kimmy

It's one of those "common sense" type things that Trump supporters and people like Rudy Giuliani are always saying. "The Clinton Foundation got a whole lot of donations, and somehow the Clintons got rich! Just put two and two together! It's common sense!" There's not a shred of evidence that the Clintons have used their foundation to personally enrich themselves, and the Clinton Foundation is highly rated in terms of the percentage of donations being used for actual charitable work. But for the Trump supporter, innuendo is as good as fact. They've already decided that Hillary is a crook, and so it just makes sense that she's dipping into the charity to line her own pockets. Mind you when Trump gets caught red-handed using his fake charity to pay legal expenses or bribe politicians, it's not an issue because "oh, they all do it." -k

I think you forgot "died a virgin" vs "grabs the pussy", but I completely agree with what you're saying. But I'm not the one you need to convince. I should, however, point out that most of the things on your list could have been criticisms of the "religious right" in general long before Trump came along. Enthusiasm for guns and war, support for policies that benefit the wealthy, lack of interest in healthcare, lack of compassion for the poor or the sick or the gays or the non-Christians... the religious right embodied all of these characteristics long before Trump decided to run for President. I also think the religious right has adopted a dumbed-down version of Christianity. All you really need to be "religious right" is to hate abortion and hate gays and self-identify as a Christian. I think those are really the only issues that are required. Support for gun rights is also almost mandatory, even though Jesus had little to say on the subject. Because it's not religious, it's tribal... and if you want to be in that tribe, you'd better support guns. -k

If you're so concerned about corruption, how can you endorse a scam artist like Trump? He's ripped of thousands of people for thousands of dollars apiece with his fake university. He's ripped off thousands of investors for thousands of dollars with his company. He's exploited bankruptcy loopholes to rip off contractors and builders for their work on his projects, paying them pennies on the dollar. He's used his fake charity to buy sports memorabilia and portraits of himself and to pay legal expenses for his for-profit businesses and to write cheques to politicians as bribes. His whole "empire" is built on scam artistry and using the system to rip off suckers. And also, why do you keep trying to minimize criticism of Trump? "Oh, so he said mean things about Rosie O'Donnell one time, big deal." "Oh, so he tried to kiss somebody, who cares?" As if that's all he's accused of. Even if he had the sexual mores of a monk and the etiquette of Queen Elizabeth II, he'd still be a loathesome, contemptible individual. -k

It seems that the rejection of Trump by prominent conservative Christians like Albert Mohler and others has had little impact on the fanatical Trump supporters. I think the thing we've taken to calling "the religious right" is an entity that's not actually particularly religious but more tribal in nature. It's largely white, largely rural, largely southern, as well as being Christian, and the ideas that unite it are more political than religious in nature. It will be very interesting to see what happens next for the Republicans. There seems to be two different parties now. John Kasich said as much yesterday-- if the party doesn't evolve, Kasich is leaving. Others like Romney and the Bushes are clearly also finished with the current direction of the Republican party. But what will they do? After the 2012 election, I signed up for the College Republicans so that I could read their post-election analysis of what went wrong. Their conclusion was that the party's direction was repellent to young voters-- the increasing focus on religiousity, the lack of inclusiveness to non-white voters, the hostility to gay rights, these were factors that lead to the party being badly rejected among voters under 30. With non-white and non-religious being rapidly growing demographics in the US, making the party more welcoming to those groups was seen as an important objective. But instead, the Republican party has basically doubled down on what made the 2012 election a failure. -k

Trump: "Grab them by the pussy." Trump supporters: "He wouldn't really do that! It's just locker room talk." Trump's accusers: "He groped my genitals, just like he said in the tape." Trump supporters: "They're LYING to make our Donald look bad!" Trump to Howard Stern: "I'll go backstage before a show, and everyone's getting dressed and ready and everything else. You know, no men are anywhere. And I'm allowed to go in because I'm the owner of the pageant. And therefore I'm inspecting it... Is everyone OK? You know, they're standing there with no clothes. And you see these incredible-looking women. And so I sort of get away with things like that." Former Miss Teen USA contestants: "He walked into the dressing room when we were changing! We were naked! We didn't even have a chance to put on a robe or anything!" Trump supporters: "They're LYING to make our Donald look bad!" Trump supporters: "Hillary was vicious and cruel to Hillary's accusers! We're offended that she disrespected and intimidated those women!" Trump's accusers: "He groped my genitals, just like he said in the tape." Trump supporters: "Those women are LIARS! They're GOLD DIGGERS! They're WHORES! He should sue them for MILLIONS and make them shut up!!" A few weeks ago Trump supporters were telling us that Bill's infidelities were relevant because of how Hillary treated the accusers... she was mean to them and so-on. Now Trump supporters are so sympathetic to women who claim to be victims of sexual assault that they're terrorizing Trump's accusers in their own homes. -k

Indeed. As with Bill Cosby. It's intimidating for one person to stand up against somebody rich and powerful, but when someone makes a stand and others join in, more people feel empowered. It's possible that some of these allegations aren't true, but considering Trump's long-standing reputation and his own words, I don't understand why Trump supporters are so quick to dismiss them. -k

That headline will be a huge hit with people who already have Hillary and with people who are still mad at Slick Willy. Those people already support Trump. It doesn't get him any new voters. You said earlier that simple statements resonate, and nothing is going to resonate more than "grab them by the pussy." -k

He apologized, but never actually said that he didn't actually act that way. "It's just locker room talk" might suggest to some people that he doesn't really act like that, but he didn't actually say that he doesn't act like that. -k

Good effort, but no. It's clear what Trump is selling here. You don't have to be "a star" to touch a woman's privates once she's already agreed to it. Trump's telling his buddy that he's such a big shot that he can do whatever he wants to women. He assumes "they let him" because they don't slap his face or call the cops on him. Well, according to Erin Burnett's source, he kissed her on the lips while he was offering her some Tic-Tacs. -k

I think you're right about that much. He's very tone-deaf... he's going to come out and say a lot of stuff that he thinks is brilliant and incredibly damaging to Hillary, but in reality is going to make him look even worse to most voters. The stuff he says is going to be very popular with people who still hate Slick Willy, and people who hate Hillary... but he already has those votes in the bag. He needs more votes to win, and going all-out mud-slinging tonight is going to make him look even worse to everybody except the people who are already behind him. -k

uh, actually he said he rolls up on them and just starts kissing: If you just walk up to someone and start kissing and groping them because you assume being "a star" gives you license to do whatever you want, you're a sexual predator. And he hasn't actually denied that he acts this way. And if he does, we all know that there people who are going to come forward and say "oh yes he did". The article you linked earlier-- mentioning that the "Apprentice" producer says that there's way more damaging clips of Trump waiting to be released. As a Trump booster, aren't you more than a little worried about what the next "October surprise" is going to be? -k

Among the US evangelicals, none less than Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist convention, has denounced Trump. From a conservative Christian of Mohler's stature, those are incredibly damning comments. -k

Yesterday I was finding the message editing interface to be laggy and jerky, like there was broken code running in the background or something. I tried closing my browser and starting fresh a few times, but it didn't change. Today it seems completely smooth! Maybe the problem was at my end all along. -k

Kellyanne Conway cancelled her media appearances today. I guess she really did need a day off after all. No such luck... she's actually bunkered in Trump Tower along with Rince Priebus, Trump's son-in-law, and a few others, trying to get him prepared for the debate. Hillary's team are expecting an all-out assault from Trump and getting her prepared on how to respond to it. I expect she'll do fine. She's been dealing with the aftermath of Bill's shenanigans for a very long time, and she's had lots of practice. I expect that she'll talk about Trump's pussy-grabbing comments at first opportunity, then focus on attempting to seem empathetic and caring to the people in the town hall. And I expect that Trump will take the bait, devour the bait, and spend the rest of the evening looking like an angry, defiant, indignant fool. -k

Kelly-Anne Conway, Trump's campaign manager, tries to enjoy a day off. -k

huh Trump can of course go to the American people and say that he never actually non-consensually groped anybody, and that he was just saying that stuff because he wanted to impress Billy Bush. Maybe he still will. I wonder why he hasn't done that already? Maybe because he knows that there's a lot more shoes just waiting to drop. I mean, I recall seeing an interview with Ivanka from earlier this year where she insisted that her dad's not a groper. The rumors were already out there. If he comes out and says "oh, that's not true, I never actually did that, it was all just BS I made up to impress some guy", would it even work, or would it just make him look like an even bigger liar, and a scared one at that? If he did that, how many women are going to come out of the woodwork with stories? Erin Burnett related a story a friend told her yesterday... maybe that was BS, maybe it wasn't. How many more Trump Tic-Tac encounters are we going to hear about if he says he never actually groped women? (you can add Tic-Tac USA to the list of those who have publicly renounced Donald Trump, btw.) Also, I doubt that Trump would actually go to the American people and say "it wasn't true, it's all just BS I made up to sound like I'm a big shot." I don't think he's actually psychologically capable of doing that. I think he's too emotionally invested in this image that people have of him to come out and publicly admit that he's a phony. He desperately wants and needs people to think he's a big shot who can just walk up to women and do whatever he wants. It's why he says stuff like this in the first place. It's why he was bragging about the size of his schlong in the primaries debate, the reason he gets furious when people mock the size of his hands, the reason he gets furious when people question the real size of his business enterprise, the reason he can't talk about himself or his businesses without using all those superlatives. The biggest, the best, tremendous, everybody loves me. He wants people to see him that way, he needs it. He needs people to believe that he's a Greek god type figure that women are just so in awe of that he can just start groping or kissing them and they're powerless to resist. It would kill him inside to go to the American people and tell them that's not actually who he is, that it's just a fake persona he made up. I don't think he can actually do it. Maybe I'm wrong, though. Maybe he can pull off some astounding act of public contrition that makes everybody take sympathy on him. Maybe he will go on TV and shed tears of remorse, say "I never actually did that, I just made it up because deep inside I am just a scared little boy..." and people will feel sad for him. Do you think Trump could bring himself to be "SAD! And Pathetic!" on TV to make people feel sorry for him instead of disgusted at him? This one feels different. This might not make any difference to "the deplorables", but he can't win the general election with just "the deplorables". I've been hearing anecdotes of suburban moms ripping the Trump signs off their lawns and throwing them in the garbage. The number of Republicans who've publicly bailed on him is unprecedented. The extent to which he's been rejected by female Republican senators and congresswomen should be especially worrying to Trump supporters. Reports are that the RNC put a stop work order on their Trump mail-outs. I think the mass exodus from the Trumpwagon over the past 24 hours indicates that they believe he's finished and are fleeing the sinking ship. And I suspect that a great many of them are genuinely disgusted with the man, as well. -k

Why do people seem to think Bill Clinton is running for office? -k

The Jill Harth complaint against Trump may well have been a cash grab. What of it? This is a guy who bragged that he can walk up to women and grab their genitals because he's a star and can do whatever he wants. That's not the words of some accuser, that's his own words. What else need be said of him? Some of you seem to not appreciate the extent to which Donald Trump is now dead. He is finished, toast, wasted, wrecked, ruined, obliterated, devastated, savaged, maimed, mauled, mutilated, disintegrated, erased, eviscerated, eradicated, annihilated, obliterated, doomed, destroyed, and ended. It is OVER. While the 4chan kids are convinced that Trump is "playing 4d chess on a 3d chessboard against people who only know 2d checkers," it's now clear that Trump was playing 4d chess on a wide open field against people playing full-contact football. This campaign was a reenactment of the Red Wedding, with Trump as Robb Stark and Hillary as Roose Bolton. The only danger left for Hillary is the unlikely event that the RNC is able to find away to remove Trump from the ticket. If he stays on the ticket... you don't really think this is the last "October Surprise," do you? -k

I expect they have been forced to do this because Muslim-haters keep editing the page with inflammatory things. Many other pages have had to be locked to edits from time to time as people have edited them to contain false or inflammatory or malicious information. Political figures and sports figures have often been targets of slander in this way. I suspect that pages for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are probably also locked from editing at the moment, for example. I think this topic might be better suited to the "Media and Broadcasting" topic. -k

Today's New York Daily News front cover. This isn't even a photoshop, this is the actual thing. Senator Kelly Ayotte said this morning that she's not voting for Trump and will cast a write-in ballot for Mike Pence instead. Ayotte is in a tight race with Gov. Maggie Hassan to retain her Senate seat, and Hassan has continually used Trump as a weapon with which to attack Ayotte. Ayotte has tried to walk a fine line between not associating herself with Trump while also not offending Trump supporters or being against the Republican Party. It appears that she has now decided that disavowing Trump altogether is the only way to win her own election. Other Republican candidates are also disavowing Trump left and right, making sure that voters know "I'm not with him anymore!" or "I never liked that guy in the first place!" I would expect the Republican party leadership to make the same decision in the remaining weeks of the campaign: pull money from advertising Trump and direct everything they have towards supporting candidates for House and Senate races. The message will be: "If Hillary Clinton is in the White House, Americans will need strong Republican voices in the Senate and the House of Representatives to provide checks and balances! Support your Republican candidate to make sure that Clinton receives responsible scrutiny!" -k

We'll see. I think he's so clueless that he still thinks he's winning, still thinks he's going to do a great job in the debate, thinks that he can turn it around by blasting Hillary for Bill's infidelity, and is going to win the election. He's an egomaniac. You really think he's capable of accepting that he's been whipped... by a woman? -k

Trump responded to the idea of stepping down by saying there's "Zero chance." http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/299988-trump-zero-chance-ill-quit Barring Trump resigning voluntarily (or dying) , the only way to get him off the ticket is a lengthy process involving a large number of Republicans voting on a resolution... with just a few weeks before the election, they simply don't have enough time to replace him. -k

Maybe all the news around Trump is so negative because he's an astoundingly bad candidate. -k