https://mobile.twitter.com/leahmcelrath/status/784614267383386112
Oct 7
🌈 @leahmcelrath
I'm just going to set this here. It's Trump's "apology" video statement. https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10157844642270725&id=153080620724&_rdr …
Trump's statement is an eerie replica of psychological manipulations made by abusers after episodes of abuse. Let's break it down.
9:39 PM - 7 Oct 2016
1. "I'm not perfect" = you're expectations I behave like a human being are unreasonable pic.twitter.com/Tzh26Bohwk
2. "I've never pretended to be someone I'm not" = you fell in love with me so it's your fault pic.twitter.com/ans0HG5bhV
3. "this more than decade old video" = it was a long time ago, why the fuss? you're so unreasonable. pic.twitter.com/wFQyTOAo7S
4. "these words do not reflect who I am" = the reality you just experienced didn't actually happen (gaslighting) pic.twitter.com/8nuT9d9Hl6
The JBX @JimbauxsJournal
@leahmcelrath He wants us to think that this is a bug, when there's overwhelming evidence that it is a feature.
5. "I said it...I apologize" = get over it already, I *said* I'm sorry, you're being hysterical pic.twitter.com/mZ5dwpAnbd
6. "I've...my...me...I...I've...me...I...I..." = it's all about me; your needs, feelings, existence don't matter pic.twitter.com/ZfvcdRlXch
7. "grieving mothers...laid off workers..." = what are you complaining about? you have it good compared to others pic.twitter.com/HqgJ2zdWy9
8. "I pledge to be a better man tomorrow & will never let you down" = I'm sorry I hit you, it'll never happen again pic.twitter.com/8YHNpl7DMO
9. "Let's be honest" = you're not being honest pic.twitter.com/OIMVutn0mx
10. "We're living in the real world" = I'm sane and you're crazy pic.twitter.com/1FKhc8Ekq6
11. "This is nothing more than a distraction from the important issues" = see what you did?! this is all your fault! pic.twitter.com/QTZy0VIJK6
12. "we are less safe...Hillary..." = if you only held up your end of the relationship, I wouldn't have to hurt you pic.twitter.com/xr4zsK2b7w
13. "I've said some foolish things, but..." = you're being hysterical over nothing again, you're so crazy pic.twitter.com/n49aGoUJaI
14. "actually abused" = the abuse you experienced wasn't *really* abuse pic.twitter.com/rslMQ6sPm6
15. "We will discuss this more...See you...on Sunday" = I'm in control here, not you (with menacing implied threat) pic.twitter.com/MkpLTllNwy
Trump ends his statement of "apology" for bragging about sexually assaulting women w a promise to attack yet another woman more viciously.
I don't know who really wrote Trump's "apology" but it's hard to imagine a worse one and his delivery was...lacking. pic.twitter.com/PKmGN3MDC9
Still shaking my head: People really thought Trump might withdraw in his video statement. HE DOESN'T THINK HE DID ANYTHING WRONG.
Malignant narcissists like Trump NEVER NEVER NEVER admit to themselves or anyone else that they are at fault. They lack the capacity.
@leahmcelrath I hope a lot of people read your breakdown of the psychology of abuse embedded in Trump's speech, classic abuser language.
@leahmcelrath Is a whole nation sucked into complicity with a narcissistic abuser?
@leahmcelrath Guess after he gave this statement it is a cue for all his supporters to bow down at his feet! #NeverTrump
@leahmcelrath this is exactly what he is. His gaslighting & other typical of abusers behavior is not going unnoticed, i think. It's awful
@harriekd The one good thing is that his behaviors are being called out by many.
@leahmcelrath increasingly, I think. I just hope people are listening. I think the problem is the people who support him just don't care
Not a fan of HRC, but voting for her as only viable alternative (and out of respect for Bernie) to this "malignant narcissist" who has been known as such for a very long time. This man is not fit (and moreover never was).
https://newrepublic.com/article/137599/religious-rights-devotion-donald-trump-will-end-movement-know?utm_source=social&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=sharebtn
The Religious Right’s Devotion to Donald Trump Will End the Movement As We Know It
By Sarah Jones
October 9, 2016
The list of Republican senators, governors, and congressmen and women who have announced they’ll no longer vote for Donald Trump has grown to 46 as of Sunday morning. Yet the religious right hangs on. Conservative evangelicals, who form the core of the movement’s contemporary iteration, told various outlets this weekend that they still back the GOP nominee, despite Friday’s publication of a video in which Trump justifies sexual assault.
Tony Perkins, who heads the Family Research Council, told The Washington Post that he still backs Trump because he can’t “allow the country and culture to deteriorate” any further. Another prominent evangelical, Gary Bauer, told Reuters that the alternative is worse: Hillary Clinton, he argued, will “erode religious liberty” and “promote abortion,” among other sins. Rev. Robert Jeffress, an early Trump supporter, also said in a statement that Trump is still “the best candidate to reverse the downward spiral this nation is in.”
James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, even subtweeted Trump’s critics last night:
Lord, You have spoken plainly about the consequences of withholding forgiveness. Help us to hear You and obey. Amen.
— Dr. James Dobson (@DrJamesCDobson) October 8, 2016
And Sean Hannity, a Catholic who shares much in common with his evangelical brethren, compared Trump to King David on his Friday night show. But Donald Trump is not the King David Christians are looking for, and crowning him will cost them the political and cultural influence they’ve fought so hard to gain.
Rewind to Friday morning: We already knew that Trump was a racist. We also knew that he was a misogynist. We knew that he had humiliated Miss Universe Alicia Machado for her ethnicity and weight, and allegedly sexually harassed women on the set of The Apprentice. We knew that he’d repeatedly called women “fat pig” and “dog”; that he’d been accused of sexual assault; that he’d speculated about Megyn Kelly’s menstrual cycle on live television; that he’d said disturbing things about his daughter’s sexuality. The religious right still endorsed him.
Doing so made a certain pragmatic sense at the time. It guaranteed the movement leverage, which its operatives used to get Mike Pence on the Trump ticket. This also forced Trump to play Christian, which reinforced the conflation of Republican politics and religious values. But the game was only ever going to work if Trump managed to keep up the act—and that was about as likely as Franklin Graham endorsing Clinton.
Among his hardcore fans, Trump will survive these scandals; his supporters are now making that clear to his detractors. But his pious boosters can’t count on the same. Trump’s principal appeal to voters is his devotion to capitalism, not God. The religious right, meanwhile, pins itself to a claim of moral superiority. It always had more to lose.
Some evangelicals, like the Southern Baptist Convention’s Russell Moore, understand this, and have publicly criticized Trump’s convenient conversion. But their voices were never enough to sway the rank-and-file. The religious right was never as unique as it wanted everyone to believe, and now Trump has revealed the movement’s superiority to be the ruse it’s always been.
The religious right isn’t dead yet. But after this election becomes history, the movement will be forced to reckon with the consequences of its quest for power. Young adults, who overwhelmingly oppose Trump, are already leaving conservative churches, and the religious right’s Trump moment will surely only fuel this trend. If it had maintained a consistent public morality, maybe it could have retained some countercultural appeal. Now that its most visible leaders have sacrificed that authority, it has nothing left.
The statements of Perkins et al may well be considered their movement’s suicide note. Who will now believe they care for the sanctity of so-called “traditional marriage?” They anointed an infamous philanderer their standard-bearer. And who will believe they oppose abortion because they care for women? They backed a man who thinks sexual assault makes a good joke. Generations will remember their support for one of the most publicly misogynist and racist presidential candidates in American history.
In the Gospel of Matthew, Christ tells his disciples that no one can serve two masters; you’ll be loyal to one and not to the other. By endorsing Trump, the religious right chose a master—and sacrificed everything it says it stands for.
Truth: "By endorsing Trump, the religious right chose a master—and sacrificed everything it says it stands for."
"It's nothing but word salad but with shards of glass mixed in..."
Bernie video today:
"Above and beyond Mr. Trump’s attitude, ugly attitude, unacceptable attitude, predatory attitude toward women, we have learned something else over the last week. In one day Donald Trump did more to educate the American people about a corrupt tax system than I did in a year and a half."
"Whether Trump wins, loses or loses big, he has empowered fascists, racists and bigots. He did not create them, but he has legitimized them by becoming the nominee and openly expressing their heinous, hateful beliefs. This, to me, is one of the most frightening developments on a domestic level in the U.S. this election cycle. Trump may go away, but the people he has empowered will not."
Reminder: As a SOP to his Christian Evangelical base, Trump has promised that, if elected, he will have the Johnson
amendment repealed which prevents their tax-exempt churches from preaching for a candidate from he pulpit.
Back to the days of Father Coughlin !
Wow...looks like the DNC took over melrosemessages! There must be great nervousness that they need to inject their national political efforts into a local blog!
I get it now. You're allowed to expound ad infinitum whatever position you care to, but as soon as you hear something that differs from your opinion, you pull a Trump, point your finger and say "They did it." [:|]
Perfect Melrose fascism unleashed....
Did you hear the latest! Supposedly there are discussions going on between the White House and the Clinton organization - whether to give Hillary Clinton a pardon before Obama leaves the White House - which would protect her from future prosecution if it turns out that the release of future additional emails based on FOIA requests lead to a smoking gun which implicates her in a crime.
You can't make this stuff up - we would then have elected a President who was given a pardon by the previous President for crimes she had not yet been charged or convicted of. Can I say that if this turns out to be true and indeed happens - this would confirm the corruption of the entire executive branch and would precipitate a constitutional crisis - the likes which have never been seen before! All this under a Democrat administration! As the saying goes - vote your conscience!
I am sure there is an executive order for working around that.
"My loins are fruitless but my principles are clear: No human being — woman or man — should be regarded as a conquest or an amusement with a will subservient to someone else’s. That’s how Trump seems to treat most of the people in his life, and I object to that not as the brother of three admirable siblings (including a sister), not as the son of two extraordinary parents (including a mother), not as the uncle of many talented nieces and nephews, not as the partner of a wonderful man, and not as a friend to brilliant men and women whose welfare matters greatly to me.
I object to it as the citizen of a civilized society. I object to it because it threatens the people I don’t know as well as the people I do. I object to it because it’s wrong."
NY Times
Daughters and Trumps Frank Bruni OCT. 12, 2016
As the father of no daughters, I’m appalled by Donald Trump’s comments about groping women.
As the husband of no wife, I’m offended.
What, you ask, do my parental and marital status have to do with recognizing the outrage of what he said? I wonder, too. But they must be germane, because Republicans seem unable to censure Trump without invoking female spouses and especially offspring. In this version of Take Our Daughters to Work Day, the work is displaying concern for women, and the daughters are less protégées than props.
Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, used a written statement of displeasure with Trump to identify himself as “the father of three daughters.” This was apparently a wellspring of his pique, which didn’t rise to the level of actually rescinding his endorsement of Trump. Would a fourth daughter have done the trick? A fifth?
“As a husband and father” was how Mike Pence, who has a son and two daughters, commenced his own short-lived reprimand of Trump. Jeb Bush tweeted that he was “the grandfather of two precious girls.” In a debate in Arizona on Monday night, John McCain referred to his daughters.
Sometimes sons were mentioned, and sometimes female politicians did the mentioning. But the pattern of husbands standing up for wives and fathers looking out for daughters was most noticeable — and most discordant.
As Yochi Dreazen noted in a post for Vox, it cast men in the role of protectors and carried a stronger whiff of chivalry than of equality. It also defined women in terms of men and caring about them in terms of their places in men’s families.
“Every wife, mother, daughter — every person — deserves to be treated with dignity and respect,” tweeted Ted Cruz, who seemed to catch himself midsentence and realize what he was doing. So why not go back to the start of the tweet and undo it?
In much of this there was a familiar insinuation that parenthood is a singularly sensitizing, enlightening circumstance, giving someone a special stake in a more just world. But doesn’t Trump himself contradict that?
He’s a parent five times over. He’s a father of two daughters himself, and that’s a credential he carried with him into his nauseating exchange with Billy Bush in 2005 and into his vulgar conversations with Howard Stern across the years.
It didn’t prevent him from giving Stern permission to call Ivanka “a piece of ass.” It didn’t give him pause as he objectified Megyn Kelly, Carly Fiorina, Alicia Machado and so many other women. Trump could begin every sentence with the words “as the father of two daughters,” and while they’d be true, unlike three-quarters of what he says, they’d be a testament to nothing more than a history of unprotected intercourse.
Trump’s an egregious example but hardly an isolated one. McConnell’s three daughters obviously haven’t clued him in to the special challenges many women still face in the work force, because he has spoken and voted on legislation in a manner that minimizes those.
And while Scott Garrett, a Republican congressman from New Jersey, called himself “a husband and father of two daughters” when he assailed Trump’s remarks, he has taken positions against insurance coverage for mammograms and medical privacy for rape victims. What did the women in his life have to say about that?
There’s something off-key when lawmakers — Republicans or Democrats, in connection with Trump or in other instances — describe the importance of an issue in accordance with its relevance to the people closest to them and its proximity to their doorstep. Or when they present their descendants as the best proof of their investment in the future.
The message of that is antithetical to public service and political leadership, which are ideally about representing kin and strangers alike, casting the widest possible net of compassion and letting common values, not personal interests, be the compass.
My loins are fruitless but my principles are clear: No human being — woman or man — should be regarded as a conquest or an amusement with a will subservient to someone else’s. That’s how Trump seems to treat most of the people in his life, and I object to that not as the brother of three admirable siblings (including a sister), not as the son of two extraordinary parents (including a mother), not as the uncle of many talented nieces and nephews, not as the partner of a wonderful man, and not as a friend to brilliant men and women whose welfare matters greatly to me.
I object to it as the citizen of a civilized society. I object to it because it threatens the people I don’t know as well as the people I do. I object to it because it’s wrong.
Basic human decency? I would much rather vote for someone who may trash talk a little than an absolute criminal as Hilary is! How much documentation do you need to prove she is a criminal - how ethical or moral is such a person?
Get off your high horse and develop some sense of proportion! Read what she did in Haiti and the corruption which she took part in that country during their time of need - they don't want to even see the Clinton's down there any more even though they need help! Talk to the those relatives of survivors of Benganzi who she out-right lied to and yes - refused to protect, talk to women who Bill Clinton raped and brutalized and who Hillary defamed at ever opportunity, but most of all talk about all Syrian refugees that she helped to create - the largest refugee migration since World War II with her policies in Syria and Iraq! You want to talk about human decency and you think that Hillary is the answer? You should be ashamed of yourself for even thinking that Hillary meets any kind of HUMAN DECENCY Standard!
Apparently the previous poster does not believe that sexual assault (which Trump admitted to and bragged about) is a crime. q.e.d.
Anyone who drinks the fascist propaganda and thinks that sexual violence is okay is perfect for the Trump mentality. However, if you think that even many lifelong Republicans are in synch with this criminal and amoral conduct, you are an even bigger fool than you already put forward. Not a fan of HC, however, this heinous conduct by DT is a wakeup call that even many of the most diehard conservatives have taken to heart. This:
Colin Powell and Rice Agree: Benghazi Is A “Stupid Witch Hunt,” Trump Is A “Racist” By Grant Stern
Posted on September 14, 2016
Republican Colin Powell called Benghazi a “stupid witch hunt” and his successor as Secretary of State Condi Rice agreed with him, in a new email which leaked today, as reported by Buzzfeed:
“Benghazi is a stupid witch hunt. Basic fault falls on a courageous ambassador who thoughts Libyans now love me and I am ok in this very vulnerable place,” Powell wrote in a December 2015 email exchange with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about US Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, who died in the 2012 incident.
“Completely agree,” Rice responds, adding, “Let me know when you’re in town and we’ll have that glass of wine (or two).”
House Republicans have wasted millions of taxpayer dollars on seven successive investigations seeking to demonize Hillary Clinton for the tragic loss of four Americans in Libya. Colin Powell has heretofore resisted making this kind of candid statement in public, but it should come as no surprise to anyone who believes that he was promoted to oversee all of America’s armed forces because of his sound logic and meritorious service.
The Republican Powell also called Trump an “international pariah” and a “national disgrace” and showing the recency of the hack, told a colleague on August 21st:
“Yup, the whole birther movement was racist,” Powell wrote. “That’s what the 99% believe. When Trump couldn’t keep that up he said he also wanted to see if the certificate noted that he was a Muslim.”
Colin Powell’s emails were hacked and then leaked by a shady group called DCleaks.com which reportedly could have Russian ties, according to the Rupert Murdoch owned Wall Street Journal. At any rate, the former Republican Secretary of State has already confirmed their authenticity, so regardless of the source, we know it is a factual report. As Powell told BuzzFeed News in their original reporting, “I have no further comment. I’m not denying it.”
These candid conversations by the last two Republicans to serve our country as Secretary of State only serve to confirm Hillary Clinton’s deplorable treatment by GOP Congressmen in seizing on a foreign relations tragedy as the reason to endlessly investigate the Democrat whom all knew would run to become President of the United States this year. They also confirm that even Republicans know what the rest of the world has said about Donald Trump’s birther movement – that it was a racist band of angry white people who wanted to harass President Obama for being black, and when that failed, they turned to seeking religious tests in America for people of Muslim faith.
Luckily, the truth came out today, instead of after the election.
Oh, and for the record, our own local juvenile member of his own fascist party, RD, should have been dethroned long ago for the routine and many degrading comments he makes about virtually everyone the moment they are out of the room. Martha and Margaret and Jess and Cyndy and Liz and Ed and dozens more would be reduced to utter humiliation if he knew the cruel and degrading things he cackles about them to whatever gullible and stupid fans he happens to be holding captive with his disgusting spiels. No one is off limits for his cruelty in his sick world, same as The Donald. Won't even start with what he says about virtually each member of the BOA. Trash talk indeed. Yeah, it absolutely is about basic human decency, which neither DT nor RD--our local pariah and disgrace--possess.
He should be a little more careful about what he says when he is lunching with pals at Stearns. The walls have ears.
U.S. Embassy and Consulate Attacks Under George W. Bush
January 22, 2002: US consulate at Kolkata, 5 Killed
June 14, 2002: US Consulate at Karachi, 12 Killed
February 28, 2003: US Embassy at Islamabad, 2 Killed
June 30, 2004: US Embassy at Tashkent, 2 Killed
December 6, 2004: US Compound at Saudi Arabia, 9 Killed
March 2, 2006: US Consulate in Karachi, 2 Killed
September 12, 2006: US Embassy at Syria, 4 Killed
March 18, 2008 US Embassy at Yemen, 2 Killed
July 9, 2008: US Consulate at Istanbul, 6 Killed
September 17, 2008 US Embassy at Yemen, 16 Killed
TOTAL DEATHS: 60
OUTRAGED REPUBLICANS: 0
I agree that Basic Human Decency is in Question.
Trump is just about everything I was taught not to be, and it’s become almost all but impossible to hold onto whatever respect I once held for people I know who support him.
It doesn’t feel good to lose that respect. I was also taught to look for the good in people, and I still believe there’s good in almost everyone, but I find less of it when I hear people cheer for a man who embodies everything my father taught me to disdain: bullies, liars, blowhards, braggarts, and cheats. To me, championing a man who displays those behaviors on an almost daily basis demonstrates a fundamental flaw of character.
Based on what I was taught, you just don’t do the following: You don’t mock the disabled. You don’t disparage someone for being a prisoner of war, even if you disagree with their politics. You don’t take money from a proclaimed charitable foundation and use it to pay $20,000 for a painting of yourself to give to your spouse. You don’t claim you’ve given a million dollars to veterans that you haven’t given, then, when the press discovers and reports that you haven’t, try to cover your ass by giving it in the middle of the night before calling a press conference the following day to berate the media for calling you on your dishonesty. You don’t insinuate things about the parents of a fallen soldier you could have discovered were false by checking just because you got your precious feelings hurt when they criticized your proposed ban on people who practice their religion which is about as direct a violation of the U.S. Constitution as someone can cook up. You don’t claim that people in the military will do whatever you tell them to do, even if it’s a war crime, as if this is Nazi Germany and you’re der Führer. You don’t score women’s looks like you’re the Universe’s gift to them. You don’t encourage crowds to commit acts of violence against people exercising their first amendment rights. You don’t encourage foreign agents to hack your political opponent’s emails. You don’t run around accusing the president of not being a natural born citizen, then wrongfully dump the blame on your opponent when you finally have to admit, in the most weaselly way possible, that you were wrong from the start. You don’t claim you can’t release your tax records because you’re being audited when being audited in no way prohibits you from releasing them, and then refuse to even provide evidence that you’re actually being audited. You don’t pretend you’re friends with someone you never met. You don’t promote torture when men and women have given their lives to fight enemies who employ it. You don’t make flippant remarks about people assassinating the other candidate. You don’t do so many things this man does almost every day.
If we disagree on these things, we simply don’t share the same values. If I criticize these things and your response is to laugh with derogatory glee, you come across to me like a toothless jackass braying as you take a steaming whiz on human decency.
We can debate the impact of a minimum wage hike, the best approach to healthcare, the effectiveness and constitutionality of a gun regulation proposal, and a great many other things, but human decency isn’t on my list of debatable topics anymore, and it never should have been to begin with.
My father was a Republican, but he was not a straight ticket voter, and I can’t believe he would have ever cast a ballot for this man. As the father of a handicapped child who died very young, he would have severed any ties he had to Trump the day the candidate mocked a reporter’s disfiguring congenital joint disorder.
But more important to me than what my father taught me is what I teach my own children. They’re adults now and must decide for themselves who they’re going to be, but I still believe it’s my responsibility to be someone worthy of their respect.
I have never been what anyone would call wildly successful, and I would say I failed at being the kind of husband I should have been when I was married to their mother, but I do my best to demonstrate to them how I feel about the importance of honesty and compassion for others. No, I don’t always live up to my own standards, but I have them, which means I’m painfully aware of the times when I bite the ethical dust.
It also means I recognize a candidate who has no standards at all when I see one. I don’t have to read a news report or fact check claims made by others about him. I can read the transcripts of his talks and interviews. I can watch videos of him in action. I can read his childish tweets. I can watch him live as he displays an absolute disdain for anything requiring humility, compassion, or scholarship.
Just keep in the mind the following when you walk into that voting booth on Tuesday, November 8th. That the great majority of people in this country firmly believe that we are going in the WRONG direction as a country! By electing Hillary - this same direction will continue - and in a corrupt way!
With Hillary, unlike Trump, you will get:
- higher taxes - all of us - and she has said that publicly
- more corruption of the state department, IRS and the FBI
- more government over-reach - which will be increased as she recommends more liberal supreme court justices
- more government regulations at a rate unseen in the Obama admin
- continued stagnant economy at less than 2% growth
- and putting a known RAPIST in the White House again
As the saying goes - vote your conscience!
There are more than two directions in this universe. You may believe and I agree that Clinton may not be headed in the best direction, but Trump is headed in the direction that ends with the destruction of civilization. I choose the former.
Halleluiah it’s over, Hillary in a landslide. Crying towels will be dispensed at the next school committee meeting by the Fellowship of the Miserable. [:))]