[seanmcdirmid]

Ya, and let's not forget his "grab them in the kittens" remark. There is no way to explain that away, none! GWB, even though he stole the election, was much easier to accept than this guy.

We are merely afraid that Trump is as bad as he sounds, whatever the press said about him is irrelevant to that, and much more concrete than Hilary's abstract emails.

[emp_zealoth]

Seriously, there is no way to explain that remark?

Have you never talked shit off the record? Did you never ever laugh at a racist/classist/* - ist joke?

I agree that Trump will probably be bad, but thats because he clearly has no plan whatsoever.

Yet entire Clinton campaign was just shit slinging, manufactured outrage, meaningless pandering, name calling, avoiding burning issues, more shit slinging, more pandering

She could have gone out and ripped him to shreds should she have focussed on actual plans

Instead she just goes out and calls people deplorable everything-phobes because they dare to oppose PC nonsense. Wanting to deport illegal immigrants is not racist. Pretending that there are no problems with islam, where you've got Europe as a control environment (where they harbor and abet proper terrorists and obstruct law enforcement as hard as they can) is fucking crazy)

[yequalsx]

It's not manufactured outrage. Trump said he uses his power status to grope women without consent simply because he can. He bragged about walking in on teen constestants whilst they were nude. It wasn't him talking shit it was him bragging about doing said shit.

[base698]

Chappelle continued that what Trump said didn't sound like "sexual assault" to him and that the media "twisted" Trump's words. "He said, ‘And when you’re a star, they let you do it.’ That phrase implies consent. I just don’t like the way the media twisted that whole thing. Nobody questioned it.”

[emp_zealoth]

Was there any proof? Apart of him talking shit with some other brodudebros while being stupid enoug to keep the mic on...

[yequalsx]

Depends on what you consider proof. I mean, the man himself said that he gropes women because he can. He said this in a private conversation without any knowledge of being recorded. I have not reason not believe his claim. Maybe he was blustering but I don't believe it. He's claimed to walk in on beauty contestants while they are naked. He didn't mind when Howard Stern referred to his daughter as a "piece of ass". The totality of what we know about Donald Trump is such that it takes a lot of mental gymnastics to believe that he has never groped women.

[AnimalMuppet]

I said a thing or two like that... twenty or thirty years ago. I've grown up a bit since then, though. And I'm younger now than Trump was when he said that.

[slowmotiony]

My friends use this kind of language between each other all the time, as I imagine other groups of friends as well - and they are all normal people with loving wives. You're trying to be dramatic but you're actually being funny.

[CyberDildonics]

Should those friends be commander and chief of the largest military force in the world?

[slowmotiony]

No - he should be absolutely perfect in every way and never have used a swear word, even privately among friends.

[dgacmu]

You're misstating the concern, which I assume you recognize. Nobody gives a fuck (see what I did there? :-) if Trump used a swear word. What people are concerned about was that he bragged that he was able to capitalize on his fame to assault somebody. I'm going to presume you're male - how would you feel if, say, Newt Gingrich walked up to you and grabbed your penis?

Many people swear -- heck, I just did so in a public post under my own identity just to make a point! Many people use many terms to describe male and female anatomy. Nobody I know brags about being able to willfully assault people.

[yequalsx]

What a magnificent deflection. No one is angry that he said "grab them by the pussy". It's that he does this without consent. He does this because he has power and can. That's what is deplorable. Your defense of this is also deplorable.

[slowmotiony]

What power? Surely if he did that the woman could call the cops on him and make a massive media shitstorm. You actually believe he goes around assaulting women?

[dgacmu]

Quite a few people have said so:

http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/10/all-the-women-accusing-trump...

First, let's settle on definitions: In this context, let's agree to define "assault" as including willfully touching someone's breasts or groin region without consent, and also to include kissing them on the lips without their consent. Please note I did not say "rape." I said assault:

https://www.justice.gov/ovw/sexual-assault

"Sexual assault is any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient. Falling under the definition of sexual assault are sexual activities as forced sexual intercourse, forcible sodomy, child molestation, incest, fondling, and attempted rape."

With that definition, then yes, I do believe that Trump has done so, and I believe the evidence supports that conclusion.

One thing that I found illuminating as a result of the discussion around this was the number of my female friends and colleagues who talked about their own experiences being assaulted in these and similar ways. It's a very, very real problem.

[yequalsx]

The power stemming from his fame and money. Are you being deliberately daft? Do you not understand the concept of power differential and powerlessness? Your second question suggests you have a profound misunderstanding of the sense of powerlessness victims often feel and thus don't call the cops. The cops aren't always called after every crime.

You need to study more about crime and the psychology of victims/perpetrators.

[dabbledash]

The people who have a problem with that tape aren't upset about a dirty word. If you friends are kissing and groping people they just met "without even waiting," you should probably call the cops. If they think "she let me do it" is the thing as consent, they should be corrected before someone gets hurt.

[slowmotiony]

Did he get any assault convictions? If I said I'd like to kill my boss would you call the SWAT team on me?

[dabbledash]

Ah, well now you're changing the subject. If you're granting that the issue is sexual assault and not bad language we can talk about that. Saying he would like to commit sexual assault would be disqualifying on its own, but in any case what he actually said was that it was something he does "whenever I meet a beautiful woman." So, I guess the better comparison would be if you said "when my kids talk back I beat the shit out of them."

[m00n]

Well, if you said instead, you killed several of your prior bosses and the widowed partners of some these were making public appearances in TV and you settled claims with some of them for undisclosed sums of money, yes, then I would maybe call the authorities or consider not voting you in the highest office.

[CyberDildonics]

So those friends -should- have that much power?

[lagadu]

If elected to do so, yes. I'd like to reverse the question on you though: Should what he said in private make him legally ineligible to hold office or even any job?

[slowmotiony]

Of course not - the election should be cancelled, the votes should be thrown into a garbage can and it should just be you who picks the best candidate.

[seanmcdirmid]

You have strange friends then. I can't imagine any of my friends saying that kind of thing, or quite simply they wouldn't be my friends anymore. I'm not being elitist or dramatic here, I just can't stand and wouldn't stand for that kind of talk.

But I guess many voters out there thought like you. I just can't comprehend it personally. I'm sure there are many of us who don't consider such talk moral and acceptable even in casual settings.

[goostavos]

>I can't imagine any of my friends saying that kind of thing

These comments always make me chuckle. You live in a squeaky clean world that I've personally never experienced and I'm not really sure where you go do find it. I mean, hell, browse around on any popular image sharing site for 5 minutes and you'll see worse comments in any thread with a vaguely attractive female.

If you've ever been in a men's bathroom, you've overheard these types of obnoxious conversations. But collectively, America loves to gasp and shout about how utterly shocking it is that people would talk in such a manner! Outrageous! "Well, I never!"

[seanmcdirmid]

I have never heard these kind of things spoken in a men's bathroom. We obviously are using different ones.

[slowmotiony]

Your comment literally made me cringe inside.

[seanmcdirmid]

Your's made me cringe even more. I really don't get America, open racist and sexist signaling and an electorate that would react positively to that. Whatever.

[willismichael]

In part, it's this kind of casual dismissal that many people are concerned about.

[lagadu]

Have you considered that when it comes to electing politicians people don't put anywhere as much weight into personal remarks a candidate makes but rather the policies he's planning or how well he represents them?

That was a comment made in private and lightly. He didn't get on a podium and said that was going to be the Government's policy. I feel that you're equating Donald Trump the private person with Donald Trump the (future) head of state.

[seanmcdirmid]

Daughter to mom: "Hey mom, this Hitler guy was just elected chancellor who is saying hateful things about Jews! We are Jewish, I'm scared!"

mom: "Don't worry, he was just saying this stuff to get elected, I'm sure he isn't that bad."

The world is upside down right now.

[id]

Actual policies matter much less than you would think. Both candidates either didn't talk about their proposals at all or were very vague about them. And many if not most of Trumps positions remain unclear to this day.

[acqq]

Look at this one, then try to be serious:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/nov/2/donald-trump-...

[dgacmu]

For a broader view: https://ballotpedia.org/2016_presidential_candidates_on_LGBT...

Trump himself has gone both directions on some of these issues, so it's hard to understand what his personal position really is, but he's made more statements -- particularly recently -- that indicate opposition to federal protections for LGBT. (I'm choosing my words carefully - he's indicated that he wants to defer many of these issues to the states, when pressed on it.)

It's likely that Trump is - from a personal perspective - one of the more LGBT-friendly republicans, outside of the Log Cabin Republicans crew.

Viewed through the lens of whom he selected as his running mate, the Trump Team (as opposed to Trump himself) is rightly viewed as threatening for both marriage equality and transgender rights. Pence has a very consistent history of voting both against protection for LGBT, as well as actively supporting discriminatory policies such as "don't ask, don't tell" and proactive definitions of marriage as between one man and one woman.

[acqq]

I fully agree the major problem for this particular issue is that too much of the GOP identifies with being anti-LGBT. That is serious. But Trump personally seems to be the only one among them that was able to do this flag stuff all and still remain supported.

I consider as the major GOP problem, over all other issues, global warming denial. It's easy to see that even here it's not recognized.