For many high school and college women I met, enduring a certain level of manhandling was the ticket to a social life. It started at their first middle school dance, when male classmates would sidle up behind them on the dance floor, grab them by the waist and, without asking, begin to “grind” against their rears. Sometimes the girls were fine with that, even excited by it. Still, all had, over time, been forced to develop strategies to disengage without offending an unwanted partner — they were, to a girl, deeply concerned with preserving boys’ feelings and dignity, even when the reverse was not true.
.. And, of course, we can meet kids on their own turf, with clever internet resources such as the viral video comparing sexual consent to a cup of tea (just because a person wanted tea last week doesn’t mean she wants it now; unconscious people never want tea)
.. Who would have guessed that Donald Trump, of all people, would inspire a bipartisan feminist movement?
Michelle Schools Donald Trump
Hillary is in an awkward spot on the subject of licentious behavior by men. But Michelle Obama stepped in as the avenging angel Anita Hill never had.
.. Trump doesn’t get the contradiction of bringing Bill’s accusers to the second debate and saying Hillary should be blamed for “viciously” trying to destroy their credibility, even as he viciously tries to destroy the credibility of his own accusers.
.. Trump did not seem aware, when he had his lawyer write to The Times threatening to sue over a story about two women accusing him of assault, that he had pre-confessed. As the estimable Times lawyer David McCraw wrote back: “Nothing in our article has had the slightest effect on the reputation that Mr. Trump, through his own words and actions, has already created for himself.”
Donald Trump and Other Animals
It was like Mr. Trump giving his second wife, Marla Maples, a prenuptial agreement that would eventually have provided her with a serious piece of his fortune — then dumping her just months before her entitlement was to come due.
.. he was born rich but still managed to mock other scions of inherited wealth as members of the “lucky sperm” club, and also the part about how his father incessantly urged him on, chanting, “you are a killer … you are a king.”
.. The thing in my book that caught Mr. Trump’s eye was a line about the advantages of looking like a lunatic. It’s right up front in his introduction: “Almost all successful alpha personalities display a single-minded determination to impose their vision on the world, an irrational belief in unreasonable goals, bordering at times on lunacy.” He also liked the idea that it was possible to win the game of chicken by convincing opponents that “he might actually enjoy a head-on collision.”
The Election May be Over, But Trump’s Blowup is Just Starting
Late Wednesday, a lawyer for Trump, Marc E. Kasowitz, wrote to theTimes demanding a retraction of its article and threatening to sue for libel. TheTimes refused, saying it had “published newsworthy information about a subject of deep public concern.”
.. On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal, citing Trump’s advisers and other Republican sources, reported that the candidate had “effectively given up the conventional wisdom of trying to reach voters far outside his core of support.” Rather than reaching out to moderates, independents, and other groups he would need to bring over to win a majority in November, the Journal article said, Trump now “plans to renew the nationalist themes that built his base and amplify his no-holds-barred attacks against Hillary Clinton to try to depress Democratic voter turnout.”
.. Such a blitzkrieg strategy makes no sense, of course. If there is one thing that is guaranteed to get Democrats to the polls, it is the sight of Trump going around the country for the next three and half weeks inciting bigotry and racial hatred, launching personal attacks on his opponents, and generally acting like a deranged person. But, as my colleague Ryan Lizza pointed out on Wednesday, there is reason to believe that Trump’s true motivation is no longer winning: it is finding someone to blame for his upcoming defeat.
.. This is reality. You know it, they know it, and pretty much the whole world knows it. The establishment and their media neighbors wield control over this nation through means that are very well known. Anyone who challenges their control is deemed a sexist, rapist, xenophobe, and morally deformed. They will attack you. They will slander you. They will seek to destroy your career and your family. They will seek to destroy everything about you, including your reputation. They will lie, lie, lie, and then again they will do worse than that.