ColumnIt’s been quite the week for Donald Trump.
Since the first live presidential debate, the Republican presidential candidate has taken part in a series of incidents that are bizarre—even for him—and not surprisingly, hate-filled and sexist.
Miss Piggy…
On Monday night, Hillary Clinton mentioned the name of a former Miss Universe. Clinton explained that after Alicia Machado won Trump’s Miss Universe beauty pageant in 1996, Trump talked about how he was displeased that she won because she gained weight.
Clinton also mentioned that Trump called Machado ‘Miss Piggy’ and ‘Miss Housekeeping’ —because she had gained weight and is Latina. Trump was flustered when Clinton mentioned Machado, but managed not to go off the deep end during the debate.
Well, since that debate, Trump has gone off the deep end and has burrowed himself into the center of the Earth.
Directly following the debate, Trump told morning newscasters on Fox and Friends that Machado was the worst Miss Universe “we ever had” and said he called her fat because she was fat… He also said Machado had an attitude problem and she was no Mother Teresa.
Now, you may be thinking, “that sure doesn’t sound presidential,” and no, it does not. But that hasn’t stopped the candidate. Since that Tuesday morning interview, Trump has continued discussing the incident in an incredibly disturbing manner.
Watch that sex tape…
Early—we’re talking 5 a.m. eastern on Thursday morning—Trump started tweeting about Machado. The following are just a few things he wrote:
“Wow, Crooked Hillary was duped and used by my worst Miss U. Hillary floated her as an ‘angel’ without checking her past, which is terrible!”
“Using Alicia M in the debate as a paragon of virtue just shows that Crooked Hillary suffers from BAD JUDGEMENT! Hillary was set up by a con.”
“Did Crooked Hillary help disgusting (check out sex tape and past) Alicia M become a U.S. citizen so she could use her in the debate?”
Yes, a presidential candidate actually told the U.S. public to “check out a sex tape.”
Since those tweets, we’ve learned Machado never appeared in porn, but has posed topless. Also, who cares? She appeared on film performing intimate acts on a reality show. And, yes, she was accused of complicity in an attempted murder in Venezuela—that we kind of care about. But does any of that justify Trump’s name-calling? No. No it does not.
That rally…
On Sunday morning, Trump went to a rally in Pennsylvania to get in front of The New York Times story that exposed his 1995 partial tax return. The Times piece “indicated he may not have paid federal income taxes for more than 10 years,” Time reports.
Trump covered his talking points—points to help him appeal to millennials—but also took a considerable amount of time rambling about Clinton.
“It took Trump nearly 25 minutes to read the brief statement because he kept going off on one angry tangent after another—ignoring his teleprompters and accusing Clinton of not being loyal to her husband, imitating her buckling at a memorial service last month, suggesting that she is crazy and saying she should be in prison,” The Washington Post reports.
“He urged his mostly white crowd of supporters to go to polling places in certain areas on Election Day to watch the voters there. He also repeatedly complained about having a bum mic at the first presidential debate and wondered if he should have done another season of ‘The Apprentice.’”
All of the above? It just solidifies that Trump hates women (and minorities, and women again), but this piece is about sexism—we’ll tackle that problem (and his thoughts on PTSD) another day.
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Image of Donald Trump via Shutterstock, Joe Seer