Posted on 12/23/2015 8:34:34 AM PST by SeekAndFind
'She was favored to win -- and she got schlonged. She lost, I mean she lost," Donald Trump said, describing Hillary Clinton's 2008 White House bid at a Grand Rapids campaign event Monday night.
This is our presidential race in 2015: "linguistic investigations" into whether the term "schlonged" is accurate Yiddish, consternation over whether it's unacceptably sexist or vulgar, and the Clinton campaign's insistence that the remark requires a response from "everyone who understands the humiliation this degrading language inflicts on all women."
Trump is the race's shock-jock, a master at gleefully overstepping boundaries we didn't even know were there, and there's little reason to think that the "schlonged" comment will hurt his standing in the polls. Nor will we see immediate fallout from Trump's lengthy assurance on Monday night that he wasn't going to discuss the "disgusting" bathroom break Clinton took during last Saturday's Democratic debate. While he's bobbled the lead in Iowa, Trump is still ahead nationally and in the other early states; so far, the cycle of controversy, outrage, and denunciation hasn't hurt him.
But does this sort of talk help Trump at all? If it brings him closer to the Republican nomination, what does it say about Republicans? And is there any way it won't repel a significant number of voters who might otherwise consider supporting the Republican standard-bearer in November 2016?
The inevitable reply from Trump defenders is that anyone who objects is merely bowing to the false gods of Political Correctness. If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen; Trump is just a liberated sage, dropping truth-bombs on a repressed, uptight bourgeoisie. He's the only one willing to say the emperor has no clothes, or the empress is ugly and should put some clothes back on.
When Trump encounters a female rival, critic, or plain old famous person, he bluntly assesses their appearance. "Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Trump said about Carly Fiorina. "I mean, she's a woman, and I'm not s'posedta say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?" He called Fox News's Megyn Kelly a bimbo, declared Heidi Klum is no longer a "ten," wrote Gail Collins to tell her she has the face of a dog, said Arianna Huffington is "a dog who wrongfully comments on me," and deemed Bette Midler "extremely unattractive."
Trump, who keeps marrying younger, prettier models, repeatedly feels the need to publicly point out his own sexual irresistibility to women. He's boasted that women find his power almost as much a turn-on as his money, that "All of the women on The Apprentice flirted with me -- consciously or unconsciously. That's to be expected," and that "the early victories by the women on The Apprentice were, to a very large extent, dependent on their sex appeal."
Sure, some people love Trump, the Insult-Comic Candidate, but many others don't. In a development that could shock only the most blindly faithful Trump supporter, he's polling terribly among women. In Quinnipiac's latest poll, only 25 percent of women have a favorable opinion of Trump, compared with 68 percent who view him unfavorably. His lack of appeal to women has remained fairly consistent from pollster to pollster throughout the year.
At what point does Trump recognize he's already locked up his base, and try to broaden his appeal beyond it? Does he even bother? Has anyone told him that women are a larger segment of the electorate than men -- 53 percent in 2012 -- and that Mitt Romney won only 44 percent of them? Right now, Trump is getting 33 percent of women in a head-to-head matchup against Clinton, and she's consistently beating him in head-to-head polling matchups.
Trump fans will insist that such matchups mean nothing at this point in the race, but their man remains unpopular among the general electorate compared with his Republican rivals. Quinnipiac records 58 percent of registered voters believing he has strong leadership qualities. But 58 percent say he's not honest and trustworthy, 57 percent say he doesn't care about their needs and problems, and 61 percent say he doesn't share their values. Only 33 percent of registered voters say they have a favorable opinion of Trump, compared with 59 percent who view him unfavorably. Half of all respondents said they would feel embarrassed to have Trump as president.
Are more insults going to fix that perception problem? Can you win a majority of electoral votes while running around the country sounding like a hybrid of Andrew Dice Clay and Don Rickles? And if that style leads the Republican party to its third consecutive defeat in a presidential election, who's really getting "schlonged"?
-- Jim Geraghty is the senior political correspondent for National Review.
It’s all about sex...LOL
I don’t see shock value, I see only something that may register as shock for those lulled by the 8 years of “Everything is fine. There is no terrorism. The economy is getting better. Global warming is the worst threat we face. Eat your peas”.
Nice try Jim...You suck too.
The remarks at the article support this
I have had enough of this CRAP. Hillary lied to the families of the American’s killed in Benghazi, she blamed this video few saw on Youtube for the deaths of their family members. We are to feel sorry for Hillary when she was contacted up to 600 times with requests for more and better security. Hillary never answered these request many directly from her ambassador Stevens.
Meanwhile she told Chelsea it was a terrorist attack and was exchanging emails about contributions to the Clinton message parlor and slush fund with Sid Blumenthal.
Donald Trump said nothing that compares to this profanity of not caring about lying to bereaved families.
Liberals are not going to vote for a nice guy Republican. They won’t vote for Trump.
What puts off people with no standards about Trump isn’t his rudeness, its that they embraced an anything goes culture a long time ago.
And they’re shocked there are no boundaries in our society. Cue the world’s smallest violins.
This is easy to overcome. Guys should just hold their laundry until election day. Their wimmin will be so busy with the ironing that they won't be able to go out and vote. And just to make sure, they should make sure that there are a lot of cold cuts in the fridge. If their girl starts talking about voting, all they need to do is ask for a sammich.
Isn't that still better than all of the other Republican candidates? :)
That they are sick of nominating spineless losers who know how to be "polite" in mixed company but show no presence of testosterone when a little righteous indignation would go a long way!
Jim Geraghty doesn’t see or care that people outside the GOPe and DC cartel have been getting schlonged by him and his cohorts for many years now.
Donald did not create the reality TV world nor shock jock or any other name you want to call it... but what he does know is how to read the public and how to read Americans in a way the Lame Stream Media and politicians have no clue on inside their beltway bubble and as such he will continue to go up in polls while they continue to get apoplectic about it which makes it all the more fun to watch
We may not only save the Republic with a Trump presidency but like a certain king long ago who said..
who will rid me of this contentious bishop...
get rid of the power the Network news people have had for decades as shills for the power elite and moneyed interests of both political parties.
Freegards
LEX
Hey Jim Geraghty, how far can you go on Trump bashing alone?
Jim Geraghty: “Hi. I’m from the media and I’m here to help you...”
My wife and aunt have a unfavorable opinion (based on his language) of Trump and they still support him and will vote for him. They know Hillary is ten times worse.
Shock value alone?
He put him his position on immigration before anyone.
He put out his tax plan before anyone.
He put out his plan for the VA before anyone.
He put out his trade plans before anyone.
I don’t believe he’s just operating on shock value. He’s putting up.
OK. So he's getting 33% of the women vote. But how much of the men's vote is Hillary going to get? Let's be serious. Unless you are pajama boy, would any normal, heterosexual man vote for Hillary?
How far can Hillary Clinton go on her husband’s name alone?
If You Care About Trump Schlonged Comment You are a Dumb Schmuck!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3375811/posts
“My wife and aunt have a unfavorable opinion (based on his language) of Trump and they still support him and will vote for him. They know Hillary is ten times worse.”
Trump isn’t the only one using colorful language and these guys did it in OFFICE!
Bush, Cheney, Carter, Obama and MORE!
Top 16 foul-mouthed politicians
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/04/29/politicians.swear.list/
[snips]
Vice President Joe Biden was heard telling Obama “this is a big f——— deal” during the March 23, 2010, signing of the health care reform bill.
Cheney told Sen. Patrick Leahy (on the senate floor!)on June 24, 2004, to “go f-— yourself” when the Vermont Democrat blasted Halliburton’s role in Iraq.
Then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush, running in the 2000 presidential race, was caught on a live microphone tearing into New York Times reporter Adam Clymer. At a Labor Day 2000 rally in Naperville, Illinois, Bush called him a “major-league a—hole.”
Bill and Hillary Clinton
While President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton were not known to have cursed publicly, numerous accounts from White House insiders over the years tell a different story — that both often using the f-word in conversations and arguments inside and outside the White House.
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