Trump is a molester and con artist. Who knew?
by Tom Sullivan
Nicholas Kristof interviews another victim. I can't even:
Talking to Harth and Houraney, and reviewing the lawsuits and depositions from the time, convinced me that they’re telling the truth. It helps that many others have testified about Trump behavior that matches elements of the story — the stiffing of business partners, the sexual predation — and that he himself has promoted his own boorishness.A con artist who is running for president and who has no regard either for the constitution or for justice. Asked about his taking out full-page ads calling for the death penalty for the "Central Park 5," later wrongfully convicted in the notorious 1989 rape case, Trump told CNN:
“He’s all about him,” Harth says, summing up what she learned about the man who may be our next president. “He’s a con artist.”
"They admitted they were guilty," Trump said this week in a statement to CNN's Miguel Marquez. "The police doing the original investigation say they were guilty. The fact that that case was settled with so much evidence against them is outrageous. And the woman, so badly injured, will never be the same."The five, four black teenagers and one Latino, alleged the confessions were coerced by police. A convicted rapist admitted the crime in 2002 and his DNA matched a sample taken from the victim. "The Central Park 5 were exonerated," CNN reports, "and in 2014, New York paid them a $41 million settlement."
Do I have to point out how many ways this disqualifies Donald Trump from the position of decent human being, let alone from the position of president of the United States? There's the pure racism of the original ad. There's the pure racism of his still holding to the opinions expressed in the ad in the face of overwhelming scientific and empirical evidence. There's the know-nothing huffing at the legitimacy of the science used to exonerate the five men, which is reminiscent of the way he waves off the science of climate change and anything else that disturbs the fragile intellectual infrastructure of a career grifter.This character isn't running for president of the United States, to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. He's running to be anointed lecherous Judge Dredd.