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The 2nd Debate Analysed: Trump not apologetic, Clinton says he targets women

If you look at Bill Clinton, far worse- mine are words; his was action

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STP Team
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Donald Trump and HIllary Clinton

On Friday, Oct 7, T">he Washington Post leaked a video from 2005 that showed Donald Trump gloating about grabbing a woman’s genitals, and forcing himself on a married woman. Many notable Republicans like Senator John McCain, Paul Ryan, and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice subsequently withdrew their endorsement of Trump following the scandal.

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Many expected Trump to appear apologetic in the 2nd presidential debate that took place last night. Instead, he dismissed his words as ‘locker room banter’. He then went on to say that when you have a world in which there are so many bad things, he would move on to much more important and bigger things. After repeating what he said was locker room banter multiple times, Trump said, “I have great respect for women. Nobody has more respect for women than me.”

https://twitter.com/lizadonnelly/status/785289210647482368

https://twitter.com/lizadonnelly/status/785291828870385666

Though Trump said the video does not represent who he is, Clinton retorted that it represents exactly who he is. “We’ve seen this throughout the campaign. We’ve seen him insult women. We’ve seen him rate women on their appearance. We’ve seen him embarrass women on TV and on Twitter…”

Indeed, Donald Trump has mistreated women for years, both in his private and public life.  In May this year, the New York Times published an article in which they revealed the stories of 50 women who had worked with or come in contact with Trump. What emerges are dozens of stories where Trump has degraded and objectified women, valuing them only on the basis of their looks.

“When you’re a star, they let you do it,” he said in the video.

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When the debate moderators asked him about his 3am tweets about a sex tape featuring former Ms Universe, Alicia Machado, he diverted, by saying that even Clinton was tweeting at 3am, and that he was trying to show Machado was ‘not the Girl Scout’ Clinton painted her to be. He even denied mentioning a sex tape.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/781788223055994880

“Tweeting happens to be a modern-day form of communication,” he said. “I’m not un-proud of it.”

Trump also said that his history with women was not as bad as Bill Clinton’s.

“If you look at Bill Clinton, far worse- mine are words; his was action…. Never been anybody in history of politics in this nation that’s been so abusive to women…” he said. He even appeared live on Facebook with four women who had accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct hours before the debate, thus setting the tone for the 2nd Presidential Debate.

It is ironic that when a woman has finally broken the glass ceiling to become the first woman nominee for US President, she must go up against someone incapable of engaging her in an intelligent discussion on the country’s future, but instead must resort to dealing with a man who is so unprepared and misguided.

Also Read: Gender Politics and the U.S. Presidential Debate.

2nd presidential debate 2016 hillary and trump hillary clinton on women
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