There is a strong smell of manufactured outrage over the newly, and suspiciously timed, release of some recordings of Republican US Presidential candidate Donald Trump. In the videos Mr Trump is heard joking around about he’d like to do with an attractive woman, talking about questionable sexual experiences and bantering about his previous sexual contacts. He also was heard speaking about how it’s easy to get sex when someone is in the public eye.
Whilst without doubt these comments are vulgar and crude they are also merely the sort of comments that many other men and also women make as well. It’s a classic example of locker room talk of the sort that you find in many environments where you get all of one sex gathering together in a private situation. What’s been said here is, as I’ve said earlier, vulgar and crude. But are they any more crude, vulgar or indeed reprehensible as for example Rugby songs? Is what Mr Trump said any worse than what is said in the sort of bar frequented by a group of trusting regulars or the changing room in a bleak cold hut used by a Sunday league football team? I reckon not. It’s a fact of life that when you get a group of men together and they are speaking freely, then it’s likely that many of them will be talking about pussy in some way or another. Having listened to the video a couple of times I feel I must say that although the comments were disrespectful, they are not much worse than a person may hear in some pubs on a Saturday night.
Furthermore, this is not a situation that only applies to men. When you get a group of trusting female friends, especially single female friends, then there’s also the strong likelihood that blokes cocks or other sexual matters will be discussed. It’s the sort of stuff that just happens when you get a gathering of blokes or a gathering of women. Single sex environments can encourage sharing like this. Those who are moaning about misogyny may not be aware that the modern world, bantering about sexual matters is an equal opportunity activity. In my experience women can be just as filthy minded, objectifying, nasty and obscene as men can and in some cases worse.
On the subject of the ‘star’ and ‘pussy grabbing’ comments It also can’t be denied that being famous or in the public eye does make people more attractive to those who go for that sort of thing. We also need to remember that history is replete with women and men who will make a bee-line towards those who have power or fame. Such individuals will use their sexual attractiveness or sex itself to gain access to whatever power and reward they can get from their association with the particular public figure. Look at the music world for confirmation of that premise if you don’t believe me. For example Mick Jagger has in my opinion always has been, a bit of an ugly bugger, but his fame and fortune has seen to it that he’s never been short of female company.
There’s also an aspect of ‘he who is without sin casting the first stone’ in this story. Who out there can honestly, with hand on heart, say that at some part of their lives they have not behaved like an arsehole? I know I have. Many of us have made ‘I’d like to shag her’ objectifying type statements or had political opinions in the past and now think better of them. Mr Trump may have behaved and spoken in a vulgar manner but so do a lot of people. The question is whether a bit of vulgarity and screwing around is anything that should disbar Mr Trump from being a good and effective President? I’d say not. People need to be reminded that one of the great liberal heroes of 20th century America is John F Kennedy was a complete shag-monster who was seemingly far more of a slut than Mr Trump, yet liberals give Kennedy’s philandering a free pass. I bet there are people both in the media and in politics who are hand-wringing over this incident who probably have equal if not worse transgressions in their own backgrounds. There’s a big stink of hypocrisy in this story and it comes also from some of those who’ve had a fit of the vapours over Mr Trump’s comments.
Mr Trump being revealed to be being a bit vulgar is one thing, but the timing of this revelation is a completely different matter. As Charles Krauthammer said on Fox News this morning that if this was a normal election then the media would be discussing the alleged Wikileaks and FBI revelations about Hillary Clinton and some of the highly dubious behaviour that she has allegedly been involved in. However because of the Trump ‘pussy’ revelations, which are more salacious and therefore more saleable in a news environment, the revelations about Clinton’s much more dangerous sordidness is being overshadowed. There must be some suspicions that the Trump recordings were released at this time precisely in order to take the heat off of Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton’s backers need do whatever they can to help to prevent the growing amount of mud that the Clinton’s have been seemingly bathing in, from justifiability sticking to her.
It will be interesting to see if this affects Trump’s support figures. Some say it will and others say it will not. Those for example who see the contest between Trump and Clinton as one between the Establishment and the People, and they appear to be quite a large number, will continue to back Trump. How it will affect swing voters will be interesting to say the least. The respected conservative commentator Tammy Bruce says that polling figures are continuing to hold up for Trump at the moment. She called the fuss over the Trump recordings ‘faux hysteria’. She said in a Tweet:
So much for media/GOP faux hysteria. First, Morning Consult/Politico says not much impact on GOP voters, now this w general electorate: https://t.co/mz9NhuxrOE
— Tammy Bruce (@HeyTammyBruce) October 9, 2016
She may well have a point. Those who are choosing Trump seem to be aware of the dirty tricks that are being played by the politicians and in particular the Democrat campaign team in one of the dirtiest US Presidential elections I’ve seen for a while, but they do not appear to being affected to any great deal by them. Time may change this and it all depends if Trump has any serious, as opposed to banter related skeletons, in his cupboard. Although the sexual revelations may seem to some to make Mr Trump seem a little skanky, there are much worse things to be than just being a bit skanky. Mr Trump has been a bit vulgar, but his vulgarity pales into insignificance when put beside some of the proven and suspected dodginess that the Clinton’s have been involved in or allegedly involved in. The citizens of the US are not as someone recently pointed out,voting for a Pope but are voting for a president and popes and presidents are judged on very different criteria.
Mr Trump without doubt has many faults, anyone can see and hear that, he’s arrogant, gobby, flash and some may wonder how he will perform in the White House. There are also valid concerns from some on the Right about whether he will act like a constitutional conservative. But, even though he has such faults, they are in no way as bad as the ones that Mrs Clinton is labouring under. In a contest to see who has the cleanest pair of hands, then Trump’s are only mildly grubby when compared to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. America is at a crossroads and they are faced with a choice, do they want more of the same as they’ve had under Obama or do they want something different. Trump seems to represent ‘something different’ and the establishment politicians and the mainstream media are showing that they will do everything possible to dissuade people choosing Trump and instead opting for more of the same as what they’ve been getting in the past.
