Donald Trump is all over the map like a cornered rat. Snarling, baring his teeth, threatening, mean, preparing for a last fight, his goal of winning focused on a different victory, his pride inflated by declaring his failure a win (his boast: "I am the greatest victim of corruption in our political history"), the smooth taste of his lies gains applause; women at his rallies wear t-shirts that say "grab it," his biggest recent political success has been to get crowds to scream wildly, "lock her up," as signs in the background say "blacks for Trump."
He openly admits eyeballing Hillary. He is sick in ways incurable and unsuitable for someone who would be President. Having beat 17 Republican contenders in the primaries, in the end, he can't get past himself. He is more than flawed; he is defective.
Trump's Sexual Attitudes Are A Path To Regression
Abraham Lincoln laughed when he heard the South was enscripting slaves to fight; he noted this meant the Confederate battle capacity was nearing its end. Laughter, thoughtful laughter, must meet Donald Trump's latest megalomanical declaration that his electoral loss will reveal the power of corruption--that his rejection means the system is rigged! Funny, Donald!
If you find slaves in Confederate uniforms carrying guns strange (the Richmond unit with its regimental banner made by Confederate women were cheered and jeered in newspaper reviews of their public drill; they never saw action), then consider these memories from Trump's platform of put-downs and pain--his path to regression. As he leads from behind.
Sex and gender, roles and images are a preoccupation with Trump. His opening announcement for office mentioned rapists; his public response after the first primary debate went after a female moderator--his first debate question cataloged the names he had used to put down women. He implied the silence of a grieving mother was a part of a religious culture that required her silence; he ignored the thousands of twitter responses from women within religion (#canyouhearusnow) who spoke loudly asserting their freedom and expressing their outrage against Trump's persistent ugly stereotyping and labeling.
He impugned the looks of a female candidate during one debate. He is on tape expressing real desires or fantasies that are framed by criminal intent. He was conversely silent when his wife's near nude photos ran on the front pages of a New York tabloid. His wife would be the first First Lady featured in nude pictures in the tabloids. He's alluded to his own sex prowess and physical size. All while avoiding discussions of policy.
Trump operates in a culture that blames women when they challenge him. He stays in his self-defined box where a women's looks and image matters, and sex is success--his accusers are met with denial and rejection, and his rejection is an absolute rejection of any woman's value; his judgment of their appearance for him determines their worth. While he has female surrogates and campaign staff, he has proven in his statements, he cannot take the views and ideas, the rights and independence of half the country seriously. He says his words describing sexual assault were the way men share in private. Yet he immediately took to the stump to disparage Hillary Clinton's figure, especially her rear--as he denied taking note and disdained any interest. His comments always circle home! To confirm what he would deny!
No; men don't talk that way in private, Donald. Men discuss their deepest wishes for women or their fondest memories; they do not impress each other by confessing to committing acts against their will that are crimes. LeBron James called it "trash talk."
But Trump is a threat specialist. He is filled with impulsive derring-do and unfiltered entitlement. He loves risk because inside he feels inadequate and small and must prove himself by breaking the bounds of decency.
A growing list of women from different eras, places, and events whose accounts are collaborated in their details by friends, family, and co-workers have said Trump is guilty of serial sexual assault. His narcissism is irrepressible. As he assaults his accusers claims one by one, relishing bragging rights--his defense is it would have been an even bigger news story than it is now if the women have reported his criminal acts at the time.
Michelle Obama Speaks Out
He slides across the obvious truth to say publicity is the standard by which sexual assault should be judged. The truth is each woman, singularly, would have been isolated and subject to the Trump onslaught that wiped out 17 polished politicians, got a finance minister in Mexico fired, his foundation called a "fraud," and his opponent accused of ill health, drug use, cheating, corruption, and demands for jail without a thread of substantiation. What working woman, without resources could withstand such a dehumanizing blintz? The truth is his narcissism makes him blind to a deeper truths, the truths Michelle Obama expressed in her Manchester, New Hampshire speech:
This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior, and actually bragging about kissing and groping women, using language so obscene that many of us were worried about our children hearing it when we turn on the TV.
And to make matters worse, it now seems very clear that this isn't an isolated incident. It's one of countless examples of how he has treated women his whole life. And I have to tell you that I listen to all of this and I feel it so personally, and I'm sure that many of you do too, particularly the women. The shameful comments about our bodies. The disrespect of our ambitions and intellect. The belief that you can do anything you want to a woman.
Maybe we're afraid to be that vulnerable. Maybe we've grown accustomed to swallowing these emotions and staying quiet, because we've seen that people often won't take our word over his. Or maybe we don't want to believe that there are still people out there who think so little of us as women.
It is cruel. It's frightening. And the truth is, it hurts. It hurts. . . .
[Maybe we're] just trying to get through it, trying to pretend like this doesn't really bother us maybe because we think that admitting how much it hurts makes us as women look weak.
With a predator's instincts. Trump preyed on this weakness and vulnerability. He selected women dependent or invisible; under his reach or random; teens, married, in relationships, but none who alone could withstand his fury as he crushed their spirit. He would have made them bear thepublic burdenof the private disgrace he inflicted.
In an immense cultural breaking, 27 million women took to twitter after Trump's remarks on tape were released to say its #notokay and share the first time they were assaulted (note the media blackout?), some as young as 4 or 8, by neighbors, relatives, baby sitters, friend's relatives, fathers, strangers, professionals in hundreds of ways and places, but all sharing the fear and shame it brought. Many women had never shared their experience. For some, it happened so frequently, it was hard to remember the first time. (Note the media blackout?) If 27 million women were ignored except for a few stories and never mentioned on the panels, how could one woman break through? And when Trump said, "I can get away with things like that," describing his walking into pageant dressing areas with young women and teens changing clothes, why has no media reporter asked the obvious, a situation in which lots of women could attest to the inappropriateness--as some have? (Note the media blackout!). Would he deny what he admitted to? A women's dressing area is not a locker room.
As the numbers of women mount who report assaults by him, Trump has gone from fat-shaming to saying he is the victim. (His narcissism requires him to be the biggest victim of all time and his latest conspiracy involves the world's richest man (a Mexican citizen!) who is a donor to the Clinton Foundation and a shareholder in the corporation that owns the New York Times. For him, this is not about sexual assault but the defeat of democracy!)
Democracy's imploding aside, for Trump, women are not vaulted for their ideas, but for their appearance, and for him every unwelcome touch and forced kiss is a win. Every lie enhances his power, expands his potency, and his escape is icing on the cake.
Pain? Women's pain? His campaign says these women are after publicity.
