Is there an explanation of any kind on offer about why Trump remains relatively immune from these allegations to date?
Judgeships. Tax cuts for the wealthy. Any other plan that ruins the country but benefits GOP leadership.
Pelosi called for Conyers to resign. So did Jim Clyburn (saw it on twitter). I suspect he will resign soon. I also suspect that this means that the Democratic leadership, at least tentatively, has mostly concluded the behind-the-scenes arguing about the way to respond to these sorts of allegations, which gives me hope that soon they’ll ask Franken to resign as well (and such a request may happen privately before it goes public – i.e. they ask Franken to resign, and tell him that if he does not, they will publicly call for him to resign, and if the party is mostly unified in that then he will have to).
The only one I can think of is Dinsdale-style:
AFAIK, the allegations against Trump came out during the campaign or before, and the voters took them into consideration.
That’s a good question. I think part of it is that many of his supporters like that he’s not an “establishment politician”. But the GOP seems to be much, much, much more OK with ignoring ethics in order to consolidate political power. But probably part of it is that his supporters like that he’s not a “regular politician”.
With each new allegation against Franken, I lose my ability to take the thought of it being anything more than an accident too seriously. I feel that every other set of allegations in the news lately is undoubtedly a serious offense where the victim is a victim of somebody behaving as a sexual aggressor.
I hate to say it, but I feel the hug gropers (not Tweeden) are the victims of their perception, the situation they’re all in and Franken’s hugging style. That said, Franken needs to think more about how he hugs people for photos because he’s giving people the impression he is doing something he does not intend. A lot.
About freakin’ time.
And yeah, this needs to happen, and happen quickly.
God, I hope not. Especially considering the Franken allegations are not even in the same ballpark as what Conyers did.
I think I probably misunderstood. Are you saying that the more women that say he groped them during a photo, the more you believe they’re all just misunderstanding innocent acts by Franken? Like, if it was one or two, you’d find that credible, but if it’s a dozen, they’re all probably wrong?
Some men like to grope surreptitiously when they get a chance. Is that really harder to believe than that multiple women are 100% wrong about whether or not they were groped?
Your attitude is crazy (and harmful), IMO. People tend to know when they were touched inappropriately. Maybe very occasionally they misinterpret something… but multiple women, all of whom at the time told friends and family that they were groped? That seems far less likely than just that Franken likes to grope when he thinks he can get away with it.
The people I’ve spoken with - mostly women, mostly D - have several concerns. While admitting that the climate of workplace sexual interactions has changed - which is undoubtedly a very good thing, everyone i’ve spoken with has concerns about the degree of repercussions that should result, depending on the egregiousness (reflecting several factors) of the purported action, pattern of behavior as opposed to isolated incidents, and various aspects of the accusations. Many people have expressed a dislike for precipitously imposing punishment based on allegations. Other people have been concerned about applying today’s “morality” to remote actions.
Everyone I’ve spoken with feels some level of distasteful behavior does not automatically disqualify someone from being able to hold public office. And no one has expressed an opinion that the accusations against AF so far warrant his resignation.
All plausible reasons except that the GOP has Pence on the sidelines, probably champing at the bit to become POTUS.
Not that I prefer Pence over Trump. I loath them both. In fact, I think Pence is the more dangerous of the two in that he is likely to be more competent in delivering on GOP agenda.
Surely the GOP leadership has made this calculation. They might even salvage some semblance of “doing the right thing” by dumping Trump. Yet they continue to support him. Why, is what I can’t figure out.
I think a lot of the party leadership is afraid that if they outwardly oppose Trump, they will be primaried in the next election, and lose to some Trump lackey. I really think they are motivated more by fear of loss of power than anything else. Trump is such wildcard, though. Like in Survivor, my own sense is you want to get rid of the wildcards. But it’s a scary thing to do when you think it will likely backfire.
If a guy grabbed another guy’s butt during a photo shoot, would you dismiss it as part of his ‘hugging style’? Do you think anyone would but the story? The idea that a whole group of women aren’t qualified to determine if someone is putting their hands on inappropriate areas of their body is just completely out to lunch, and the idea that a man in his 50s somehow has spent decades unintentionally groping people is just absurd. Yeah, a gangly teenager might screw up and grab a boob by mistake during a photo, but once you’re approaching the half-century mark I think you’ve gotten a grip (no pun intended) on whether you are grabbing a boob or butt.
I guess it depends on the meaning of ‘backfire.’ Trump is doing real damage to our alliances, turning a blind eye to the threat Russia represents, and there’s a nontrivial possibility that he might get us involved in a nuclear exchange. (The chance might be small, but the consequences would be yuuuuge.)
Is it worth a Congresscritter’s sacrificing his/her political career to take a stand against this? I’d hope so, but my hopes have been disappointed so far, and I’m not seeing any change on the horizon.
By my lights, the Republicans in office are a bunch of worthless apparatchiks who are willing to sell their country down the river to remain in good with their party. They may not be guilty of an actual crime under the heading of ‘treason,’ but AFAIAC, they’re traitors.
I was speaking purely from a political perspective. If we’re discussing putting country first, then yes, every Republican should be publicly rebuking Trump. He’s a disgrace to the office of the president and a danger to the country.
I don’t think there’s a consequence-free way to replace Trump with Pence. What are the options? Impeach him? 25th Amendment? Pressure him to resign?
Any of those would appear to hold rather obvious and rather severe electoral consequences for the GOP as a whole, don’t you think? Or do you really imagine a scenario where impeaching Trump leads to big GOP gains in the House and Senate?
Several years ago I attempted to catch a departing female colleague’s attention by touching her shoulder, she turned around as my arm was extending and I… accidentally basically ended up administering a boob slap*. Mumbled a “sorry” and We.Never.Spoke.Of.It.Again.
Until the last few days as these allegations have been piling up in the media about various men. I asked her about it (we have remained friends) and how could she be so sure it was actually an accident. Her answer was that my face was one of mortified disbelief. According to her women can always tell, since the “accident” guys typically instantly seize up and become awkward. Not sure how accurate that is though since its based on a subjective assessment.
*Apparently I ended up causing a bruise. 
Yes actually. Several studies have attested that men and women perceive actions differently with men especially being less likely to perceive an action as threatening. There is a good chance that absent additional context, such an action might be perceived as being playful, friendly or at worst intending to kid or annoy.