Almost any other Republican would certainly be running ahead of Hillary Clinton in the battleground states at this point. An experienced politician would have been fully vetted in prior campaigns, so the focus would now be fixed Clinton’s long public career, her emails and those Wall Street speeches.
But Republicans went with billionaire reality TV host Donald Trump, who didn’t even allow his own campaign to do research on his past to prepare a defense. Trump is now reeling from his own vulgar words about how he likes to grab women by the pus*y.
And now more women are coming forward to substantiate his own self-described vulgar behavior:
- Businesswoman Jessica Leeds claims she sat next to Trump in the first-class cabin of a flight to New York. Leeds alleged that after the dinner trays had been cleared, Trump raised the armrest between their seats and proceeded to grope her breasts and attempt to put his hand up her skirt. “He was like an octopus,” Leeds said. “His hands were everywhere.”
- Receptionist Rachel Crooks accuses Trump of forcibly kissing her in Trump Tower. She said she introduced herself to Trump on an elevator and shook his hand, but he would not let her go and instead proceeded to kiss her on the cheeks and on her mouth. “It was so inappropriate,” Crooks told the Times. “I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that.”
- Reporter Natasha Stoynoff said Trump forcibly kissed her during an interview at the real estate mogul’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Stoynoff said as soon as she was alone with the real estate billionaire, Trump pinned her against the wall and forcibly kissed her.
- Mindy McGillivray claimed Trump groped her at Mar-a-Lago, where she was assisting a photographer friend of hers.
- Five different Miss Teen USA pageant contestants claim Trump, who owned the pageant (as well as Miss USA and Miss Universe) from 1996 until 2015, entered the contestants’ dressing room as the girls were changing. Victoria Hughes, the former Miss New Mexico Teen USA, said the youngest contestant at her 1997 pageant was 15 and she was the oldest at 19.
- Miss Washington 2013 Cassandra Searles claimed Trump “treated us like cattle” during her pageant experience. “He probably doesn’t want me telling the story about that time he continually grabbed my ass and invited me to his hotel room.”
- Temple Taggart, who was Miss Utah in Trump’s 1997 pageant, claimed Trump kissed her on the lips twice, once when they were introduced and another time in Trump Tower. Taggart was emotional as she said “you think of sending your little daughter out there with men like that, that think like that.”
- In a 1992 Christmas feature for “Entertainment Tonight” Trump asks a young girl if she’s “going up the escalator.” The girl responds that she is, at which point Trump tells the camera “I am going to be dating her in 10 years. Can you believe it?”
Trump denies all the claims and says it’s just part of a “Clinton conspiracy” to defeat him. He has also attacked the integrity of his female accusers, saying “You take a look at these people and you’ll understand also.”
His son, Donald Jr., said about his dads comments and behavior, “I think it makes him a human.”
Trump, who sues anyone or anything that threatens his name, has now threatened to sue the New York Times, which responded today “go ahead” sticking by their reporting.
In emotional remarks, First Lady Michelle Obama went right after Trump in a speech today saying his vulgar comments on sexual assault “have shaken me to my core.” She called on women to rise up against the Republican nominee. “I can’t believe I’m saying that a candidate for president of the United States has bragged about sexually assaulting women.”