Just when we think Donald Trump couldn’t horrify us more, he proves us so wrong. The Washington Post has obtained a new video of Donald Trump speaking in extremely inappropriate and misogynistic ways about women. The leaked clip is from unaired footage of an Access Hollywood segment before Trump’s 2005 guest appearance on the soap opera Days of Our Lives.
It shows Trump and Access Hollywood host Billy Bush lewdly discussing an unknown woman and her body. Trump admits that he had tried to “move on her,” despite the fact that they were both married at the time, but that it failed. He also scornfully mentions that she’s changed her appearance. The two men then goggle at her before they get off the bus.
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Trump also makes sexually aggressive comments about kissing and groping women who he’s just met, which he can do because he’s “a star and they let you do anything.” But the most unsettling part of all is after getting off the bus. Trump and Bush make slimy appeals to the actress hosting them, Arianne Zucker, who looks a little uncomfortable, to give them hugs. On the way down the studio hallway, both men make fairly aggressive advances at Zucker, asking which of them she would “choose.”
Here’s the whole video:
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I’m literally nauseous at the fact that someone like this is an actual Presidential candidate. That TV host isn’t much better.
Leave it to Trump to release a lackluster façade of an apology too:
“This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course — not even close,” Trump said in a statement. “I apologize if anyone was offended.”
While Trump does technically say “I apologize,” he cushions the sincerity of it by displacing the blame on other people. He makes out that his behavior is acceptable just because others have done it or done worse (FYI, it’s not). Even if you ignore the rape-y implications of everything that came out of Trump’s mouth, which you shouldn’t, the fact that he can’t truly take responsibility for what he has done in the past makes him a terrible option for Presidency, as well as an a**hole of a human being.
Many called him out on it:
https://twitter.com/jennyslate/status/784499741698600960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
This is not to say that we haven’t had past Presidents make bad choices before. Hillary Clinton’s husband and former President Bill Clinton was involved in a major sex scandal, which put both of them in a bad light: him for cheating and lying, her for blaming the victim for a long time. But we have the option to not repeat those mistakes, to not elect someone who will clearly treat women (and LGBTQ+ and racial minorities) with disrespect and discrimination. This video from several years ago proves that Trump hasn’t really changed his blatantly sexist ways.
Election day is November 8th. Think long and hard before you vote Trump.
Update:
Shortly after the leaked video was released, former Access Hollywood co-host Billy Bush deleted his Twitter. He has now just made a formal apology about the leaked video.
“Obviously I’m embarrassed and ashamed. It’s no excuse, but this happened eleven years ago—I was younger, less mature, and acted foolishly in playing along. I’m very sorry,” Bush tells Variety.
At least he’s not blaming other TV hosts for saying worse…