Washington Post - The 7 dumbest arguments in defense of Trump
Donald Trump is headed for a colossal loss, but his defenders seem oblivious to the demise of their own credibility, to the extent they still have any. Its remarkable people are making such horrifically awful arguments in his defense:
1. Why didnt these women come forward sooner? This is classic blaming the victim. (Why didnt the kids molested by priests come forward sooner?) Aside from the obvious barriers to raising claims against powerful people, Trump invited this on himself by insisting he respected women and by denying in the last debate that he ever engaged in the behavior he had bragged about on the Access Hollywood tape.
2. But you didnt believe Bill Clintons accusers. This is dumb on multiple levels. Some of us choosing to side with Trumps accusers did take Bills accusers word, despite some shaky evidence including their denials under oath. Nevertheless, Bill is not on the ballot, and if he were, youd still be morally obligated to denounce and drop support for Trump.
3. But Hillary. . . ? The knee-jerk reaction that Hillary destroyed the women who accused Bill is not substantiated by the facts. There is no evidence Clinton believed at the time Bill had committed the alleged acts. (You can think this was willful ignorance, but lots of spouses deceive themselves about their mates.) Moreover, the evidence of threatening the women is incredibly thin. The allegation that Clinton threatened Juanita Broaddrick consists of an innocuous comment and handshake. In the case of Kathleen Willey, Hillary allegedly approved release of letters from Willey sent to Bill after the alleged incident (i.e. they were exculpatory). This is not an attack; its a common-sense reaction (arent Trump defenders saying refusal to make immediate claims disproves the allegations?), although it may have been evidence of her foolish willingness to believe her husband. Other rundowns on the particulars of the allegations against Hillary can be found here and here. Its important to get away from the sweeping everyone knows style of accusation that comes from talk-radio hosts and others of their ilk that are not held to journalistic, let alone legal, standards.
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http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/the-7-dumbest-arguments-in-defense-of-trump/ar-AAiUMxk?li=BBnb7Kz