Tuesday Reads: Fascist Misogynist Trump Spews Sexism; Media Misses the Point as Usual
Posted: December 22, 2015 Filed under: morning reads, Republican politics, The Media SUCKS, U.S. Politics | Tags: Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, misogyny, Sexism, Yiddish 44 CommentsBoston Common at Twilight
Good Afternoon!!
I was going to post repulsive pictures of Donald Trump, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Instead I decided to illustrate this post with paintings of Boston by Frederick Childe Hassam. I hope you like them and that they’ll help to ameliorate the horror of what I have to write about.
Last night Trump unleashed a sickening misogynist attack on Hillary, and many in the media are treating it like politics as usual if a little more vulgar than we’re used to. Here’s what Trump said (NBC News):
“Even her race to Obama, she was gonna beat Obama,” the GOP frontrunner told a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “I don’t know who would be worse, I don’t know. How does it get worse? But she was gonna beat — she was favored to win — and she got schlonged. She lost.”
Trump also made crude references to Clinton’s bathroom break during Saturday’s Democratic debate, describing it as “disgusting.”
“What happened to her?” Trump wondered. “I’m watching the debate, and she disappeared.” He then solved his own riddle: “I know where she went. It’s disgusting. I don’t want to talk about it. No, it’s too disgusting. Don’t say it, it’s disgusting. We want to be very straight up, OK?”
It wasn’t the first time Trump used the term “schlonged.” In 2011, while discussing the race for New York’s 26th District, Trump characterized the loss suffered by Republican Jane Corwin as “not only” a loss but an instance of getting “schlonged by a Democrat.”
Naturally the candidate in question was a woman.
A Rainy Day in Boston 1885
Only a few media outlets described Trump’s language as misogynist, and when they did it was often when they quoted the Clinton campaign. Some writers even called Trump’s attack smart politics. However the New York Daily News did describe the attack as demeaning to women.
Donald Trump’s attack on women reached a new level Monday night, as the GOP front-runner used a vulgar term to insult Hillary Clinton and even remarked on her bathroom habits.
They also noted that Trump attacked Caroline Kennedy–in a way that was clearly sexist.
He also took aim at Caroline Kennedy, who he said was “too nice” to be the U.S. Ambassador to Japan and couldn’t keep up with the country’s “brutal, brilliant” diplomats and negotiators.
Acorn Street Boston
USA Today decided to focus on Trump’s use of a “Yiddish vulgarity.”
In New York, there’s a bit of Yiddish all around you. This is the after-effect of a stream ofEastern European Jews moving into the city at the turn of the last century, bringing their native tongue with them.
Your bagel gets a schmeer of cream cheese, the trip to Brooklyn is a schlep and the jerk on a bicycle who almost runs you over at the crosswalk is a schmuck.
But there is the problem. Shmuck is actually an obscene term for male genitalia. I have been yelled at for using that term in mixed company (mixed meaning Yiddish and non-Yiddish speakers.)
Donald Trump waded into this dangerous cultural territory Monday night at a rally Grand Rapids, saying Hillary Clinton got “schlonged” in her 2008 presidential campaign against Barack Obama. Here’s CNN’s coverage of the event. This has set off a bunch of politicalkvetching about whether Trump was being offensive.
Schlong means the same thing as schmuck, but I have never heard either one used as a verb. The Washington Post has a good linguistic analysis. You certainly would not say someone was “schmucked.” There are a whole bunch of other useful Yiddish words for fornication, if that is the verb you are attempting to describe, but we are not going to use them here because, well, they are rude.
Author Paul Singer said that Trump’s
timing was excellent. Starting Thursday in New York is the first ever “Yiddish New York” festival, including lectures, language workshops and dance and musical performances. There are even clarinet classes for budding Klezmermusicians — Klezemer, also known as “Jewish Jazz,” is one of the most joyful forms of music you will ever hear.
Across the Common on a Winter Evening
So Trump’s repulsive behavior provided Singer with an opportunity to promote the festival. Isn’t that convenient? No mention of the obvious sexism of Trump’s remarks.
Zachary Goldfarb at the Washington Post: Trump played a clever trick when he called Clinton’s bathroom visit ‘disgusting.’ For Goldfarb, Trump’s commenter were just “polarizing.”
On Monday night, Donald Trump made his latest polarizing comment, saying it was “too disgusting” to talk about Hillary Clinton’s use of the bathroom during the last Democratic debate and that she had got “schlonged” by Barack Obama when she lost to him in the 2008 Democratic primary.
Trump was surely talking off-the-cuff in his usual style — and the comments were criticized as offensive and sexist — but it was another example of his mastery in exploiting the psychological biases of conservatives who see much to dislike in today’s society and express support for Trump in the polls.
In fact,a growing massof academic research has shown that conservatives have a particular revulsion to “disgusting” images. In this line of thinking, Trump’s decision to describe Clinton, one of the most disliked people by conservatives, as a “disgusting” figure would have been an especially powerful way to rile up his supporters.
The research — still debated — suggests that psychological and even biological traits divide people politically, both in the United States and abroad. These are attributes that may help explain why Trump has been so popular among a segment of the electorate, confounding political and media elites.
Some of the recent research has been most pronounced evaluating the differing responses of conservatives and liberals to “disgusting” or “negative” images. Several studies have shown that conservatives are far more likely to have strong reactions to these images or situations than moderates or liberals are. Researchers have also suggested that conservatives are more likely to respond negatively to threats orbe prone to believe conspiracies, perhaps helping explain why Trump’s calls to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States or build a wall at the southern border have resonated with many voters.
Copley Square Boston
You can read more intellectualizing at the link if you’re in the mood for it. I’m not. Those studies would be interesting in another context, but today I think it’s incumbent on decent people to stand up and condemn Trump for the damage he is doing to the presidential race and to our country in the eyes of the world.
Here is the Clinton campaign’s Twitter response from CNN:
Hillary Clinton has one reaction to Donald Trump’s use of a vulgar term directed toward her: Rise above.
“We are not responding to Trump but everyone who understands the humiliation this degrading language inflicts on all women should. #imwithher,” Clinton Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri tweeted on Tuesday.
One more link to last night’s reaction from Jenna Johnson at the Washington Post:
This isn’t the first time Trump has attacked Clinton using phrases that some of her supporters have labeled as sexist. In recent weeks, he has repeatedly commented on her pantsuits, said she lacks the “stamina” and “strength” needed for the presidency, and accused her of sleeping too much. Clinton is 68, and Trump is 69.
This latest attack seems to be in response to a comment Clinton made about Trump during the Saturday night debate: She said that the Islamic State terrorist group has used video of Trump’s controversial comments on Muslims to recruit new members, a claim that has drawn questions and skepticism from fact-checkers. Trump has demanded an apology, which Clinton has refused to give.
“She’s terrible,” Trump said during the rally. He then impersonated Clinton’s comments at the debate, using a rather snotty voice: “Donald Trump is on video, and ISIS is using him on the video to recruit.”
“And it turned out to be a lie — she’s a liar!” Trump said to roaring cheers. “And the last person she wants to run against is me.”
Johnson points out that Trump attacked two other women, Caroline Kennedy and Angela Merkel.
Trump also said that Caroline Kennedy is too “nice” to be the ambassador to Japan and is no match for their “brutal, brilliant” negotiators. And he questioned why Time picked German Chancellor Angela Merkel as its “Person of the Year” instead of him.
“They gave it to a woman who has not done the right thing for Germany,” Trump said, as the crowd booed Merkel. “Nice woman. I like her, I like her. I better like her — I may have to deal with her. Look, hey, Putin likes me, I want her to like me, too.”
Johnson also describes Trump’s attacks on reporters. If you watch the video, you’ll see that he even implies he’d like to kill some of them.
“I hate some of these people, but I would never kill them,” Trump said of the journalists who cover him. “I would never kill them. I would never kill them… I would never kill them, but I do hate them. And some of them are such lying, disgusting people.”
Maybe that will light a fire under some of the dudebro reporters.
What stories are you following today?
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
mablue2
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
I read the shit Trump says and I still don’t know how he gets away with it.
As for Cruz. I hope that no response from Mitch McConnell was not a sign that the gop is gearing up to back Cruz for the nomination.
I highly doubt that the GOP insiders will support Cruz for the nomination. They’ll have to pretend to support him if he wins it though.
Cruz is laying low and waiting. He’s crazy like a fox. He’s sneaking around consolidating the religious nuts and waiting for Trump to go a bridge too far. My guess is he’ll take Iowa and Trump will take NH.
Last night on MSNBC, Lawrence O’Donnell basically called Hillary a liar and suggested she shouldn’t have responded aggressively to Trump’s remarks about what she said in the debate. I knew O’Donnell hated Hillary, but I was still stunned.
Dear Media: Hillary Clinton Did Not Claim Donald Trump is Being Used in ISIS Recruiting Videos, by Tommy Christopher.
MSNBC just called the Trump comments sexist. It was Amin Z on the news desk.
Casey Hunt and Amin are discussing Trump’s sexism now including the Megyn Kelly bleeding comments.
Be sure to read that post by Tommy Christopher. He wrote about how O’Donnell just ignored an expert who said Hillary was right and continued to pretend Hillary said something she never said.
Christopher also includes a list of ISIS tweets about things Donald Trump has said, collected by an intelligence group that studies ISIS.
Good article. Huckabee joins pottygate. http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/264040-huckabee-mocks-clintons-bathroom-visit-she-shouldve-stayed
This is how O’Donnell rolls. He has been against Hillary for years and with a vengeance since she announced.
You know, we have had to deal with NFL, and they are beginning to take a stand against it, and other bad behaviors, by either suspending them, or fining them, or firing them. Why doesn’t our political parties do the same. We need to stop sexism, racism, bullying and all the hate against gays. We need to stop this kind of political trash.
Listening to Thomas Roberts, his polls shows 62% approve of Trump’s talk, and 32% said they don’t. Then he interviews Mark Halpren, who says that Trump is taking Hillary down. Whut? No he’s showing our children, and the world that abuse is okay, especially when it comes from a white rich republican man. I am really sick of this man, and the way it’s being handled.
Michael Steele says to file this in the Department of Who Cares, that it is a healthy bluster for the party. Think about that, a black man stooping to the rich white man, of course he has a few million too.
Trump is so much more than just an embarrassment to our country. Could you ever see him addressing the United Nations? Remember Godafi, when he got up and went berserk, 10 to 1, that’s be Trump.
Dump Trump Sexism Sucks
Yesterday Michael Steele claimed that Cruz and Rubio know as much about foreign policy as Clinton does. Howard Dean was on and he said “Are you kidding?!” several times. He couldn’t believe it.
Just making a stupid fool of himself, and buying into the republican bullshit about their candidates having experience. He’s making me sick. Why does Chris Matthews even talk with the man?
But, Fannie the NFL wanted to fix the problem and they didn’t have anything as heinous to hide as what the Dems did to Hillary when she clearly had more votes for the nomination but they wanted Obama to win.
Yeah, I know how that works, just hates her because she’s competent, and that just pisses them off.
I just want to throw up.
You and me both.
Yep
WaPo now says Hillary is “tweaking” her comments about Trump and ISIS. But she’s just saying the same thing she said in the debate and has said previously.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/12/22/clinton-tweaks-contested-claims-about-islamic-state-recruiters-using-trump-video/
Jeebus. The CDS stinks.
MSNBC CEO Andrew Lack claims that what they are doing now that they’ve dumped the “liberal” format is “hard news.” Of course Comcast owns NBC now. What else did we expect?
All liberal all the time? What about Morning Joe? Now it’s all stupid all the time.
Good one BB, all stupid all the fucking time.
Joan Walsh:
Schlonged? Donald Trump’s Pathetic Frat-Boy Politics
http://www.thenation.com/article/schlonged-donald-trumps-pathetic-frat-boy-politics/
Yeah, we know where he was going with the black male penis.
Trump’s disgust at the concept of bathroom breaks does explain why he’s so full of shit…just sayin’
We all know that the waiting line for the toilet is a problem. We know why and have argued this problem before. Why aren’t we talking about why ABC didn’t provide title 9 type accommodations for her? Why aren’t we having a discussion about why anyone, seeing HRC coming in this situation, wouldn’t let her go first instead of running in ahead? WTF? This happened before. Where is the outrage?
Why didn’t they interview the people who set up the site for the debate? I hate the media anymore.
Why didn’t ABC just wait a few seconds? I’ll bet they wouldn’t have done that to a male candidate.
Bingo!
You know it.
Martin O’Malley’s campaign manager beat out Hillary. Why wouldn’t she try to make things harder for Clinton?
Lester Holt’s handling of the story on the NBC Nightly News was admirable and refreshing. He treated Trump’s behavior with absolute contempt. He made the very true point that if anyone had ever talked about a coworker in the terms Trump used, that person would be fired. Chuck Todd was brought on to talk about it further, and you could tell he was gobsmacked by Holt’s attitude. Basic decency must be a very unusual thing at 30 Rockefeller Center.
What gets me is that we really need our brothers and sisters in solidarity here. Time to man up to Chuck Todd, and a few other ashols.
When Chuckie Todd fell out of the cookie baking tree, he hit his little elfin head on more than a few limbs on the way down. He’s the most overrated “politico” on teevee. His analysis is an inch deep and a mile wide. He has ruined, along with David Gregory, the once proud heritage of “Meet the Press” — it’s now an also ran on Sunday mornings. His knee pad wearing mating dance with Hugh Hewitt is just embarrassing.
Prolix luv your take! He’ll never be happy with his share of the cookie, so he turns into a flea to get his share.
Best response yet. From the WaPo:
Sanders on Trump: ‘He has discovered that women go to the bathroom’
Will Trump attack Bernie now?
Well, good on Bernie for that!
What’s disgusting is Trump. Can you imagine how easily he could start WWIII with one of his blowhard remarks? He talks out of his ass constantly.
I see this morning they are saying Noble Sanders………..wth? What is a woman called when she defends Hillary against sexism? Aren’t we all humans here?
Yay!
Wow; this is a huge victory — benefits are retroactive, even though their 2003 rabbi-officiated ceremony wasn’t yet considered legal marriage in the state.
Important gun research — and the findings come as no surprise:
Apologies for breaking into the thread for the OT comment, but it’s important…
Now would be a good time to donate to Hillary, even just a couple of bucks. Contrary to what the conventional wisdom and conspiracy theorists would have you think, the billionaires are not carrying her and she does need us.
https://www.hillaryclinton.com/donate/
Pass the word.
Thank you for the reminder. I’m going to send her another small contribution.
Good reminder, Sophie.