Of course it was rude.
He is fighting. He is positioning himself.
He shifted the argument battlefield to one that favors him.
Trump changed the subject from incriminating association with Jeffrey Epstein to whether he was being crude and sexist.
Here is the exchange on Air Force One:
Reporter: What did Jeffrey Epstein mean in his emails when he said you knew about the girls?
Trump: I know nothing about that. They would have announced that a long time ago. It's really what did he mean when he spent all that time with Bill Clinton, with the president of Harvard, you know, that is Summers, Larry Summers, whatever his name is. And all the other people he spent time with. Jeffrey Epstein and I had a very bad relationship for many years. But he also saw strength because I was president. So he dictated a couple of memos to himself, give me a break. You've got to find out what did he know with respect to Bill Clinton, to the respect to the head of Harvard, with respect to all of those people that he knew, including JPMorgan, Chase.
Reporter: Sir, if there's nothing incriminating in the files, sir, why are you all acting---
Trump: Quiet. Quiet, piggy.
We see Trump using the classic mechanisms for escaping guilt. Denial. Distance. Blame others. Object to the inquiry. Any police interrogator would recognize these.
Trump adds one. He attacks the person doing the questions. Trump is authentic in his frankness. Trump exercised masculine power. He put a female reporter in her place with an insult. His narcissism is so profound that he feels entitled to be unfiltered. It is part of his appeal to voters. He says what he thinks even when -- especially when -- it is cruel and crude.
Trump is an old-school male chauvinist, and he doesn't mind revealing it. Women are primarily acted upon, not actors. Trump openly evaluates women on their sex appeal. Women have their uses and Trump employs them; they can be agents, assistants, bureaucrats, and functionaries. They are also decoration and flatterers.
"Quiet, piggy" caught the attention of Democrats. Trump reveals something about American culture: We are amid a backlash to the feminism of the late 1960s and 1970s. A great many American voters either like Trump's retro style of masculinity, or at least tolerate it. Some consider it the natural order of biology and culture that women want protection and resources from men, an idea contradicted by "women's lib." Trump is the alpha male: big, rich, powerful, judgmental, and cruel. If this were solely a conceit of men, it wouldn't have worked to elect Trump. Democrats trying to make sense of this era need to keep reminding themselves that a majority of White women voted for Trump in all three elections.
That I find Trump's behavior disgusting does not mean that he is out of touch with the public. Many people are not disgusted by him, and they are shaping current political reality. Trump isn't "politically correct." He doesn't pull punches. That is part of Trump's appeal: Amid all the checks and balances and constraints and veto-spots in our political process, Trump isn't hobbled by rules of courtesy or respect for norms. A lot of people were seeking that in a leader. His crude directness means he is willing to cut through constraints and may be able to get things done.
After-publlcation addition: A comment from a Trump-supporter gives readers an example of why Trump can make comments like "Quiet, piggy:"
The media is slanted and biased, and they lie profusely, and they are hostile to conservatives, so if Trump has to play a little hard-ball and insult a reporter, then I see no problem with that. Turnabout is fair-play. The media plays dirty, and they get what they deserve, which is NO respect.
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8 comments:
Trump now wants the Epstein files released. I don't trust that. I think he has people going through those files line by line and erasing any reference to him. He might even have them ad a few lines about Clinton that weren't there to begin with. He's not being transparent. He's being cagy. For someone who lies whenever it serves him, will this be more of that?
As far as white women voting for him, perhaps it's time to rethink the 21st Amendment.
Suppose Trump said "Quiet, Piggy!" to your wife or daughter...? Changes the focus doesn't it
The cracks may be finally showing. I’m no fan of MTG, but her recent pushback on Trump may be signs of the beginning of his undoing, at least with women. In her recent social media post:
“As a woman I take threats from men seriously. I now have a small understanding of the fear and pressure the women, who are victims of Jeffrey Epstein and his cabal, must feel,”
In response to Trump’s accusation that she’s a “traitor”-
“Let me tell you what a traitor is. A traitor is an American that serves foreign countries and themselves. A patriot is an American that serves the United States of America, and Americans like the women standing behind me.”
Cracks…..
The Dance of the Seven Veils continues? If I'm reading right (The Hill, Politico etc.), the bill requires release of all "unclassified" Epstein documents. Ahem. (Who can classify, anyway?) And naturally, items relevant to "new investigations" would also be presumed excluded from release.
Our favorite Male Chauvinist Piggy may still be dropping droppings on people from his jet.
I didn’t know that Miss Piggy was a member of the White House press corps.
In no way was that thought out. What you see is a diminished 80 year-old man losing control when being challenged and panicking.
Do you want to Repeal the Repeal of Prohibition??
Were you thinking of 19th Amendment?
Certainly you don't want to deprive Women of the Right to Vote?? The majority of "White" "women" tend to vote Democrat.
Do you think reestablishing Patriarchy is going to HURT Trump?????
Personally I'm hip to the repeal of the 16th Amendment.
...you do know what the 16th Amendment is, don't you?
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye.” - Miss Piggy
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