Donald Trump is said to have gone “off script” yesterday by expressing sympathy for men accused of abusing women while showing no concern for the victims.
Not his own script, that’s for sure. When you’re a celebrity, he’s said, you can do no wrong to women. You can grab them by the pussy, “anything.”
But here’s the thing: Trump has a knack for saying things that energize his core supporters, maybe 35 to 40 percent of the electorate. Immigration. Muslims. Guns.
You’d think, however, that the people most likely to respond to a defense of men accused of abusing women would primarily be — men who abuse women.
Is that a winning strategy? Are there that many of them out there?
Meanwhile, Trump is getting ripped for how he put his Tweet of sympathy for people like Rob Porter, accused by three women — one with a photo of a black eye to prove it.
“Peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation,” the president wrote on Twitter, adding: “There is no recovery for someone falsely accused – life and career are gone. Is there no such thing any longer as Due Process?”
Due process? From a man who continued to call for punishment of men exonerated by DNA evidence in a Central Park assault; who urged “lock her up”; who built the birther attack on Barack Obama out of whole cloth; who’s famous for introducing his latest attack line with “people say.” As several have noted, Trump is getting due process from Robert Mueller. Sounds like the kitchen is getting hot.
