# \[Politician\] would do anything for money - sexual? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 12, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politician-would-do-anything-for-money-sexual/804293 "2017-12-12T16:50:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politician-would-do-anything-for-money-sexual/804293/41 "2017-12-12T20:32:43Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > The sense I’m getting is that the insult itself is pretty neutral but since it’s Trump people are spinning it as sexual. > > ISTM that Trump has a tendency to insult people with everything he can think of. But in particular to claim that people who he dislikes previously came to him begging for something (money, endorsement, jobs etc.) and are now turning on him. This has mostly been directed at men in the past (Schumer, Corker, Comey etc. etc. etc.) and I think Gillibrand is just another on that list. ‘That woman is such a bad person, let me tell you how bad. She came into my office begging me for money and told me she’d do “anything” for it.’ Unambiguously about sex. What else makes it an insult? What else could he mean? Yes, he insults everyone, and that isn’t news. But it’s also 100% clear that he’s calling her a whore, while also saying [subtext]heh, heh, the whore wants my cock. I’m such a stud[/subtext]. And, to respond to **adaher** , when people call politicians “whores” in common parlance it has a very different meaning than the usage in this statement by the president. The President of the United States made a public statement in which he clearly and directly accused a member of Congress of offering him sexual favors for money. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politician-would-do-anything-for-money-sexual/804293/42 "2017-12-12T20:43:44Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > [Trump sends sexually suggestive and demeaning tweet about Gillibrand](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/12/12/trump-sends-sexually-suggestive-and-demeaning-tweet-about-gillibrand/?utm_term=.68963f446979)"Would do anything for money" is a pretty standard, non-sexual, insult, and in particular when directed at politicians, whose willingness to sell their office for money is a pretty common trope. > > ISTM that this is an example of the double standard inherent in dealing with female politicians, who are hailed as “strong” when they dish it out, but protected when they attract some return fire. And in a case when the attack can be spun into some sexist theme, all the better. Context matters, F-P. In your rush to defend Trump, you neglect to mention that Gillibrand is leading a group of Senators calling for an investigation into Trump’s voluminous accusers and, in fact, just yesterday called for the Dotard to resign. Of course it’s sexual in nature. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politician-would-do-anything-for-money-sexual/804293/43 "2017-12-12T21:49:26Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Gillibrand is respected just fine, other than the fact that she’s a political chameleon who was a Blue Dog in the House and a progressive in the Senate. And if there’s one thing Trump hasn’t lied about, it’s how politicians grovel to get to that money. And the reason they do this is because accepting money from special interests, or pandering to superPACs to support them is the way candidates fund the multimillion dollar media campaigns necessary to get elected, a fact that Trump used to his advantage as a political donor and real estate huckster and promotional mogul to benefit his businesses. If you were genuinely upset about how badly broken campaign finance is you’d be agitating for campaign finance reform rather than prevaricating about the appropriateness of Trump’s comment. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > Trump isn’t “mainstream”-He is “piss stream”. Like a Bond villain somehow caught in a urolagniac porn movie. In the final showdown between Donald Goldtrumpster and a bumbling dispsomaniac British spy fighting each other with urine-filled SuperSoakers, the reprobate creeper is betrayed by Melania and then sucked down into a Florida sinkhole, never to be seen again. Putin throttles his long haired white cat and vows vengence against spymaster Barack Obama for once again foiling his plans. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politician-would-do-anything-for-money-sexual/804293/44 "2017-12-12T22:08:30Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > The context: It was a _direct_ response to being accused of sexual misdeeds. Also consider that three other senators also said at the same time that Trump should resign, but Trump hasn’t attacked any of them. It could be that Trump picked one randomly, or he attacked the only female senator telling him to resign. If I knew nothing about Trump I might give his statement the benefit of the doubt, but knowing his history I see no reason to give him that now. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politician-would-do-anything-for-money-sexual/804293/45 "2017-12-12T22:14:51Z")
> [@snoe](#): > > As Kevin Drum pointed out today, getting everybody to argue about whether this was sexual or not may well have been Trump’s goal – _because it means People Are Talking About Trump_. There is no such thing as good or bad press to this particular narcissist; there are only good and bad _ratings_. Would you go so far as to say that Trump would do anything for attention? ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politician-would-do-anything-for-money-sexual/804293/46 "2017-12-12T22:19:28Z")
> [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > Also consider that three other senators also said at the same time that Trump should resign, but Trump hasn’t attacked any of them. It could be that Trump picked one randomly, or he attacked the only female senator telling him to resign. There’s also a third possibility, which you’ve omitted. Trump is from NY, as is Sen Gillibrand. It’s likely he’s most focused on Gillibrand for this reason alone, but beyond that, and considering Trump’s history it’s quite possible that she did in fact (successfully?) attempt to raise money from him at some point in the past. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politician-would-do-anything-for-money-sexual/804293/47 "2017-12-12T22:24:51Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > There’s also a third possibility, which you’ve omitted. > > Trump is from NY, as is Sen Gillibrand. It’s likely he’s most focused on Gillibrand for this reason alone, but beyond that, and considering Trump’s history it’s quite possible that she did in fact (successfully?) attempt to raise money from him at some point in the past. Yeah, but I doubt she offered to fuck him ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politician-would-do-anything-for-money-sexual/804293/48 "2017-12-12T22:37:44Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > Trump knows how to get people to pay attention to him in the manner of idiots all over, by saying something outrageous. > > I was referring to the notion that he deliberately selects ambiguous language, such that people fall to arguing about what he meant. That’s well beyond him, IMO.It doesn’t seem to me that Trump has learned anything of any sort. You’re still giving him far too much credit. Not only does he not deliberately select ambiguous language, he doesn’t comment to get people to pay attention to him. He’s already found that if he just says whatever obnoxious, simplistic garbage comes into his mind (what there is of it), people pay lots of attention. Someone who’s as egotistical as he does is apt to think that’s because he’s hit upon yet another great truth. You’d think performing verbal acrobatics to spin Trump’s phrasing into something less damaging would get exhausting for his defenders and that eventually, it’d occur to them that someone whose phrasing needs rationalization so often might, in fact, actually BE an offensive jerk. Apparently not. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politician-would-do-anything-for-money-sexual/804293/49 "2017-12-12T22:48:52Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > You’re still giving him far too much credit. Not only does he not deliberately select ambiguous language, he doesn’t comment to get people to pay attention to him. He’s already found that if he just says whatever obnoxious, simplistic garbage comes into his mind (what there is of it), people pay lots of attention. Someone who’s as egotistical as he does is apt to think that’s because he’s hit upon yet another great truth. > > You’d think performing verbal acrobatics to spin Trump’s phrasing into something less damaging would get exhausting for his defenders and that eventually, it’d occur to them that someone whose phrasing needs rationalization so often might, in fact, actually BE an offensive jerk. Apparently not. The part that’s hard to understand is your first sentence. Because everything else you’ve written is very much in line with what I’ve been saying here. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politician-would-do-anything-for-money-sexual/804293/50 "2017-12-12T23:09:04Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > The part that’s hard to understand is your first sentence. Because everything else you’ve written is very much in line with what I’ve been saying here. No, it’s not. It’s line with what you’ve been doing, not what you’ve been saying. You are performing acrobatics to spin Trump’s clearly sexist remark into something banal. You have failed to acknowledge that the odious, simplistic version is most likely to be the true one. You keep contorting yourself to find some way to argue that Trump’s tweet meant something other than the obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politician-would-do-anything-for-money-sexual/804293/51 "2017-12-12T23:16:00Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > No, it’s not. It’s line with what you’ve been doing, not what you’ve been saying. You are performing acrobatics to spin Trump’s clearly sexist remark into something banal. You have failed to acknowledge that the odious, simplistic version is most likely to be the true one. You keep contorting yourself to find some way to argue that Trump’s tweet meant something other than the obvious. Well that’s all fine with me, and I’ll stand by everything I’ve said in this thread, denunciations by people like yourself notwithstanding. What I do object to is the attempts to twist my words into something that they’re not, understandable as that urge may be for those who have nothing else to offer. And nothing I’ve said in this thread in any way implies that Trump does not say “whatever obnoxious, simplistic garbage comes into his mind” (to the contrary, I’ve repeatedly said that this typifies his approach), or that Trump is not “an offensive jerk”. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politician-would-do-anything-for-money-sexual/804293/52 "2017-12-12T23:38:21Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > ISTM that Trump has a tendency to insult people with everything he can think of. And a bare, ramshackle arsenal it be. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politician-would-do-anything-for-money-sexual/804293/53 "2017-12-13T02:27:42Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > The part that’s hard to understand is your first sentence. Because everything else you’ve written is very much in line with what I’ve been saying here. I was referring to your statement that he has a tendency to say things in order to garner attention. I have no doubt he wallows in the attention, but I don’t think he has the ability to determine what the most attention-getting tweet might be. That would entail even a mild ability to analyze, and he lacks that. If I misunderstood your intention, my apologies. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politician-would-do-anything-for-money-sexual/804293/54 "2017-12-13T03:00:20Z")
> [@snoe](#): > > It’s not beyond him at all. He’s gotten in trouble for being too explicit before – I’m sure the Access Hollywood tape coming out was a long dark day or so of the soul for him. He’s capable of getting close to the electric fence now that he’s been shocked a few dozen times. > > That doesn’t make him a fucking genius. Indeed. He’s an ass, but anyone that thinks he’s across-the-board incompetent is massively misunderstanding him. He’s a goddamned genius at PR and demagoguery, and one of his favorite techniques, used OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER in the past two years, is this smirking, shrugging, “What, me? Naw, I wouldn’t say that” happy slappy bullshit. From “second amendment remedies” to “out of her whatever” to the things he said about protesters as they were led from his rallies, he loves the ambiguous innuendo, where he can pretend he’s being nice while all his chucklefuck followers snort and giggle at his wit. He only knows the one trick, but he knows it. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politician-would-do-anything-for-money-sexual/804293/55 "2017-12-13T05:17:39Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > Are there examples where he used that insult against male politicians? Or is it only a woman? What we need(_) is a computerized record of all Trump’s tweets and other vomitings and to make a Concordance. (_-“Need” as in: I need to keep banging my head since it feels so good when I stop.) One hit I did get was @realDonaldTrump Who wouldn’t take Kate’s picture and make lots of money is she does the nude sunbathing thing. Come on Kate! implying that he, DJT, while perhaps not doing “anything” for money, would surreptitiously photograph Kate Middleton’s breasts for profit. > [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Lately? This is Trump’s _modus operandi_: accusing others of behaviors and actions he himself has engaged in. This is nothing new, and in fact it is all part of the “always hit back” strategy he (or at least, his ghostwriter) outlines in _The Art of the Deal_ … > … regardless of whether it was intended as a sexaul innuendo or not it was still grossly inappropriate behavior for a sitting president, or indeed, an adult human being in the public sphere, to engage in and smacks of pure narcissism in suggesting that the “Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand” had subjugated herself to him in “begging” for money. Yes, the on-going tragedy of this “President” is too huge for a sexual slur to add or detract. Recall just a few days ago when the White House was unable to answer when asked “Does POTUS support banning Muslims from serving in Congress?” ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politician-would-do-anything-for-money-sexual/804293/56 "2017-12-13T06:21:44Z")
This one seems to have pushed USA Today over the edge. They just published a scathing piece attributed to their editorial board. Will Trump’s lows ever hit rock bottom? > **[Will Trump's lows ever hit rock bottom?](https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/12/12/trump-lows-ever-hit-rock-bottom-editorials-debates/945947001/)** > > A president who'd all but call a senator a whore is unfit to clean toilets in Obama's presidential library or to shine George W. Bush's shoes: Our view “Obama and Bush both failed in many ways. They broke promises and told untruths, but the basic decency of either man was never in doubt. Trump, on the other hand, is uniquely awful. His sickening behavior is corrosive to the enterprise of a shared governance based on common values and the consent of the governed.” That’s my favorite part, bu there’s other really strong stuff about him not being fit to clean the toilets in the Barack Obama Presidential Library or to shine Bush’s shoes. And this isn’t some progressive outlet or the Trump-hating Daily News. This is USA Today. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politician-would-do-anything-for-money-sexual/804293/57 "2017-12-13T13:19:21Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > Well that’s all fine with me, and I’ll stand by everything I’ve said in this thread, denunciations by people like yourself notwithstanding. So you stand by the patently sexist thing you said in the OP? Good to know. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politician-would-do-anything-for-money-sexual/804293/58 "2017-12-13T14:15:16Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > There’s also a third possibility, which you’ve omitted. > > Trump is from NY, as is Sen Gillibrand. It’s likely he’s most focused on Gillibrand for this reason alone, but beyond that, and considering Trump’s history it’s quite possible that she did in fact (successfully?) attempt to raise money from him at some point in the past. According to [this source](https://ballotpedia.org/History_of_Donald_Trump%27s_political_donations): > [@Ballotpedia.com](#): > > Trump’s last contribution to a Democratic member of Congress was Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.). In September 2010, he made two donations of $2,400 to her campaign. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politician-would-do-anything-for-money-sexual/804293/59 "2017-12-13T17:04:11Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > And a bare, ramshackle arsenal it be. Arrrrgh! Tis’ well-said, Matey, in a fine Pirate brogue! ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politician-would-do-anything-for-money-sexual/804293/60 "2017-12-13T17:07:37Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > “Would do anything for money” So would your mom. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politician-would-do-anything-for-money-sexual/804293.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politician-would-do-anything-for-money-sexual/804293.md?page=4)