Firstly, we’re talking about what guys “trash talk” about, not about what they actually do. Secondly, there isn’t anything in the video/audio that is “sexual assault”. He claims:
*Trump: Yeah, that’s her. With the gold. I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything.
Bush: Whatever you want.
Trump: Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.*
They let you do it. There isn’t anything in there that says something along the lines of “she tried to get away, but I grabbed her anyway”. Now, you might question whether they really “let” him do it, but that is what he is claiming.
If I’m missing something, please quote the part where there is a clear act of sexual assault. Here is the transcript.
That’s not womanxplaining, that’s common sense. It’s a friggen crime. If anyone did that to my daughters or my wife, they’d have the dogs turned loose on them.
Wow, just wow. Trump walks up to a female who feels intimidated by him, then gropes her, and says, “she let me do it?” Like she expected to be molested by this animal?
I think a few officers tried that approach at a Tailhook convention. I don’t remember, how did that work out for them? (well I do remember actually)
ETA, the sexual assault is grabbing their crotch WITHOUT CONSENT. Show me the consent.
Some big Guy comes up to you and grabs you by the genitals- that’s not assault? Yeah they let him do it, according to him- not according to at least one alleged victim of his genital grabbing, but hey. Ignore for a second how the women supposedly reacted. He was grabbing women by the genitals, according to his own words.
I don’t even wait and I just start kissing them. The fact that he interprets someone’s possibly shocked non-response to them letting him do it is neither here nor there. Heck the possibility that some career-minded young lady might tolerate it to get closer to wealth and power is really neither here nor there either. You march up to someone and start groping and kissing them without explanation you’re wandering into assault territory.
I’m definitely not defending the guy, but I think it is a step further than that. Trump is not claiming that he walks up and grabs women by the pussy, just that he could and they would not complain. Much along the lines of “I could shoot a guy in the face and my poll numbers won’t drop.”
He is simply bragging that a man with his star power makes women swoon so much that he could actually grab them and they would not complain. It is a terrible thing to say, but the claims that he is advocating (or has performed) any sexual assaults are a step too far.
It’s scary that you actually have to explain this. I am thankful to Og that I never had encounter someone like that. It’s happened to women I know, and none of then went to the police because many times you have more to lose by doing so. Do I have to explain why too?
Hey, hey, HEY - that’s Arnold Schwarzenegger’s rightfully granted nickname. Trump can get his own :D.
I wouldn’t discount people who also were deciding on whether to vote for Trump or not at all. An equally large effect may be just to depress the overall GOP vote as people stay home. Hence the Republican party’s terror that Trump may drag some down ballot races down with him.
I’m a guy and my experience is that that’s not the way it is. I hang out with all kinds of guys - young, old, urban, rural, blue collar and white collar and while there is “locker room talk” stuff like what Trump said just isn’t acceptable. Most guys are honorable.
I spent my college years travelling across the Midwest for hours and hours on buses with baseball players, not exactly known as the most sympathetic and honorable guys. Spend three hours on a bus with us and you’ll hear stuff that would curl your hair. Brag about sexual assault, though, and you wouldn’t just be ostracized, the seniors would take you to the bullpen behind the ad signs and “educate” you. It was our own form of Sharia Law, in a manner of speaking.
Trump didn’t just cross the line, he didn’t even know there was one.
At this point, the only people who will vote for him are the deplorables. There’s no chance he’ll win. A vote for Trump isn’t a vote for President–it’s a vote in support of the person Trump his revealed himself to be.