I want you, Mitch McConnell, and the rest of the GOP who think demanding an "apology" is the way to thread the needle between your support for Trump and your knowledge that he is a threat to the world, between placating your deplorable base and putting our democracy at risk, between pretending you give a rat's ass about rape culture and the damage it does, and then offering Trump a way to retain your support if he just utters some words a speechwriter puts on a teleprompter for him.
No apology is going to make Trump okay, or your support for him okay. No apology can make this right. What kind of a fool would believe any apology coming from him, anyway? Has this man done or said a single thing in his campaign to suggest he is actually sorry, that he "gets" it or is capable of change or wants to do so?
The man who tweeted from 3 to 5:30 am after the debate that Alicia Machado was a fat slut who made a sex tape? Who obviously views women as slabs of meat available for male consumption at their will, but only the best meat, the meat he rates a 10, and if he doesn't like the meat, it's worthless anyway? The man who looks to fire women who he thinks aren't attractive enough? The man who says pregnancy is an inconvenience to employers? Who says that women who are sexually harassed should get new jobs? The man who tried to have Nancy O'Dell fired for rejecting his advances, on the pretext that he didn't like her looks? (And what kind of "advances"? Did he try kissing her? Or, did he try to "grab [her] pussy"?) The man who, a May 2016 New York Times article reveals, has a multi-decade legacy of unwanted "sexual advances" toward women? The man who smirked when asked by Megyn Kelly about calling women fat pigs, dogs, and slobs, and then yucked it up on the debate stage because it was ok to attack Rosie O'Donnell that way -- because hey, everyone knows she's fat, amiright, and then complained that his female interrogator wasn't "nice" and had "blood coming out of her wherever"? The man who mocked Carly Fiorina's face? The man who says Clinton doesn't look presidential and lacks stamina and who uses his adultering, spitting surrogates to suggest she is unhealthy, or even has epilepsy? The man who has several times urged his supporters to assassinate his female rival? The man who laughs at and encourages "Trump that Bitch" and "kill the bitch" and "hang the bitch" and "lock her up" and whose most visible supporters in the media also call Clinton a "cunt" (Ted Nugent, Roger Stone,etc)? The man who was asked about what part of his infant daughter came from his then-wife Marla Maples and started talking about her breasts? The man who is right now facing a lawsuit for raping a 13 year-old girl? The man whose ex-wife accused him of raping her? The man whose close adviser is serial sexual harasser Roger Ailes? The man whose mouthbreathing repulsive misogyny is worn like a mantle of pride on his privileged orange skin, but for whom this is just what a rich man is entitled to? We are supposed to believe any apology coming out of the mouth of this man?
I didn't see you asking for his apology before now. Why is that, GOP?
Answer me, what kind of an idiot do you think I am that I would buy a fraudulent apology from a man whose entire existence was built on fraud? And even if I were stupid enough to buy it, why would that ever be enough to overcome everything else he has done and never apologized for and is still saying, and that you are still willing to ignore?
Mexicans are rapists and drug dealers? Can we get an apology and can he eat a taco, and then it will magically be ok; what do you think, Mitch? Would a "I've grown so much on this campaign, Judge Curiel, I'm now sure that even though you are Mexican you might be able to adjudicate my case" make it all okay, Mitch? Would that justify calling for the deportation of millions? Equating immigrants with criminality? Lying about the immigration rate? Would that apology help the man Trump's supporters attacked and beat in his name, which Trump then shrugged off as them being "passionate"?
How about for Muslims? Where is the demand that he apologize for suggesting they be banned from the U.S., or placed on a registry, or their places of worship surveilled? Where is the demand that he apologize for his Islamophobia subjecting Muslims to increased threats and hate crimes across the country? Where is the demand that Trump apologize for lying that he saw "thousands" of Muslims cheering 9/11? Where is the condemnation for Trump's promise to torture people, violate international law, order the commission of war crimes, and violate the Constitution? Oh, you didn't need an apology for those statements and ideas! Those comments and that violence was directed toward Muslims! Those are awesome! (Yes, I know you thought the attacks on the Khans were bad, I know you hated those, but only because he attacked a Gold Star family; not because he attacked a Muslim family. That was embarrassing, for you, I know, but even then, only a couple of you "even suggested" -- the NYT's words -- that he apologize to the Khans.)
How about for African-Americans? Where is the demand that he apologize for his birtherism? Did you ever demand it? No, other than Ben Carson and John Kasich this past September, you did not. And you gave that press conference, that non-apology, media-pwning hotel infomercial in which he "declared" Obama is a citizen, a total pass. Where is the demand that he apologize for taking out a full-page ad supporting the execution of the Central Park Five, or that he acknowledge that they were innocent victims of coerced confessions? Because he doubled down on that just this week. Where is the demand that he apologize for discriminating for years against African-Americans seeking to rent in his buildings? Where is the demand that he apologize for his treatment of African-Americans at his casinos? Where is the demand that he apologize for suggesting that African-Americans' lives are a twisted dystopian hell of drugs, poverty, guns, and desolation, devoid of accomplishment? Where is the demand that he apologize for inciting attendees at his rallies to beat up African-American protesters? Where is the demand that he apologize for inciting violence and offering to pay the legal fees of those who engage in it? Where is the demand for the apology for his lie that BLM activists instigated the deaths of Dallas police officers? Is there any apology that would make all this okay? Well, you haven't asked him for one, so I guess it doesn't matter to you, anyway. Bring on Guiliani and his racist screeds! Let's not disavow him, either, right GOP? We should just stop all this nonsense about racism and implicit bias, right, Mike Pence? As if any of you would ask Trump to apologize for racism toward African-Americans, after eight years of your collective mistreatment and disrespect of our President.
And what about for Jews? Where is the demand from the GOP that Trump disavow the KKK, the alt-right, and the rising tide of anti-Semitism that he has brought out of the shadows, so that Jewish journalists' lives are routinely threatened, and kids are experiencing anti-Jewish hatred for real for the first time in their lives? Ha, ha, ha! Don't be silly! Steve Bannon, of Breitbart News, is now CEO of his campaign, and Bannon is a hero of the alt right, but whatever, he brought some discipline to the campaign, so that's all cool -- no need to worry about the company Trump keeps. Oh, and where is the demand that he stop using anti-Semitic imagery to signal to his hating followers that he is one of them -- and lying about it and defending it at the same time? Where is the demand that he stop lying that that is what he is doing? Oh, silly, no apology needed! He has a Jewish son-in-law, and his daughter converted. So that makes it all A-Okay. Guess what, if having a Jewish son-in-law and daughter means he can't be an anti-Semite or support anti-Semitism, then it must mean he can't be a misogynist, either -- hey, he has a daughter, right? And no one with a daughter could possibly be a misogynist.
What about Trump's fraud victims? Do they get an apology? Would that make their victimization okay?
What about the disabled? Do they get an apology? Of course not! Trump was not actually mocking the disabled when he was mocking the disabled; who could possibly think that?
And all those business owners and vendors he cheated? Do they get an apology? That will make it all all right, won't it?
No apology is going to make Trump okay, or your support for him okay. No apology can make this right. What kind of a fool would believe any apology coming from him, anyway? Has this man done or said a single thing in his campaign to suggest he is actually sorry, that he "gets" it or is capable of change or wants to do so?
The man who tweeted from 3 to 5:30 am after the debate that Alicia Machado was a fat slut who made a sex tape? Who obviously views women as slabs of meat available for male consumption at their will, but only the best meat, the meat he rates a 10, and if he doesn't like the meat, it's worthless anyway? The man who looks to fire women who he thinks aren't attractive enough? The man who says pregnancy is an inconvenience to employers? Who says that women who are sexually harassed should get new jobs? The man who tried to have Nancy O'Dell fired for rejecting his advances, on the pretext that he didn't like her looks? (And what kind of "advances"? Did he try kissing her? Or, did he try to "grab [her] pussy"?) The man who, a May 2016 New York Times article reveals, has a multi-decade legacy of unwanted "sexual advances" toward women? The man who smirked when asked by Megyn Kelly about calling women fat pigs, dogs, and slobs, and then yucked it up on the debate stage because it was ok to attack Rosie O'Donnell that way -- because hey, everyone knows she's fat, amiright, and then complained that his female interrogator wasn't "nice" and had "blood coming out of her wherever"? The man who mocked Carly Fiorina's face? The man who says Clinton doesn't look presidential and lacks stamina and who uses his adultering, spitting surrogates to suggest she is unhealthy, or even has epilepsy? The man who has several times urged his supporters to assassinate his female rival? The man who laughs at and encourages "Trump that Bitch" and "kill the bitch" and "hang the bitch" and "lock her up" and whose most visible supporters in the media also call Clinton a "cunt" (Ted Nugent, Roger Stone,etc)? The man who was asked about what part of his infant daughter came from his then-wife Marla Maples and started talking about her breasts? The man who is right now facing a lawsuit for raping a 13 year-old girl? The man whose ex-wife accused him of raping her? The man whose close adviser is serial sexual harasser Roger Ailes? The man whose mouthbreathing repulsive misogyny is worn like a mantle of pride on his privileged orange skin, but for whom this is just what a rich man is entitled to? We are supposed to believe any apology coming out of the mouth of this man?
I didn't see you asking for his apology before now. Why is that, GOP?
Answer me, what kind of an idiot do you think I am that I would buy a fraudulent apology from a man whose entire existence was built on fraud? And even if I were stupid enough to buy it, why would that ever be enough to overcome everything else he has done and never apologized for and is still saying, and that you are still willing to ignore?
Mexicans are rapists and drug dealers? Can we get an apology and can he eat a taco, and then it will magically be ok; what do you think, Mitch? Would a "I've grown so much on this campaign, Judge Curiel, I'm now sure that even though you are Mexican you might be able to adjudicate my case" make it all okay, Mitch? Would that justify calling for the deportation of millions? Equating immigrants with criminality? Lying about the immigration rate? Would that apology help the man Trump's supporters attacked and beat in his name, which Trump then shrugged off as them being "passionate"?
How about for Muslims? Where is the demand that he apologize for suggesting they be banned from the U.S., or placed on a registry, or their places of worship surveilled? Where is the demand that he apologize for his Islamophobia subjecting Muslims to increased threats and hate crimes across the country? Where is the demand that Trump apologize for lying that he saw "thousands" of Muslims cheering 9/11? Where is the condemnation for Trump's promise to torture people, violate international law, order the commission of war crimes, and violate the Constitution? Oh, you didn't need an apology for those statements and ideas! Those comments and that violence was directed toward Muslims! Those are awesome! (Yes, I know you thought the attacks on the Khans were bad, I know you hated those, but only because he attacked a Gold Star family; not because he attacked a Muslim family. That was embarrassing, for you, I know, but even then, only a couple of you "even suggested" -- the NYT's words -- that he apologize to the Khans.)
How about for African-Americans? Where is the demand that he apologize for his birtherism? Did you ever demand it? No, other than Ben Carson and John Kasich this past September, you did not. And you gave that press conference, that non-apology, media-pwning hotel infomercial in which he "declared" Obama is a citizen, a total pass. Where is the demand that he apologize for taking out a full-page ad supporting the execution of the Central Park Five, or that he acknowledge that they were innocent victims of coerced confessions? Because he doubled down on that just this week. Where is the demand that he apologize for discriminating for years against African-Americans seeking to rent in his buildings? Where is the demand that he apologize for his treatment of African-Americans at his casinos? Where is the demand that he apologize for suggesting that African-Americans' lives are a twisted dystopian hell of drugs, poverty, guns, and desolation, devoid of accomplishment? Where is the demand that he apologize for inciting attendees at his rallies to beat up African-American protesters? Where is the demand that he apologize for inciting violence and offering to pay the legal fees of those who engage in it? Where is the demand for the apology for his lie that BLM activists instigated the deaths of Dallas police officers? Is there any apology that would make all this okay? Well, you haven't asked him for one, so I guess it doesn't matter to you, anyway. Bring on Guiliani and his racist screeds! Let's not disavow him, either, right GOP? We should just stop all this nonsense about racism and implicit bias, right, Mike Pence? As if any of you would ask Trump to apologize for racism toward African-Americans, after eight years of your collective mistreatment and disrespect of our President.
And what about for Jews? Where is the demand from the GOP that Trump disavow the KKK, the alt-right, and the rising tide of anti-Semitism that he has brought out of the shadows, so that Jewish journalists' lives are routinely threatened, and kids are experiencing anti-Jewish hatred for real for the first time in their lives? Ha, ha, ha! Don't be silly! Steve Bannon, of Breitbart News, is now CEO of his campaign, and Bannon is a hero of the alt right, but whatever, he brought some discipline to the campaign, so that's all cool -- no need to worry about the company Trump keeps. Oh, and where is the demand that he stop using anti-Semitic imagery to signal to his hating followers that he is one of them -- and lying about it and defending it at the same time? Where is the demand that he stop lying that that is what he is doing? Oh, silly, no apology needed! He has a Jewish son-in-law, and his daughter converted. So that makes it all A-Okay. Guess what, if having a Jewish son-in-law and daughter means he can't be an anti-Semite or support anti-Semitism, then it must mean he can't be a misogynist, either -- hey, he has a daughter, right? And no one with a daughter could possibly be a misogynist.
What about Trump's fraud victims? Do they get an apology? Would that make their victimization okay?
What about the disabled? Do they get an apology? Of course not! Trump was not actually mocking the disabled when he was mocking the disabled; who could possibly think that?
And all those business owners and vendors he cheated? Do they get an apology? That will make it all all right, won't it?
And what about for the American public, generally? Where is the demand that he stop lying to us? That he stop saying he did not say things we all watched him say? Ha ha ha! How silly of me to suggest that -- his oh-so-pure-and-Christian running mate, Mike Pence, also likes to lie and pretend that things Trump said that we all saw him say were not actually said. Of course you can't demand that Trump stop lying, when the way you deal, as a party, with Trump's lies is to lie about his lies. "He didn't say that." or "He didn't mean that." or "He is telling it like it is." or "People are tired of political correctness." Or "he was kidding" or "he was being sarcastic" or "He actually did great in the debate" or "He is a great businessman." Why ask for an apology or deal with his pathological lying, when instead, you can deflect with "Benghazi! Emails!"
Where is the demand that he disclose his taxes?
Where is the demand that he disclose his conflicts of interest so that the American public and Congress can know where Trump's business interests are at stake?
Where is the demand that he stop fomenting insurrection and violence by encouraging his supporters to "monitor" voters "in certain areas" and telling them that if he loses the election will be rigged?
Where is the demand that he apologize for his McCarthy-esque tactics against his critics -- lies, character assassination, and threats?
We all know that you have made no such demands. You have not turned from him, through all of this. You know what he is, and you have stuck with him. You have agreed to vote for him.
How dare you people suggest that an apology could magically erase what Trump has shown us about who he is. That an apology would somehow make this unqualified and repulsive excuse for a man, so transparently unfit to hold any office, acceptable.
And now that he has fake-apologized, GOP, you cannot possibly believe that you have threaded this needle successfully. Did you read that joke of a non-apology? You cannot spin that as a real apology, even if an actual apology could have made a difference--which it could not. When Trump said his comments do not reflect who he is, do you think there is a a person alive who believed him? You know you do not believe him. Neither do we.
And if you stick with him now? What of it? You have stuck with him up until now. Why should this make a difference; why is this the final straw? Should we believe this is the final straw, when none of his other indecencies were deplorable enough for you to walk away? What is different now?
What's different is that his poll numbers tanked after the debate and the election is a month away. I believe this video is the final straw the way I believe Trump's apology. Forget it, GOP. You may not say the things Trump says, but you enabled him every step of the way, and you did it because you want the White House even if it means giving an unhinged hateful fraud and ignoramus access to the nuclear codes -- the country and the world be damned. You were not all as eager as Billy Bush, but you were with Trump just the same, and you never once did the right thing this entire endless election season; you would not take a stand.
Just like Trump, you have shown us who and what you are. I hope you all go down. God knows you deserve to.
Where is the demand that he disclose his taxes?
Where is the demand that he disclose his conflicts of interest so that the American public and Congress can know where Trump's business interests are at stake?
Where is the demand that he stop fomenting insurrection and violence by encouraging his supporters to "monitor" voters "in certain areas" and telling them that if he loses the election will be rigged?
Where is the demand that he apologize for his McCarthy-esque tactics against his critics -- lies, character assassination, and threats?
We all know that you have made no such demands. You have not turned from him, through all of this. You know what he is, and you have stuck with him. You have agreed to vote for him.
How dare you people suggest that an apology could magically erase what Trump has shown us about who he is. That an apology would somehow make this unqualified and repulsive excuse for a man, so transparently unfit to hold any office, acceptable.
And now that he has fake-apologized, GOP, you cannot possibly believe that you have threaded this needle successfully. Did you read that joke of a non-apology? You cannot spin that as a real apology, even if an actual apology could have made a difference--which it could not. When Trump said his comments do not reflect who he is, do you think there is a a person alive who believed him? You know you do not believe him. Neither do we.
And if you stick with him now? What of it? You have stuck with him up until now. Why should this make a difference; why is this the final straw? Should we believe this is the final straw, when none of his other indecencies were deplorable enough for you to walk away? What is different now?
What's different is that his poll numbers tanked after the debate and the election is a month away. I believe this video is the final straw the way I believe Trump's apology. Forget it, GOP. You may not say the things Trump says, but you enabled him every step of the way, and you did it because you want the White House even if it means giving an unhinged hateful fraud and ignoramus access to the nuclear codes -- the country and the world be damned. You were not all as eager as Billy Bush, but you were with Trump just the same, and you never once did the right thing this entire endless election season; you would not take a stand.
Just like Trump, you have shown us who and what you are. I hope you all go down. God knows you deserve to.
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