By Lauren Kelly, Editor-in-Chief
This past week, Donald Trump made his first apology during his entire campaign. A reporter had found a recording of Trump in 2005, in which he stated that, since he was rich, he could do anything he wanted to women, including the now-famous âgrab her by the pussy.â
Although this did happen over 10 years ago, it comes after a long string of sexist comments towards women, during his campaign and in the years prior. He has made many sexual or rude comments about the women in his Miss USA pageants, as well as about various reporters and news anchors during the campaign. His issues with women havenât only been verbal. A previous business partner, Jill Harth, accused him of groping her repeatedly, as well as forcing himself on her in his daughter Ivankaâs bedroom.
And yes, he did apologize when this all came to lightâby making light of it, and then immediately pointing the finger at Bill Clinton, who is not running for president. Since then, he has dismissed the comments as being âlocker room talkâ that all men engage in, which has prompted many men, especially athletes, to speak out against Donald Trump and his attempt to normalize his comments.
Earlier on in the election, Trump was so off the wall that I figured he was just catering to the populace to get the Republican nomination, at which point he would get more serious. I couldnât be more wrongâbut then again, I didnât know much about Trumpâs past. Since becoming the nominee, he has shown 100 per cent that those are his real opinions, or at least the ones heâs going to stay true to, and he has also shown that he has no idea what heâs doing.
This election has been sad and worrying, both because a man like this could gain the support of so many people, and hold it through all of this, and also because his terrible behaviour is being vindicated by all of them. I watched one CNN interview with a female supporter who parroted him impressively when asked about Trumpâs comments, responding by calling out Bill Clinton, saying everything was in the past, and then immediately changing the topic to bashing Hillary.
These responses need to be shut down completely. Trump canât be allowed to weasel his way out of accusations such as these by hiding behind them. Just because Bill Clinton did terrible things, it doesnât mean Trump can, too, and it doesnât make Hillary a bad person for being married to him. It certainly doesnât make her a worse person than Trump. Just because some men think itâs okay to talk about women like that, doesnât mean that itâs okay that he does, especially when he could be the next president of one of the most influential countries in the world.
It makes me hopeful to see so many people turning against Trump in the wake of these revelations, including fellow Republicans such as John McCain and Speaker Paul D. Ryan, as well as evangelical leaders. Hopefully this trend will continue, his numbers will continue to plummet, and we can finally move forward from this disaster of an election.
