People who follow this blog know I am not a fan of labels or name calling, as I view them as lazy arguments. The user wants you to accept their labeling without debate or further study. It is akin to weaponization of a term that can do the dirty work for the user.
I would prefer to define the actions rather than actor. So the focus should be on the lying not the liar, although it is very hard to separate them sometime. There are occasions where actions are so over-the-top that it is interesting to contrast them to characters who do the same over-the-top actions to illustrate the inappropriateness.
Earlier this month, the former president was found liable to the tune of $5 million for the sexual assault and defamation of E. Jean Carroll. While he is appealing the decision, his own deposition did not help his cause nor did his words on the Access Hollywood tapes where he is heard bragging of impunity as he groped women’s private parts. This tape was played for jurors in the trial.
Not included in the trial, but he also has bragged on the Howard Stern talk show of his wont to walk into Miss Universe and Miss USA dressing rooms to see the partially clothed girls. He noted with his sponsorship of the pageant, it was so easy for him to espy the partially clothed contestants. It should be noted there have been more than twenty allegations made against the former president by women and girls for sexual misconduct, including a few teen age pageant contestants. See Note below.
Earlier this week, Trump’s friend and advisory Rudy Giuliani has found more trouble with a lawsuit from a former aide who has charged him with sexual assault with a $10 million price-tag. While Giuliani has denied the claims, she is in possession of tapes and emails that do not sound very flattering to the former mayor. Apparently, he provided his password to her for to his email account which provided additional unflattering context.
Between the various recordings of these two men creepily admitting to what they are accused of, they remind me of the dialogue between the two creepy high school teens in a cartoon show called “Beavis and Butthead.” These two characters did not portray manhood in its finest light as they giggled about the many sexual references and not-so-subtle double entendres.
So, stopping short of calling these two fully grown men by these two names, it truly is hard to believe their claims of innocence when the words they use are Beavis and Butthead-like. The former president defended his words on the Access Hollywood tapes as “locker room talk,” but in the many locker rooms I have been as an athlete, I have not heard men speak of sexually assaulting women. If they did, it would not be very flattering toward them. What is interesting, though, is many of the allegations made by women and teen girls against Trump were made BEFORE the Access Hollywood tapes came out.
It should be noted that some of the claims made by a few of the Miss Teen USA pageant contestants used terms like “creepy” in defining the guy who came in their dressing room. If I close my eyes I can hear Beavis and Butthead giggling as they talked of walking in.
Note: Per an article in Buzz Feed:
“Four women who competed in the 1997 Miss Teen USA beauty pageant said Donald Trump walked into the dressing room while contestants — some as young as 15 — were changing.
‘I remember putting on my dress really quick because I was like, ‘Oh my god, there’s a man in here,’ ‘said Mariah Billado, the former Miss Vermont Teen USA.
Trump, she recalled, said something like, ‘Don’t worry, ladies, I’ve seen it all before.’
Three other women, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of getting engulfed in a media firestorm, also remembered Trump entering the dressing room while girls were changing. Two of them said the girls rushed to cover their bodies, with one calling it “shocking” and ‘creepy.’ The third said she was clothed and introduced herself to Trump.”
Note PolitiFacts would not rate the truth of this as several sources were anonymous. They did say in 2005 Trump bragged to Howard Stern on walking into dressing on Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants, but did not specifically reference Miss Teen USA in the Stern interview.
musingsofanoldfart 
you insult one of my favorite shows. lol. at least I used to like it. the new episodes aren’t nearly as funny.
Now does this mean that I’m a creepy person? I wouldn’t think so but I’m certain there are some who would draw no distinction between casually enjoying a tv show and moral character of the individual in question.
I assume you’re not such a person.
As long as you don’t indict me for stuff I watch.
Note to Readers: In a very long list of uncomfortable things the former president has said, when he said to a TV audience that if his daughter were not his daughter, she would be his type. I have no doubt he thinks that, but why on earth would he say that? I noted above many of his comments corroborate previous allegations made by multiple dozens of women, often made before he made these comments.
Yet, one thing Trump is right about, powerful men have gotten away with sexual misconduct for a long time whether their name is Harvey Weinstein, Bill Clinton, Bill Cosby, Roger Ailes, Jeffrey Epstein, Bill O’Reilly, et al. Some have been held responsible long after the fact they took advantage of more than a few women. But, what Trump has a hard time fathoming is that does not give him a hall pass to sexually assault people.
PS – Note I have long been critical of the folks who make sexual assault victims of their bosses quietly go away. Either by threat, payoff or both, these folks will coerce the victims into silence and acquiescence. Weinstein had several folks like this and Trump used people like attorney Michael Cohen. Jeffrey Epstein even had a finder of young women and teen girls to service his clients, recruiting them after building up trust. She is now in jail for her brokering services.
Even today, Trump has sycophants who attack others to protect him. This truly makes me ill that elected officials will throw their reputations away to rationalize his sexual assaults.
I think it is clear that Donald Trump views women … ALL women … as second-class objects put on earth for the pleasure of men. Had it not been for pre-nuptial agreements and non-disclosure agreements, his former wives could have written some eye-opening tell-all biographies, no doubt. But they chose money over values, over protecting their sisters by calling out this misogynistic sexual predator.
Your comparison to Beavis & Butthead is quite apt!!! Though I never watched the program, I knew of it and have seen the occasional short clip … knew enough to know I didn’t wish to watch it. Just as I don’t wish to watch the “Trump Show” anymore … I’ve had enough of it to last me a lifetime. Oh, and about Rudy … what a sad fall from being “America’s Mayor” in 2001 to what he has become today.
Thanks Jill. I think you and I probably watched about the same amount of the Beavis and Butthead and Trump shows. In reading some of the Trump team reaction to the Access Hollywood tapes, what struck me is 1) how Trump did not remember saying those things and 2) how little reaction there was to the “doing of what he said” versus what he said.
On the former, his memory is no where near what he touts. On the latter, the subject matter would disturb me far more than his words. The fact there have been so many corroborating allegations should be alarming. The Carroll folks were wise to use Trump’s words against him, whether he remembers them or not.
Keith
Keith, please don’t for a minute think Trump does not remember what he said, time and time again. It is easy to say one does not remember something, but people like Trump lie through their teeth. He is just practising what Ronald Reagan did his whole life, pretend he could not remember anything that might incriminate him. Trump remembers every single things others did to him that he did not like. His ego is too large. He knows everything he said to others, because he is proud of his ingenuity, as he sees it.
Jill mentioned you do not like labels, Keith, but they can be useful descriptors. When I use the label, MAGAt, which I got from Clay Jones of ClayToonz, I do not use the label as an insult — the insult is to maggots who are nothing like extreme Republicans — I use it as an identifier. Everyone knows right away with that word the group of people I am talking about. If a MAGAt chooses to take it as an insult, that is on him or her, They too recognize themselves in that word.
MAGAts call me “Woke!” I do not take that as an insult, even though they try to insult me with it. I turn it back 9n them by thanking them for recognizing my worth as a compassionate human being. Insults can be made powerless by the receiver. Labels can similarly be made into insults by the receiver — if they are insulted by certain words it is because they recognize their own self-hatred!
Thanks Rawgod. We should give Reagan hall pass for later when his Alzheimer’s was kicking in more. As for Trump, agreed he lies so often he does not where the truth ends and the lies begin. So, it may all be a blur to him on what really is true or what he made himself believe is true.
As for labels and name calling, I am not a fan of them being waved around like a weapon. Anything defined as akin to Nazi, Apartheid, slavery, etc. better be pretty heinous. Of course, Trump wants to slap a derogatory name on people that will be remembered. It allows him to argue or down play criticism when he knows so little of the facts. The MAGA reference is more of a grouping. Maggots is a bridge too far for me, though. I usually discount an argument using that term or others like it. But, hey that’s me. Thanks for your comment. Keith
And isn’t it funny that though he claims not to remember saying that, he defended it in his deposition when he said it was true that famous men could do that, and then said “unfortunately … or fortunately.” What an @#$%!
Jill, as you know all to well, Donald Trump contradicting himself is not an unusual occurrence. Keith
Reblogged this on Filosofa's Word and commented:
Roger and I have often talked of our mutual blogging buddy, Keith, as being our ‘gold standard’. While Christians have that saying, “What Would Jesus Do?”, or WWJD, Roger and I have one that is WWKS, or “What Would Keith Say?” But despite the fact that he is calmer, more soft-spoken and mild-mannered than people like myself and Roger, he does a fine job of getting the point across, as you will see in his most recent post!
Jill, many thanks for your reblog. You are the best. Keith
It’s always my pleasure, Keith!!!
As always Keith, mature, reasoned, coherent and to the point.
I find it difficult not to label Trump, because essentially by all measurements of the politics we grew up with he is a caricature. By all those conventions he should have long been buried. And yet here he is?
My ‘old saw’ on this is that he is not some cunning evil genius, liberal and moderates pay him a back handed-compliment with those ‘labels’. Looking back at his time in the political lime-light he has always jumped on a bandwagon, reacting to the most base of his supporters, riding their waves. It bears repeating Trump says more about current America than about Trump. He is not even self-made, the political Trump is a creation of the fears, uncertainties and social media conversations of millions of Americans.
Put him and you in a BBC of UK Channel 4 studio with one of their hardened journalists to mediate and YOU could take him down with breaking a sweat.
Keep up the good work.
Roger
Thanks Roger. I think his key talent is merchandising himself. He knows how to sell off fear. What has continually surprised me is how little he knows about things or cares to know about them, at least far less than he portrays. He chooses not to study, which means he is easily swayed. But, “equal parts chaos and incompetence” is how conservative pundit David Brooks defined his White House. That is the impression two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Bob Woodward found in researching his book “Fear.” Keith
Which means he will be quite unable to deal with any major social crisis which hits the USA, one that makes the current divides look like driveway small cracks caused by frost.
The USA can only survive by unity, something he has no idea about. ‘Divide and Rule’ needs a very astute person able to play both sides…and it never works out in the long run anyway.
Very true about the needed astute part for a divide and rule approach.