I keep losing track of Donald Trump’s various wars on media outlets, but I guess he’s okay with NBC this week, because he appeared on Thursday morning’s Today Show for an exclusive interview/town hall which is getting wide coverage, mostly because Trump answered some questions about LGBTQ issues and more specifically, the North Carolina “bathroom law.” North Carolina passed their own draconian “religious freedom” law last month, which basically entitles every anti-gay bigot the “right” to discriminate against LGBTQ people, and even more specifically, it says that trans individuals can only use the public bathrooms which correspond to the gender on their birth certificate. The whole thing is a clusterwhoops, and North Carolina is losing millions of dollars as major businesses and artists boycott the state. The GOP platform is basically that these kinds of “religious freedom” laws are great and every state should have them. But Trump disagreed, saying:
“Well look North Carolina did something that was very strong and they’re paying a big price and there’s a lot of problems. And one of the best answers I heard was from a commentator yesterday saying, ‘Leave it the way it is right now, there have been very few problems, leave it the way it is.’ There have been very few complaints the way it is. People go, they use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate, there has been so little trouble.”
Today show co-host Matt Lauer then asked Trump, “Do you have any transgender people working in your organization?”
“I don’t know, I really don’t know,” Trump told Lauer. “I probably do, I really don’t know.”
“So if Caitlyn Jenner were to walk into Trump Tower and want to use the bathroom, you would be fine with her using any bathroom she chooses?” Lauer asked.
“That is correct,” Trump responded.
Ted Cruz is already bashing Trump for his comments, but I have to think that Trump is already maneuvering into a general-election position, which… I don’t know, is actually pretty smart? I’m not saying I’m suddenly a Trump supporter, I’m just saying A) he’s smart to begin maneuvering his public positions to a more centrist platform and B) Trump’s words about the “bathroom issue” are actually not problematic at all.
Of course, the Trump giveth and the Trump taketh away. No sooner did he say something relatively enlightened about LGBTQ people than he declared that taking Andrew Jackson off of the $20 bill was “pure political correctness.” Jackson is being replaced with Harriet Tubman, which is great and it’s what activists wanted. The original plan was to replace Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill, but Lin-Manuel Miranda saved Hamilton for everybody. So now we’re getting $20 Tubman and Trump is acting as an apologist for Andrew Jackson… who engineered a genocide. Or as Trump said, “he was someone very important to this country.” Trump’s solution? Put Tubman on the $2 bill. Oh, Trump.
Here’s the $20 bill part.
And here’s the LGBTQ part.
Photos courtesy of Pacific Coast News.
Nah, I don’t even want to discuss this. Making a mockery of the republican party is just his latest bizarre reality show. It would be funny if he weren’t so loathesome.
Do we have any Trump supporters on this site?
Harriet Tubman risked her life over and over for her beliefs. She was brave and smart and a real American hero. Heroine? Trump is such an ass.
He just recognizes that the bill in NC is costing them money. He doesn’t care about human rights.
I was obsessed with Harriet Tubman in elementary school and read every biography about her I could get my hands on. She was so awesome. So suffice it to say I’m pretty stoked about this.
As for the bathroom thing, I actually think it’s fine that Trump sees the economic repercussions of passing such ridiculous bills rather than the human rights issue. That’s how we’re going to have to get through to the people who want this nonsense anyway. It’s not like I expect him to suddenly become a bastion of equal rights. He probably doesn’t even care about it one way or the other and I think his answer is just fine. Let’s just let people choose and if an individual causes a problem we’ll deal with that person. Personally I don’t care to examine my fellow bathroom users too closely anyway.
Harriet Tubman was an awesome human being. I loved learning about her and even visited her birthplace (which is just a field with a marker now). I’m so glad she’s replacing Jackson (Hamilton can stay). Agree with you on Trump, too.
Perhaps we are looking at the next woman of the year! Fingers crossed!
You’ re terrible! 🙂
Ha!
The reality is that a Trump presidency would probably be culturally quite liberal. He’s a New Yorker and never stood on a hate platform before. I know that should make it better, but it actually angers me, because he has whipped up so much anger and violence, purely because he wants to be elected. I would almost have more respect for the man if he believed what he has been spouting.
Such a good point.
You believe politician? Any of them? 😉 I tend to not believe them in the first place but if I do, I don’t believe they’ll be able to follow through. So it doesn’t matter. … I’m in a stellar mood today.
Yeah, I agree. A politician lying about everything is basically a given.
I agree with you. Even if he holds some reasonable social positions, he has been deliberately stirring up bigotry and hatred and exploiting it to get where he is in this race. That’s reprehensible. People have gotten beaten up because of this toxic garbage. I’m not forgetting it, even if he tries to make himself over as less of a loose and bigoted cannon from now on.
And I knew damn well that Andrew Jackson was going to suddenly become a great hero to these types when I saw the news about the $20.
Well he’s standing on one now. Unless you’ve forgotten how he stated women who seek abortions should be punished and imprisoned? I consider that hate against women.
No, he was saying that IF abortion was made illegal, a woman should be punished for obtaining an illegal abortion. Which is correct. IF Roe v. Wade is ever overturned and abortion becomes illegal, women and doctors should be punished. You break a law, you face the consequences. Simple as that. People love to just jump to conclusions and skewer the facts about what Trump said in order to fit their own liberal agenda.
That’s a nice way of twisting what he actually said. No he wasn’t tricked into saying it, no MSNBC didn’t edit his comments. His personal belief is that abortion is wrong, it should be illegal, and he thinks women should be punished for having them.
Exactly. He’s a manipulative cruel business man who will essentially go back on his word and destroy those he should help if the money is right.
Come on. Trump is no more manipulative than any other candidate. I love how he is held to higher standards than his competition. It’s become a pastime to mock Trump, and it is tiring to see. Maybe show him a bit of respect. He could really be the next POTUS.
Oh please.
I can’t name a single candidate who has said women should be punished if they seek abortions.
I can’t name a single candidate who has specifically called Mexicans rapists and says a wall should be built.
Can’t name a candidate who has openly mocked his opponents by calling them names, posted disparaging images of their wives, talked about his penis on stage, and incited and encouraged violence in his stump speeches.
He is not held to a higher standard, it’s just that when someone does and says things that are ugly it often gets embarassing when you repeat out loud everything they’ve said and done. I don’t owe him a damn bit of respect for properly doing what the Republican Party has been doing for years in appealing to the angry lower income individuals who blame immigrants for everything. I can only applaud him for doing it in blunt simple words, I’m sure that’s really pleased his fanbase.
He’s not being held to a higher standard. If anything, he was given a pass on MANY things because the news media is enjoying the circus.
As opposed to a manipulative cruel politician who will go back on their word if the money is right. I’m sorry but I just don’t see much of a difference there. I hate Trump too but the rest of them are hardly saints.
Honestly, I don’t see how Trump is particularly being held to a different standard than any other candidate. If he gets mocked more often, it’s because of how outlandish and outspoken his behavior is in comparison to them. Palin got ripped apart for similar reasons, and I’m sure Howard Dean would love to travel back in time and cut that YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAH out of his campaign. Al Gore and George Bush? That SNL debate skit is iconic at this point.
As for the respect issue…well, have to be honest here, at thirty years of age, I’ve yet to see a single president or presidential candidate go through that didn’t have his or her fair share of detractors. Nobody likes hearing their candidate get torn down, but that’s just…politics, especially with how polarized it is here in America. At this point in my life, I’d rather be thankful that I live in a country where you can call the president a f*cking idiot and not get thrown in jail for it.
I agree. He panders to right wingers by saying culturally conservative things but who knows what his real agenda is. I do think he is truly passionate about immigration issues , hope he will not actually waste money working on the “wall” plan if elected
The border wall wouldn’t be just a mistake or a waste of money, it would be a disaster…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vU8dCYocuyI
Amen. I have many Republican friends who are all in for Cruz because “Trump would destroy the party.” I keep shaking my head because I think Cruz is far, FAR worse than Trump. Mainly because I don’t think Trump believes 2/3 of what he is saying. I think his true opinions come out on things like his comments regarding Planned Parenthood, healthcare, LGBT issues, trade, etc. I wouldn’t vote for him, but I think we could survive. Cruz? Nope. Not happening.
I don’t even think he wants to be elected, really. He just doesn’t want to lose, which might sound the same but it isn’t. As much as I despise him, he probably wouldn’t have too crazy of an agenda as president. He’s not stupid and as self serving as he is, I don’t think he’d be all that draconian. In fact, I’d like him to almost (but not actually) get elected because the republican party badly needs a fundamental shake up. They’ve been spiraling down for awhile now and I hope Trump will crush the GOP as we know it. He won’t do it on purpose, but I hope it happens all the same. He’s the culmination of their ridiculous bullshit and I hope it bites them in the ass so hard they can’t sit down for a week.
And I agree that he probably doesn’t hate too many people or groups, that would take far too much time away from thinking about himself. He just knows what people want to hear, what will create the most hubbub, and he’s probably just seeing how far he can take it. Like boys in high school playing the penis game where everyone takes it in turns to say “penis” louder and louder to see how long they can get away with it.
I agree Wren. I’ve always said he doesn’t want to be president He just wants to win. This is any other competition for him. It’s like being on The Apprentice in his eyes. I think as he gets closer, he may self-sabotage (not sure whether it would be intentional or not).
Honestly, that makes him just as scary as Cruz to me. The kind of culture you create for your own purposes is just as dangerous as the one you actually believe in. You are what you pretend to be. I know we’re all tired of hearing the comparisons to Nazi Germany, but they are incredibly timely for this America. We’re culturally on the same precipice that they were was in the 1930s. People are scared, frustrated, angry at what they perceive is the fading power of the American empire, and they want something to blame. If you give them an object onto which they can direct that energy, it’s going to cause problems for all of us. The president is one part of the political machinery. Those same people he’s stirring up in favor of them also vote for representatives at both federal and state level who can carry at that agenda in the actual lawmaking process.
The fact that they are keeping Andrew Jackson on the bill and merely shifting him to the back should appeal to Trumps racist side. I mean on the front you have a black woman who risked her life freeing slaves and on the back you have a white man who maintained his life style by keeping slaves and orchestrated a massacre. And yet the racist GOP still cant see that for the concession that it is. I wish somebody would glue their mouths shut.
That pisses me off so much, they just can’t let that man go can they. Can’t let Harriet shine.
Moving Andrew Jackson to the back of the bus, per se?
Ugh, I’ve been saying Jackson should be off the twenty since I learned what Andrew Jackson did, all the way back when I was in elementary school. The comments on this matter are both sad and hilarious (luckily a lot of people are happy about it). People really do not know Franklin and Hamilton weren’t presidents. And they don’t realize there already is a two dollar bill, with Thomas Jefferson on it, no less!
Harriet Tubman did even more than that. She also worked for the Union army as a spy, nurse and cook. She even fought in battle. So yes racist, she helped preserve the union that you have the freedom to be racists in. She also was a part of the women’s rights movement of her time and opened the first retirement home for elderly Black women. She has done more for this country than all the phoney congress people today.
Well that is not surprising considering that the LGBT community is the only minority group that Trump doesn’t hate. Everybody else is fair game. Plus Trump is not dumb, he understands the power of the LGBT community and knows that he could lose everything if he made an enemy of them.
I don’t think Trump actually hates anyone; he’s far too self-absorbed to expend that much energy on anyone but himself. I think he realised that, in order to appeal to the Republican base and keep his name in the headlines, he had to keep upping the ante on his bigoted statements relative to his competitors.
I also think he has no interest in actually being president, but that’s because I can’t imagine him taking time out from his busy Twitter feud schedule to run the country.
I cosign this. He is pandering to the people who post anti Obama memes on social media all day.
The British Foreign Office has issued a travel advisory for LGBT individuals headed to North Carolina and Mississippi.
Welcome to the US future with any of the Republican candidates publicly trying to be on the ticket. Or privately trying. I’m looking at you Paul Ryan AKA the Republican Party’s version of Eric Baker from West Wing.
Well this is a surprise. This is the only comment I actually agree with. And probably the last. And the sun hasn’t risen here yet, but I swear I just saw a pig fly right past my window!
Trump’s bathroom position is an unexpected surprise. But the sudden concern about keeping Andrew Jackson makes me ill. Over on Fox Greta Van Susteren said how it would upset currency enthusiasts to replace him, and she seriously suggests a 25.00 bill for Tubman. I guess then certain “currency enthusiasts” would be able to specify when getting cash to not give them any of those 25.00 bills. Look out Greta, your racism is showing!
Currency changes all the time. Images are changed, security features added, special editions issued. None of the “currency enthusiasts” had a melt down then, and anyone interested and collecting currency probably welcomes any changes.
Greta needs to cut the BS and say the word she’s hinting at – racists.
I’ve already seen comments on facebook stories that people will refuse to accept any new twentys and ask for four fives instead. Ummm ok. Currency enthusiasts…. hmmm. My husband collects currency and he is not in the least bit upset by this.
no, there haven’t been “very few problems” or “so little trouble”.
there have been NO PROBLEMS AND NO TROUBLE until this stupid law made problems and trouble. there has never been even ONE instance of a trans person attacking a woman or child in a bathroom. there have been, however, instances of elected officials and bathroom shenanigans.
That’s why I don’t understand all these people arguing that, without these laws, male sex offenders will dress up as women and go into women’s restrooms to commit sex crimes against women and young girls. Technically, they could have done that before the bills were ever introduced, and yet we have scant evidence of such incidents ever taking place. Seriously, if a sex offender wanted to attack someone in a public bathroom that badly, he probably wouldn’t even bother with the dressing up. Besides, most children who are molested know the perpetrator. People should worry more about the people their children know and trust than random strangers who might be in the public bathrooms.
yes to everything you said.
and this…”Technically, they could have done that before the bills were ever introduced”
is another point I keep making. like, now that there’s a law, people won’t do it? if someone wanted to dress up as a woman and prey on little girls in bathrooms, it’s not like a law is going to stop them.
and as someone down below commented, via “the liberal redneck”, trans people have been around forever. it’s likely…nay, almost certain, that everyone has been in a bathroom with a trans person.
In calm settings like talk shows, he can sound presidential and calm. But a zebra doesn’t change his stripes. His loud offensive bombastic self will be back as soon as people insult him again. Without a doubt, the stressful and arduous slog of the campaign trail will wear him down and that’s when true Trump comes out again.
1. Oh North Carolina (government not citizens) being in the year 2016 is hard for you. Enjoy your continue job loss and financial ruin as a result of trying to implement discrimination as a law.
2. Donald Trump will say and do anything he can to get what he wants. I hope people are smart enough to know that. He says one thing one day, another a different day. Many of his ideas even directly contradict each other but it’s a dog whistle for who he’s trying to sucker that given day.
3. The problem isn’t Donald trying to pivot to the center. It’s that he won by being AGGRESSIVELY far right, those that supported will crucify him if he does become too liberal and ‘open-minded’ suddenly. That trans bathroom comment had quite a flurry online of people who typically love him going ‘WTF’. Sorry Donald you’re finding out NC’s lesson. You either die with the dinosaurs or live with the rest of us, no halfsies.
Again, Trump is doing nothing the other candidates aren’t doing. Even his liberal opponents are playing the game. And he’s also learning and improving as he goes along. For someone who has the least amount of previous political experience in this race, Donald Trump is holding his own. The numbers show it! He has a strong shot a being the Republican nominee. People need to deal with this and start giving Trump his due respect!!!
Lol, I’m sorry Farrah but if you’re waiting for people to give Trump respect you’re going to be waiting a loooong time. I have no respect to give, I will never have respect to give. I don’t offer respect to people who discriminate and disparage others like a wild dog let off from his leash.
So let’s clarify something. All candidates do move to the center once they begin to appeal more to the general constituency. NOT all candidates make such a sharp pivot especially when they’ve made their entire campaign out of being THE most far-right, the most religious and the most lacking in addressing struggling minority groups. That’s disingenious to anyone who follows the news from day to day. I’m not surprised Cruz called him on it and I’m not surprised his attempting to rewrite history led to some murmurings about his usual correct opinions being so wrong this time.
Trump is succeeding because he did what the party has been doing for years but better. No flowery speeches trying to explain immigration, just call them rapists and build a wall. No nuanced explanations of war and treatment of prisoners, torture them and their families. It’s a dream for his fanbase.
Quite frankly respect is exactly what he wants and he’s not going to go away until he gets it. That’s what his campaign has been about. He wants to be taken seriously.
Honestly at this point I don’t see him as any worse than the rest of the pack. So he says what people want to hear, makes promises he can’t keep (or has no intention of keeping), and goes back and forth on issues. Name one politician who hasn’t done that. I for one take him seriously. He’s made it far on a campaign fueled by indignation and butthurt, and only by treating him as a real threat (which he is) can he be stopped. People are still trying to push him to the side which is a huge mistake. That only gives him more fuel.
Farrah, I love and agree 100% with everything you have said in this thread! You are a brave woman not hating on Trump on this site! 😉
Trump is an awful person and he’s tempermentally unsuited for the job. Ted Cruz is an awful person too but he actually has the experience and ability to be president he would institute awful policies for sure but he at the very least has the basic skill required for the job and it pains me greatly to say that.
@Farrah, it is Paul Ryan’s convention and Paul Ryan does not want Trump as his nominee.
And I’ll respect him when he shows respect for me and the Muslim surgeon who saved my life.
The Eternal Side Eye: I agree w everything you said, except for about Trump’s being THE most religious of the GOP candidates—that, imo, hands down (and pretty frighteningly) has been Cruz. Rubio also has been far more religious; in fact, I’d say pretty much *all* the GOP candidates have played the religion card more than Trump has. Which makes sense, since, whether or not Trump believes in any God, the only person he truly, OBSESSIVELY worships is himself.
Farrah: Trump’s “due” respect? LOL. Respect needs to be earned and deserved, and I have utterly NO respect for someone who has made it as far as he has as a candidate (and “business man”) by lying, cheating, insulting marginalized groups of people left and right, and by playing up to the very worst elements of our population: racists, misogynists, xenophobes, and to hatred and hatefulness in general. I give him EXACTLY his “due” respect: none.
@caitlin
It’s important to distinguish between what I really believe about Trump vs how he’s intentionally portraying himself for the sake of getting votes.
Depending on the location of where he’s currently campaigning he goes in hard with the biblical pious image to try and sway voters. This is what happened when he was trying to appeal to Mormon voters and was suddenly quoting bible verses (badly) and discussing his (nonexistant) faith. In trying to reach the golden 1,237 he’s been trying to be the most true to the voice of the fringe in the Republican Party and that means dancing the thin line between one day saying women who seek abortions should be legally punished to scuttling back like a crab when the mainstream rebuke him for that.
$20 says Trump doesn’t have a clue who Andrew Jackson even is, beyond a dead president.
There’s a video out by a guy who called himself “The Liberal Redneck” addressing this transgender bathroom issue. I would link to it, but I’m incompetent. But I would recommend that everyone watch it, because this guy is amazing. He’s from Tennessee and has the thickest accent you’ve ever heard, but he’s progressive as hell and it’s fantastic. He basically says, “You guys know transgender people have been around forever right? Literally, forever? What bathrooms do you think they’ve been using?” And then, in so many words, “Just admit that you guys are disgusted by the fact that a man wants to be a woman. You’re disgusted by things you don’t understand. You know, like algebra, homosexuality, that kind of sh!t.”
It’ll make your Friday.
You are right! That video is just great. I love his point about transgender people having been around forever. Another one of my favorite parts is when he says that the people all up in arms about bathrooms are the same ones who put Mountain Dew in sippy cups. That guy is a true redneck philosopher.
It’s like gay marriage, it doesn’t come down to anything but it making people feel icky and scared.
Transgender individuals have NEVER attacked anyone in a bathroom, there is NO precedent for this.
What has happened is that full grown men have chosen to assault women wherever they choose to because laws don’t stop rapists or muggers and they don’t need to wear a dress and pretend if they’re planning to do something bad.
Lol that is awesome. He hits the nail on the head. People fear what they don’t understand. Which makes sense in the caveman days of “that thing over there is weird and might murder us so let’s avoid it” but not so much today with “those people are weird, they haven’t actually DONE anything to us but they COULD and I’m scared”. It’s such an instinctual reaction most people don’t even understand where it comes from, which makes it hard to fight. Nope, they just KNOW there’s something “wrong” with those people and they’ll do their damnest to fight the imaginary foe.
Even my husband does it. He can barely bring himself to use feminine pronouns for Caitlyn Jenner, and each time I gently correct him he gets all uncomfortable and squirrelly.
KaIser the tail end of his comment was about a third set of restrooms, how it would be enormously costly to build them, etc.. There wasn’t any real support for anyone, just Drumpf trying to play to whomever was in the room for the soundbite.
Exactly what I emailed to a friend today…he doesn’t have a clue regarding anything to do w/ LGBT.
Don’t like Trump but still better than religious nut Cruz.
isabelle: Agree w you.
I don’t think Trump actually shares most of the social views of the conservative party. In fact I think he’s much more reasonable than (draconian, horrible, creepy, run!) Cruz. Trump is just a blustering, pigheaded, narcissist. Cruz is an evil preacher.
It’s so ironic. Given Hillary’s strong unfavorability rankings the Republicans had a pretty good shot to beat her in the general election if they put up a moderate candidate. And yet they ended up with Cruz and Trump as the top contenders.
Sorry but if Kaitlyn/Bruce Jenner wanted to use the women’s washroom at the same time as me I would feel very uncomfortable.
Why? I’m honestly curious.
I’m not sure why. I’ve been to events with guys dressed/identify as a woman and they used the women’s can. It made me feel uncomfortable. It’s nothing against them it’s more I guess about me.
I wouldn’t want to share a bathroom with Catlin because she’s a shit human being…I just don’t want to be in the same proximity as her in general. But I wouldn’t mind in the least sharing a bathroom with any other trans woman in the world.
Not to pile on, but yes, why? It’s not like you can see what’s happening in a stall. I realize that I really pay very little attention to what’s going on in bathroom stalls around me, I’ve always assumed most people just care about taking care of business and getting out.
Maybe I’ve lived a very sheltered life? I dont know what to say other than how it makes me feel.
I bet you honestly wouldnt even know the difference if a trans person walked into a bathroom.
That’s the truth! I have seen a couple episodes of Catlin’s terrible show and nobody would be able to tell the difference if one of the trans women that she hangs out with were to use a ladies restroom. One of the younger women Is named Ella. She is so pretty and I am jealous of her amazing skin.
This is true. My kid had a trans teacher one year, no one knew. Midway through the year there was a little speculation, but then it died down until the end of the year when he revealed his past in class. Much harder for him (and braver) than it was for the kids. By then they knew him as a person and while initially surprised, they quickly digested it and moved on.
I appreciate your honesty, but you’re kind of hitting the essential problems behind that legislation – the discomfort of some shouldn’t be used as an excuse to deny the rights of others. More importantly, maintaining that segregation is what will prevent us from integrating transfolk into a more mainstream acceptance. There are plenty of studies that show that the more involved we are in diverse environments, the less significantly we focus on our differences. I don’t mean this in a condescending way, but examining why it makes you so uncomfortable is an important step. I had to go through a similar experience when coming to terms with the kind of privilege I inevitably have as a white woman in America. I honestly think you turn out better for it.
Agreed. Well said Veronica.
Trump still said women should be punished for abortions.
Please do not give this man credit for anything and please do not publish anymore stories about him. Man is a hatemonger and I am sick of seeing his ugly mug everywhere.
I’m pretty sure it was Ben Carson who said to put Tubman on the $2 first. It was on one of the news channels in an on air interview. USA Today has the video.