On Putin I think that he has exploited his tactical advantage of working by 19th century norms in a 21st century world very well. The problem comes if other powers start playing by those rules, because then his kleptocracy gets kicked hard.
I spoke this morning with my friend, a former Republican member of Congress, who’s as worried as I am about Trump’s mental state and the growing possibility that he or people around him committed treason by collaborating with Russian operatives to throw the election. Me: Do other current and former Republican members of Congress feel like you do? He: Lots of them. They think Trump’s loony tunes, and he’s in Putin’s pocket. Me: Well why the hell don’t they say something? As long as this looks like a partisan brawl we’re never going to get anywhere. He: No one wants to be the first. They worry Trump will start tweeting on them, or his crazy-ass supporters at home will go after them. Me: Then why not issue a joint statement? A bunch of Republicans could call for a Select Committee to look into all of this, a special prosecutor. There's safety in numbers. He: A few of them are talking about it right now, but McConnell and Ryan don’t want to rock the boat. They want to focus on repealing Obamacare, getting a giant tax cut, wiping out environmental regulations, you know the drill. Me: But don’t they know the Trump issues are just going to get worse? Republicans need to get ahead of this or they’ll get bulldozed by it. He: McConnell and Ryan don’t see it that way. They figure Trump will continue his circus act, stirring up the press, driving everyone crazy. So they can quietly work with Pence and get their agenda through when no one is paying much attention. Me: You mean Trump is a decoy? He (chuckling): Yeah. At least for now.
I spoke this morning with my friend, a former Republican member of Congress, who’s as worried as I am about Trump’s mental state and the growing possibility that he or people around him committed treason by collaborating with Russian operatives to throw the election. Me: Do other current and former Republican members of Congress feel like you do? He: Lots of them. They think Trump’s loony tunes, and he’s in Putin’s pocket. Me: Well why the hell don’t they say something? As long as this looks like a partisan brawl we’re never going to get anywhere. He: No one wants to be the first. They worry Trump will start tweeting on them, or his crazy-ass supporters at home will go after them. Me: Then why not issue a joint statement? A bunch of Republicans could call for a Select Committee to look into all of this, a special prosecutor. There's safety in numbers. He: A few of them are talking about it right now, but McConnell and Ryan don’t want to rock the boat. They want to focus on repealing Obamacare, getting a giant tax cut, wiping out environmental regulations, you know the drill. Me: But don’t they know the Trump issues are just going to get worse? Republicans need to get ahead of this or they’ll get bulldozed by it. He: McConnell and Ryan don’t see it that way. They figure Trump will continue his circus act, stirring up the press, driving everyone crazy. So they can quietly work with Pence and get their agenda through when no one is paying much attention. Me: You mean Trump is a decoy? He (chuckling): Yeah. At least for now.
Which is why the main problem isn't just Trump. It's the Republican Party. It always has been. There is no way to massage the fact that Trump ran and WON for the nomination of one party. Stopping him, stepping up to prevent his lunacy, is on them. Don't hold your breath. They would gladly see the country burn to pass more tax cuts and take health care away from as many people as possible.
People who keep insisting he's going to grow into the job are delusional. This was all so entirely predictable it's barely even worth discussing. For instance, Trump says (constantly) that he is not getting his people confirmed. Here's the truth (because everything is a lie). There are 696 key positions in the government that require Senate confirmation. 14 have been confirmed, 20 are awaiting confirmation. The other 662?? THEY HAVEN'T EVEN BEEN NOMINATED!!!! Mr. Great Successful Businessman hasn't even offered up a person for the position for 95% of the vacated posts. 95%. If you are a conservative who believes in hard work, explain this to me. If you are a conservative who believes in merit and personal responsibility, explain to me how a Administration can be so incompetent that even after two months, they haven't even bothered to look for a person to fill 95% of these government positions. It's nothing but incompetence on top of laziness on top of just plain old bat-shit insanity. And any liberal who has studied the past 35 years of conservative governance could have predicted this to a tee months ago.
It's really absolutely stunning that no one, here, in the media, or really in general, even mentions anymore the fact that the President of the United States almost certainly sexually assaulted at least a dozen women. Or that over 40% of voters were perfectly ok with it.
I can only tell you that I personally don't believe much that comes out of the press these days. The very fact that nobody in the press is talking about those allegations anymore makes me believe that your 'almost certainly' statement is likely suspect. You can believe what you want of course, but I'm sure many people think it was a politically motivated hit. The timing of the stories and the fact that it mostly went away after the election lends credence to the conspiracy theorists.
I always thought god wouldn't brag about grabbing women by the genitals though.
Thinking about it, this is how any religion gets started. Some delusional nut-job attracts a few followers from amongst the credulous. A few smarter, ruthless folk sense an opportunity for personal advancement, and it all snowballs.
So, yeah, Trump - just as much a messiah as anyone else ever was. And he should certainly prove more popular than that Jesus guy, with all his disturbingly socialist ideas about giving your money to the poor, caring for the sick, and loving your enemies.
It's really absolutely stunning that no one, here, in the media, or really in general, even mentions anymore the fact that the President of the United States almost certainly sexually assaulted at least a dozen women. Or that over 40% of voters were perfectly ok with it.
Sure he did. And the other candidate is married to a man who behaved in exactly the same way. So the electorate was given the choice of voting for a man who sexually abuses women, or a woman who condones the sexual abuse of women.
I can only tell you that I personally don't believe much that comes out of the press these days. The very fact that nobody in the press is talking about those allegations anymore makes me believe that your 'almost certainly' statement is likely suspect. You can believe what you want of course, but I'm sure many people think it was a politically motivated hit. The timing of the stories and the fact that it mostly went away after the election lends credence to the conspiracy theorists.
None of the women were paid, and they were all describing......exactly what Donald Trump himself said he did. I'm well aware most people don't believe anything the news says. That's his goal. This isn't surprising. The same thing happened with Bill Cosby. Even though every single woman was describing the exact same thing, it took until there were upwards of THIRTY women accusing him of it before people started to turn on him. That's just how America is. They don't take this shit seriously AT ALL, especially if it's a celebrity. Trump talked about the behavior to Billy Bush. He then lied about actually engaging in that conduct in the second debate. THAT is what forced the women to come forward. That was a bridge too far. And basic knowledge of sexual abuse victims will tell you this is not uncommon. To not want the shame, to ESPECIALLY not want someone as vindictive and horrible as Donald Trump as your enemy. To try solider on and put it away. Trump lying about all the women who came forward caused the other women to come forward.
Again, not a SINGLE one was paid. Trump himself said (no, in fact, he practically promised) he was going to sue the women after the election. Never happened. Want to know why?? Because he would open himself up to cross-examination.
It's really absolutely stunning that no one, here, in the media, or really in general, even mentions anymore the fact that the President of the United States almost certainly sexually assaulted at least a dozen women. Or that over 40% of voters were perfectly ok with it.
Sure he did. And the other candidate is married to a man who behaved in exactly the same way. So the electorate was given the choice of voting for a man who sexually abuses women, or a woman who condones the sexual abuse of women.
Clinton's behavior was alleged, never confirmed by his own words, and, in a very big difference with the Trump accusers, every single one of them was paraded out by right-wing groups, paid, and given massive book deals. Not saying they were lying, but there is infinitely more reason to suspect the Clinton accusers than Trump's, because not one Trump accuser took a dime for their stories. The only thing we know about Clinton is the Monica situation, and that was without question 100% consensual.
Oh come on! Now you are stating to sound one of those mealy mouthed evasive politicians yourself!
Trump and W. Clinton where mates, two of a kind, and like a bunch of other powerful men who move in their circle believe they can treat women any way they like and expect their wives to stand by them. And they do, because money.
Trump didn't win the election, the democrats lost it, by choosing the worst possible candidate to field. Slightly less corrupt, slightly less incompetent, and only an indirect abuser of women is not a selling point! The donkey could have beaten Trump!
Oh come on! Now you are stating to sound one of those mealy mouthed evasive politicians yourself!
I'm saying there are many more reasons to suspect the motives of Paula Jones and Kathleen Wiley than any of the Trump supporters, not that Clinton wasn't a dirtbag. The very fact that one remembers their names after all these years is a testament to the spectacle they made of the whole situation. Contrast that with the Trump accusers, some of whom simply did not want to say anything until Trump's attacks on the others formed a bond of solidarity. I couldn't name one Trump accuser, because it was never about them, and they never made it about them. I also don't blame his wife for his actions. If she was fairly vicious to his accusers, how many spouses do you know that have nice things to say about their husband's extramarital conquests??
It's really absolutely stunning that no one, here, in the media, or really in general, even mentions anymore the fact that the President of the United States almost certainly sexually assaulted at least a dozen women. Or that over 40% of voters were perfectly ok with it.
Sure he did. And the other candidate is married to a man who behaved in exactly the same way. So the electorate was given the choice of voting for a man who sexually abuses women, or a woman who condones the sexual abuse of women.
False. Just because she stayed married to Bill doesnt mean that she condone's sexual assault.
She's in a lose lose situation. Either she gets tarred with these type of second hand accusations or she files for a divorce and gets tarred with the she can't even keep her marriage together and she doesnt respect holy matrimony.
I always thought god wouldn't brag about grabbing women by the genitals though.
@smeagolheart If you read his book, the old testament, you will find he is not a fan of women.
Yeah, like the rape laws that leaned in favor of protecting women, or Jesus' defense of women from excessive penalties, or that Jesus had women as part of His inner circle as part of His ministry. Oh wait.
Clinton's behavior was alleged, never confirmed by his own words, and, in a very big difference with the Trump accusers, every single one of them was paraded out by right-wing groups, paid, and given massive book deals. Not saying they were lying, but there is infinitely more reason to suspect the Clinton accusers than Trump's, because not one Trump accuser took a dime for their stories. The only thing we know about Clinton is the Monica situation, and that was without question 100% consensual.
These distinctions are what Trump and people like Trump rely on. Individual persons are ok but people as a whole are lazy and uninformed. The public has other things on their mind (bills, jobs, family, etc) does not have unlimited time to fact check the stuff he's saying.
The argument Trump relies on is "sure I'm a unlikeable, foul mouthed, racist, antisemitic, misogynist, liar, who's barely literate but my opponent said half of my supporters are deplorable!" And then the public masses be like "omg yeah they're the same!" And then the masses are like "yeah I'm voting for the guy who says things the loudest and uses the simple language that I understand. When he says he will do things the best and tremendous because that sounds good!" and "I don't care if he doesn't say HOW he's going to do those things (or if he does say it makes no sense)"
And Trump's making this same lazy equivalence argument about the press. He makes up his worldview up as he goes. He makes up whatever fact or figure that he wants to that supports his worldview such as "I won the popular vote, crimes the highest ever, mexicans are rapists" etc. No need for research, just say whatever he feels his supporters might believe or feel also at the time. He says obvious lies.
How does he get away with it? When the press says "omg it looks like he removed a bust of MLK jr" and then it turns out "oops never mind there was just a guy standing in front of it" he pounces on that as saying look the press can't be trusted, who are you going to believe? The lazy public sees two parties that are accusing each other of lying. One party is a guy they know the other party is a group of people, inconceivable in numbers and less understood than the one tangible guy. He uses the confusion at seeing two parties accusing each other of lying as license to lie more and more outrageously, he has no shame. And a lot of people believe him.
The media are supposed to be the intermediate between politicians, who often are lawyers and professional liars/truth spinners and the public. Trump absolutely wants to bypass the media so he can lie directly to the american public. The average person doesn't have the time or interest to fact check every one of his false claims. So if he can skip the media in the middle, who generally are more connected to politics and facts than the average person, then he wins.
It just strikes me as funny that such a great proportion of conservatives are vilified by the mainstream press and made to look like selfish a-holes and yet that same press turns (mostly) a blind eye to the indiscretions of liberals. Am I to believe that most conservatives are Nazis and most liberals are white as the driven snow? There isn't any grayness in the conservative press either. On that side of the spectrum most liberals are either moralless atheists or the Anti-Christ and conservatives can do no wrong. Is it any wonder I don't give a whole lot of creedence to either???
I always thought god wouldn't brag about grabbing women by the genitals though.
@smeagolheart If you read his book, the old testament, you will find he is not a fan of women.
Yeah, like the rape laws that leaned in favor of protecting women, or Jesus' defense of women from excessive penalties, or that Jesus had women as part of His inner circle as part of His ministry. Oh wait.
This would be a good argument if Christianity only focused on the New Testament. Except I've never been to a single church service that didn't have at least one reading from the Old Testament in over 30 years.
I can only tell you that I personally don't believe much that comes out of the press these days. The very fact that nobody in the press is talking about those allegations anymore makes me believe that your 'almost certainly' statement is likely suspect. You can believe what you want of course, but I'm sure many people think it was a politically motivated hit. The timing of the stories and the fact that it mostly went away after the election lends credence to the conspiracy theorists.
There is never a right time to come out and talk about sexual assault.
If you speak up too early, you get accused of "regret sex" or being a "tease". Speak up too late, you're obviously just doing it to get attention/money or ruin someone's reputation out of spite.
No one ever believes you. And it's attitudes like that that keep most victims from coming forward.
Considering the man and the amount of power he has, these women would've faced an onslaught of skepticism no matter the when/where/why/what they decided to speak. Stop pretending it was all about the "timing". There's no such thing as good "timing" when it comes to this crap.
@jjstraka34 History is important, the Old Testament tells us where we came from and how God's plan has moved us forward. Religious debates can go on endlessly, if you wanna continue, we can use pms or open a thread for it.
@jjstraka34 History is important, the Old Testament tells us where we came from and how God's plan has moved us forward. Religious debates can go on endlessly, if you wanna continue, we can use pms or open a thread for it.
Not in the least lol, there is enough going on to argue about without that whole ball of wax.
It just strikes me as funny that such a great proportion of conservatives are vilified by the mainstream press and made to look like selfish a-holes and yet that same press turns (mostly) a blind eye to the indiscretions of liberals. Am I to believe that most conservatives are Nazis and most liberals are white as the driven snow? There isn't any grayness in the conservative press either. On that side of the spectrum most liberals are either moralless atheists or the Anti-Christ and conservatives can do no wrong. Is it any wonder I don't give a whole lot of creedence to either???
If we are going to talk about JUST recent sex scandals here, let's do a rundown:
Bill Clinton: nearly impeached Anthony Weiner: forced out of office by his own Party Elliot Spitzer: resigned in disgrace
now the Republicans:
David Vitter: stayed in office and was actually re-elected, then ran for Governor Larry Craig: stayed in office til the end of his term Dennis Hastert: a pedophile who was Speaker of the House (3rd in line to the Presidency) for almost the entire Bush Administration
Hastert is especially troubling, because you will recall the Congressional page scandal involving Mark Foley in the mid-aughts, which Hastert turned a complete blind eye to until it broke in the press. We now know exactly why. Furthermore, the REAL power in the House during those days was Tom DeLay. And I have no doubt in my mind that he knew EXACTLY what was in Hastert's closet and had it in his back pocket to keep Hastert on a short leash.
Oh come on! Now you are stating to sound one of those mealy mouthed evasive politicians yourself!
Trump and W. Clinton where mates, two of a kind, and like a bunch of other powerful men who move in their circle believe they can treat women any way they like and expect their wives to stand by them. And they do, because money.
Trump didn't win the election, the democrats lost it, by choosing the worst possible candidate to field. Slightly less corrupt, slightly less incompetent, and only an indirect abuser of women is not a selling point! The donkey could have beaten Trump!
Saying Hillary is slightly less incompetent and corrupt than Trump (especially after this first month) is like saying that the common cold is "slightly" worse than Ebola.
I find comparisons between Clinton and Trump rather meaningless at this point considering the election is over and Trump is now in power. Even in 2020, Clinton is almost assuredly not going to be on the ballot: once you lose a national election, your party doesn't want to take another risk on you. It will be a different Democratic nominee. And even if Trump left office early, it is Pence, not Clinton, who would take his place.
Had Clinton won, Trump would not even be on my radar; I would not care. I'd be focusing on other politicians--those who actually were in office.
I find comparisons between Clinton and Trump rather meaningless at this point considering the election is over and Trump is now in power. Even in 2020, Clinton is almost assuredly not going to be on the ballot: once you lose a national election, your party doesn't want to take another risk on you. It will be a different Democratic nominee. And even if Trump left office early, it is Pence, not Clinton, who would take his place.
Had Clinton won, Trump would not even be on my radar; I would not care. I'd be focusing on other politicians--those who actually were in office.
Trump himself is the one who is still obsessed about Clinton. He brings her up every chance he gets, as if she is actually still his foil. The reasons for this are pretty obvious. He can't stand that she got more votes than him. It's why he claims his Electoral College win was the greatest ever.....except for nearly every other Electoral victory in modern history.
It's really absolutely stunning that no one, here, in the media, or really in general, even mentions anymore the fact that the President of the United States almost certainly sexually assaulted at least a dozen women. Or that over 40% of voters were perfectly ok with it.
Sure he did. And the other candidate is married to a man who behaved in exactly the same way. So the electorate was given the choice of voting for a man who sexually abuses women, or a woman who condones the sexual abuse of women.
False. Just because she stayed married to Bill doesnt mean that she condone's sexual assault.
False.
You cannot be married to someone without condoning their behaviour.
She's in a lose lose situation. Either she gets tarred with these type of second hand accusations or she files for a divorce and gets tarred with the she can't even keep her marriage together and she doesnt respect holy matrimony.
And a decient person would have accepted that and stepped down for the good of he country. Instead she chose to impose her lose-lose situation on her whole country.
You cannot be married to someone without condoning their behaviour.
She's in a lose lose situation. Either she gets tarred with these type of second hand accusations or she files for a divorce and gets tarred with the she can't even keep her marriage together and she doesnt respect holy matrimony.
And a decient person would have accepted that and stepped down for the good of he country. Instead she chose to impose her lose-lose situation on her whole country.
I gotta disagree here.
You can be married to someone without giving a blank check to their behavior. There usually are mitigating circumstances. If you are married to someone and they jaywalk, are they to be dropped? Ok if jayalking is not bad, then what's the limit? Everyone makes mistakes. Should Bill Clinton have gone to jail for life? Should the jaywalker? People can do something wrong and change, can't they? People can do something wrong and learn from it. People can do something wrong and the good they do overshadow's their mistakes that they have learned from.
You say any decent person would have stepped down. Well, why didn't Trump step down? His words and behaviors (he has cheated on his wives and even allegedly raped his first wife etc) are much worse than her accepting her husband, who was the father of her child who had atoned for his mistakes and not had any further issues in over 20 years. I'd argue that there should have been a different candidate but I don't see it as she was so awful she should have stepped aside just for accepting her husband.
The point about Trump is that he convicted himself with his own words. He was BRAGGING about what he does to women and WHY he gets away with it. He wasn't joking. The difference between Clinton and Trump is that Trump admitted to the behavior, he just never thought it would see the light of day. We know Clinton cheated on his wife many times. There is no actual evidence he sexually assaulted any of them. He MAY have, but he didn't indict himself with his own testimony as Trump did.
It's really absolutely stunning that no one, here, in the media, or really in general, even mentions anymore the fact that the President of the United States almost certainly sexually assaulted at least a dozen women. Or that over 40% of voters were perfectly ok with it.
Sure he did. And the other candidate is married to a man who behaved in exactly the same way. So the electorate was given the choice of voting for a man who sexually abuses women, or a woman who condones the sexual abuse of women.
False. Just because she stayed married to Bill doesnt mean that she condone's sexual assault.
False.
You cannot be married to someone without condoning their behaviour.
The point about Trump is that he convicted himself with his own words. He was BRAGGING about what he does to women and WHY he gets away with it. He wasn't joking. The difference between Clinton and Trump is that Trump admitted to the behavior, he just never thought it would see the light of day. We know Clinton cheated on his wife many times. There is no actual evidence he sexually assaulted any of them. He MAY have, but he didn't indict himself with his own testimony as Trump did.
and I'd argue that he showed remorse, while Trump does not show remorse, he gets mad at leaks that make his behavior public.
Comments
I always thought god wouldn't brag about grabbing women by the genitals though.
I spoke this morning with my friend, a former Republican member of Congress, who’s as worried as I am about Trump’s mental state and the growing possibility that he or people around him committed treason by collaborating with Russian operatives to throw the election.
Me: Do other current and former Republican members of Congress feel like you do?
He: Lots of them. They think Trump’s loony tunes, and he’s in Putin’s pocket.
Me: Well why the hell don’t they say something? As long as this looks like a partisan brawl we’re never going to get anywhere.
He: No one wants to be the first. They worry Trump will start tweeting on them, or his crazy-ass supporters at home will go after them.
Me: Then why not issue a joint statement? A bunch of Republicans could call for a Select Committee to look into all of this, a special prosecutor. There's safety in numbers.
He: A few of them are talking about it right now, but McConnell and Ryan don’t want to rock the boat. They want to focus on repealing Obamacare, getting a giant tax cut, wiping out environmental regulations, you know the drill.
Me: But don’t they know the Trump issues are just going to get worse? Republicans need to get ahead of this or they’ll get bulldozed by it.
He: McConnell and Ryan don’t see it that way. They figure Trump will continue his circus act, stirring up the press, driving everyone crazy. So they can quietly work with Pence and get their agenda through when no one is paying much attention.
Me: You mean Trump is a decoy?
He (chuckling): Yeah. At least for now.
People who keep insisting he's going to grow into the job are delusional. This was all so entirely predictable it's barely even worth discussing. For instance, Trump says (constantly) that he is not getting his people confirmed. Here's the truth (because everything is a lie). There are 696 key positions in the government that require Senate confirmation. 14 have been confirmed, 20 are awaiting confirmation. The other 662?? THEY HAVEN'T EVEN BEEN NOMINATED!!!! Mr. Great Successful Businessman hasn't even offered up a person for the position for 95% of the vacated posts. 95%. If you are a conservative who believes in hard work, explain this to me. If you are a conservative who believes in merit and personal responsibility, explain to me how a Administration can be so incompetent that even after two months, they haven't even bothered to look for a person to fill 95% of these government positions. It's nothing but incompetence on top of laziness on top of just plain old bat-shit insanity. And any liberal who has studied the past 35 years of conservative governance could have predicted this to a tee months ago.
So, yeah, Trump - just as much a messiah as anyone else ever was. And he should certainly prove more popular than that Jesus guy, with all his disturbingly socialist ideas about giving your money to the poor, caring for the sick, and loving your enemies.
Again, not a SINGLE one was paid. Trump himself said (no, in fact, he practically promised) he was going to sue the women after the election. Never happened. Want to know why?? Because he would open himself up to cross-examination. Clinton's behavior was alleged, never confirmed by his own words, and, in a very big difference with the Trump accusers, every single one of them was paraded out by right-wing groups, paid, and given massive book deals. Not saying they were lying, but there is infinitely more reason to suspect the Clinton accusers than Trump's, because not one Trump accuser took a dime for their stories. The only thing we know about Clinton is the Monica situation, and that was without question 100% consensual.
Trump and W. Clinton where mates, two of a kind, and like a bunch of other powerful men who move in their circle believe they can treat women any way they like and expect their wives to stand by them. And they do, because money.
Trump didn't win the election, the democrats lost it, by choosing the worst possible candidate to field. Slightly less corrupt, slightly less incompetent, and only an indirect abuser of women is not a selling point! The donkey could have beaten Trump!
She's in a lose lose situation. Either she gets tarred with these type of second hand accusations or she files for a divorce and gets tarred with the she can't even keep her marriage together and she doesnt respect holy matrimony.
The argument Trump relies on is "sure I'm a unlikeable, foul mouthed, racist, antisemitic, misogynist, liar, who's barely literate but my opponent said half of my supporters are deplorable!" And then the public masses be like "omg yeah they're the same!" And then the masses are like "yeah I'm voting for the guy who says things the loudest and uses the simple language that I understand. When he says he will do things the best and tremendous because that sounds good!" and "I don't care if he doesn't say HOW he's going to do those things (or if he does say it makes no sense)"
And Trump's making this same lazy equivalence argument about the press. He makes up his worldview up as he goes. He makes up whatever fact or figure that he wants to that supports his worldview such as "I won the popular vote, crimes the highest ever, mexicans are rapists" etc. No need for research, just say whatever he feels his supporters might believe or feel also at the time. He says obvious lies.
How does he get away with it? When the press says "omg it looks like he removed a bust of MLK jr" and then it turns out "oops never mind there was just a guy standing in front of it" he pounces on that as saying look the press can't be trusted, who are you going to believe? The lazy public sees two parties that are accusing each other of lying. One party is a guy they know the other party is a group of people, inconceivable in numbers and less understood than the one tangible guy. He uses the confusion at seeing two parties accusing each other of lying as license to lie more and more outrageously, he has no shame. And a lot of people believe him.
The media are supposed to be the intermediate between politicians, who often are lawyers and professional liars/truth spinners and the public. Trump absolutely wants to bypass the media so he can lie directly to the american public. The average person doesn't have the time or interest to fact check every one of his false claims. So if he can skip the media in the middle, who generally are more connected to politics and facts than the average person, then he wins.
Can't you guys see this?
If you speak up too early, you get accused of "regret sex" or being a "tease". Speak up too late, you're obviously just doing it to get attention/money or ruin someone's reputation out of spite.
No one ever believes you. And it's attitudes like that that keep most victims from coming forward.
Considering the man and the amount of power he has, these women would've faced an onslaught of skepticism no matter the when/where/why/what they decided to speak. Stop pretending it was all about the "timing". There's no such thing as good "timing" when it comes to this crap.
Religious debates can go on endlessly, if you wanna continue, we can use pms or open a thread for it.
Bill Clinton: nearly impeached
Anthony Weiner: forced out of office by his own Party
Elliot Spitzer: resigned in disgrace
now the Republicans:
David Vitter: stayed in office and was actually re-elected, then ran for Governor
Larry Craig: stayed in office til the end of his term
Dennis Hastert: a pedophile who was Speaker of the House (3rd in line to the Presidency) for almost the entire Bush Administration
Hastert is especially troubling, because you will recall the Congressional page scandal involving Mark Foley in the mid-aughts, which Hastert turned a complete blind eye to until it broke in the press. We now know exactly why. Furthermore, the REAL power in the House during those days was Tom DeLay. And I have no doubt in my mind that he knew EXACTLY what was in Hastert's closet and had it in his back pocket to keep Hastert on a short leash.
Had Clinton won, Trump would not even be on my radar; I would not care. I'd be focusing on other politicians--those who actually were in office.
You cannot be married to someone without condoning their behaviour. And a decient person would have accepted that and stepped down for the good of he country. Instead she chose to impose her lose-lose situation on her whole country.
I gotta disagree here.
You can be married to someone without giving a blank check to their behavior. There usually are mitigating circumstances. If you are married to someone and they jaywalk, are they to be dropped? Ok if jayalking is not bad, then what's the limit? Everyone makes mistakes. Should Bill Clinton have gone to jail for life? Should the jaywalker? People can do something wrong and change, can't they? People can do something wrong and learn from it. People can do something wrong and the good they do overshadow's their mistakes that they have learned from.
You say any decent person would have stepped down. Well, why didn't Trump step down? His words and behaviors (he has cheated on his wives and even allegedly raped his first wife etc) are much worse than her accepting her husband, who was the father of her child who had atoned for his mistakes and not had any further issues in over 20 years. I'd argue that there should have been a different candidate but I don't see it as she was so awful she should have stepped aside just for accepting her husband.