's the clip, followed by a partial transcript:
In that audio, Trump discusses a failed attempt to seduce a woman, whose full name is not given in the video. “I moved on her and I failed. I’ll admit it,” Trump is heard saying. It was unclear when the events he was describing took place. The tape was recorded several months after he married his third wife, Melania. “Whoa,” another voice said. "I did try and f--- her. She was married,” Trump says... “I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn’t get there. And she was married,” Trump says. “Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony tits and everything. She’s totally changed her look...“I’ve gotta use some tic tacs, just in case I start kissing her,” Trump says.“You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful -- I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do it,” Trump says. “You can do anything...Grab them by the p---y,” Trump says. “You can do anything.”
Well then. Some thoughts:
(1) If you think this is fine and won't matter with any undecided voters, you're living in such a thick bubble that you may need to order some oxygen tanks. Trump needs to make up ground among college graduates and white women to have a prayer in November. This hurts.
(2) The Trump campaign has responded with a statement dismissing this as "locker room talk," asserting that Bill Clinton said worse on the links with Trump, and issuing a "sorry if you were offended" quasi-apology. While it's true that very few men cannot relate to a little crass bragging and joking over drinks with friends, there are two differences here -- aside from the fact that Trump was recently married when he said this stuff, and the fact that he was mic'd up for a TV event. It's the exploitive sexual entitlement, stupid:
Issues: Openly bragging about infidelity & believing that you can do whatever you want to objects of sexual desire if you're famous. https://t.co/ULRP895iXD
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) October 7, 2016
(3) That Trump holds piggish attitudes towards women is no surprise. It's who he is. As for his allusion to former President Clinton in his damage control maneuver, it's obviously a deflection. It doesn't excuse his conduct one bit. But for the Lefties dropping onto fainting couches, this is also true:
It *is* fair to note that Trump's horrific attitude about fame/power & sexual entitlement is how Bill Clinton has lived his adult life.
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) October 7, 2016
And as I've noted on several occasions, the Clintons' treatment of Bill's accusers is fair game in this election. That Trump fans feel compelled to go down that road constantly in response to the latest mess Trump has belched his way into speaks very poorly of their nomination selection.
(4) This story is understandably going to get a lot of play, but please allow me to point out what else happened today: Hundreds of additional Hillary Clinton emails were released to the public, by court order. These are among the trove of work-related trove she lied about withholding. The Russian government petitioned the UN to lay off its Trump criticism, while the US intelligence community affirmed that the Russian government is responsible for the many hacks that appear designed to influence our election. And Wikileaks -- which many believe is a Russian front -- dumped hacked Clinton campaign emails. Some of them dealt with the Wall Street speech transcripts she's been hiding from voters. Gosh, I wonder why:
This would have hurt in the primary, will hurt now, too. pic.twitter.com/lycs5ol5zf
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) October 7, 2016
Open borders and open trade. Anathema to the prevailing political environment. The trade stuff would have hurt her badly in the primary, and the immigration line could harm her chances in the general.
(5) Yeah. We do:
Guys ...remember when we freaked out about "binders full of women" ...
— Jackie Kucinich (@JFKucinich) October 7, 2016
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