The President and the Porn Star: A Story’s Slow Rise Above the Din

Here is a leader who crowds out scandal with more scandal, who tends to insist that the buck stops elsewhere, who boasted of sexual assault on tape and got to the White House anyway. It is not quite that nothing sticks to Mr. Trump; it is that so much sticks that nothing stays visible for very long.

.. It’s either too outrageous to be covered, or there’s just too much else that’s important

.. the ordeal has begun showing signs of an elusive longevity, coaxed by a lawsuit filed by her lawyer and an acknowledgment from Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, that Mr. Trump’s side had pursued an arbitration proceeding against Ms. Clifford.

.. “Scandals run on shame. Trump is completely exempt from any shame,” Mr. Murphy said. “So instead of talking about the crime, we just score-keep.”

.. Evangelicals knew they were not electing an altar boy,” said Robert Jeffress

.. “Forgiveness is part of the evangelical gospel message. We are all sinners.”

.. He clarified that Mr. Trump had denied the accusations and did not require forgiveness anyway.

.. Others have reached for history, or at least historical conspiracy theory, to dull the shock value. “Kennedy had orgies,” said Wayne Allyn Root, a Trump-boosting radio host

.. “But he was a damn good president. My point is, did the orgies matter?”