This is an incredibly complicated story that involves multiple interviews by Ivanka Trump and literally decades of work by Hillary Clinton. I am not going to come anywhere near to covering this comprehensively, so if you’d like a deeper dive, I suggest you read this excellent piece at NY Mag detailing Ivanka’s blatant lies and Hillary Clinton’s long history of fighting for family medical leave, maternity leave and more. The story sort of begins this week, when Donald Trump unveiled his “plan” for paid maternity leave. It was said that Ivanka had a big part in developing the plan, and Ivanka did several high-profile interviews in support of it.
Trump’s newly unveiled plan is only interesting because it rejects the Republican fallback position of “unpaid maternity leave” and extreme limits of said maternity leave. Trump’s plan – with Ivanka’s influence – calls for six weeks of paid maternity leave and a tax deduction for stay-at-home parents. Trump’s plan doesn’t call for paternity leave, optional or not. In a new Cosmo interview out yesterday, Ivanka refers to her father’s plan as “the first to address this in a comprehensive way.” It is not the first. Hillary Clinton released her comprehensive child-care and family-medical leave plan a year ago. Then Ivanka got testy when pressed about how the Trump plan is really only for women like Ivanka, who give birth and their daddies are expected to go back to work right away. Ivanka says, yes, the plan is meant “to enable the mother to recover after childbirth. It’s critical for the health of the mother.” So, nothing for dads, nothing for same-sex male partners. That’s when the interview starts to get testy. Then it gets even trickier when Cosmo brings up an old Trump quote! Here’s that part:
Cosmo: In 2004, Donald Trump said that pregnancy is an inconvenient thing for a business. It’s surprising to see this policy from him today. Can you talk a little bit about those comments, and perhaps what has changed?
Ivanka: So I think that you have a lot of negativity in these questions, and I think my father has put forth a very comprehensive and really revolutionary plan to deal with a lot of issues. So I don’t know how useful it is to spend too much time with you on this if you’re going to make a comment like that. My father obviously has a track record of decades of employing women at every level of his company, and supporting women, and supporting them in their professional capacity, and enabling them to thrive outside of the office and within. To imply otherwise is an unfair characterization of his track record and his support of professional women. So the policies at our company reflect that, and the diversity of our workforce, from a gender perspective, and in all perspectives, reflects that. So my father has been a great advocate for the women in the workforce, and that’s part of why he recognized that reform is so necessary.Cosmo: I would like to say that I’m sorry the questions — you’re finding them negative, but it is relevant that a presidential candidate made those comments, so I’m just following up.
Ivanka: Well, you said he made those comments. I don’t know that he said those comments.Cosmo: This is quoted from an NBC [interview] from 2004. I definitely did not make that up. I do want to talk to you a little bit beyond the plan, as well—
Ivanka: I think what I was — there’s plenty of time for you to editorialize around this, but I think he put forth a really incredible plan that has pushed the boundaries of what anyone else is talking about. On child care specifically, there are no proposals on the table. He really took ownership of this issue, and I really applaud him for doing that. I hope that, regardless of what your political viewpoint is, this should be celebrated.Cosmo: I want to talk about how this will be paid for. I know that Donald Trump wants to have an increase in defense spending, also is promising tax cuts, [wants to raise] infrastructure spending, and wants to build a wall [at the Mexican border]. How will this plan be paid for?
Ivanka: Well, he’s going to unveil his total tax-reform plan on Thursday, and this is a component of that, so it will be included in his overall budget and economic vision. So it is accounted for, it is paid for under this plan, and it is budget-neutral. In terms of the paid leave component, that’s self-financing through reforms in existing unemployment insurance. So the child care component of the plan, and the dependent care component of the plan, will be presented as part of the larger tax reform that he’s going to be presenting on Thursday in a speech here in New York. And the paid leave component is self-financing through the reforms I just mentioned. I’m going to jump off, I have to run. I apologize.
“He put forth a really incredible plan that has pushed the boundaries of what anyone else is talking about. On child care specifically, there are no proposals on the table.” That’s a blatant lie. Not only did HRC introduce a more comprehensive maternity, paternity and family medical leave proposal, she did so a year ago. But the real story is that Ivanka is just the same as her father: a petty, salty liar who runs away (or hangs up) when pressed about her petty lies. Ivanka already whined on Twitter about this Cosmo interview too, directing this comment to Cosmo: “your readers do & should care about issues impacting women & children. Keep the focus where it belongs—advocating change.” Yeah, Cosmo readers cared about women and children before you came along, Ivanka.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I find this whole story repulsive. It’s just lies and evasion and awful “don’t be negative, journalists!” rhetoric. I hate the rampant anti-journalism slant to the whole Trump campaign. I mean, I know Cosmo isn’t the New York Times, but don’t sit there and tell them how to be journalists, Ivanka. Take several seats.
People have been too nice to her for too long. She’s very much her father’s daughter.
Right? Also, I might be quite wrong, but I think Cosmo taps into an audience that all newspapers court but have trouble acquiring: That young, female audience. The Millennial women. The answers to these questions are relevant to them. I hope that they read this interview and realize that these people are not on their side.
I never really thought about it… but I guess that IS the audience of cosmo. I read it briefly when I was like … 18 in 2008. Realized what garbage it was for the most part and stopped. To me – it’s like waiting room fodder. But I suppose there are a lot of people in my age range that eat it up … I did like the odd article, but most of it was just meh at best.
I also read it briefly and then promptly decided it was trash and the same articles over and over again.
HOWEVER, I do follow their snapchat (usually out of boredom when I’m on) and I’m betting I’m not the only one in my age range. I’m a 30 year old, married woman, with a child…So those issues are VERY important to me.
Hopefully the Hearst corporation with take this interview and publish in all their magazines with that demographic.
Well she learned from the best, right?
“Well, you said he made those comments. I don’t know that he said those comments.”
I mean, is she Donald Trump’s daughter or what? LOL…
The apple – however sleek and shiny on the outside – usually doesn’t fall far from the tree.
She is a Trump through and through. Everyone needs to google the Trump project in Cabo San Lucas. Big marketing cocktail parties were given, Donald showed for a couple of them. But it was Ivanka who was the main face of the marketing with Donald Jr also, with slick materials and an Ivanka video touting the luxurious Trump condo project, both kids even telling investors that they had bought their own units because it was so fabulous. When the project fell through, Ivanka was seen no more, and all the buyers had for their millions was a hole in the ground. Turned out that the Trumps weren’t the developers at all, he had just sold his name for many millions. The ensuing lawsuit specifically named sweet Ivanka and Don Jr. There was an undisclosed settlement. Ivanka had told many, many lies while she marketed the condos. She’s a snake in a more attractive package.
Either Newsweek or WaPo recently claimed that since around 2007, the family business model changed to branding (licensing the name instead of doing actual development).
They are marketers, plain and simple.
Buyer beware, whether it’s allegedly flammable scarves from her line, or foreign investors being entranced by the family name.
Like daddy like daughter!
An entitled tw@t, to be sure. She’s revolting.
So u don’t have paid maternity leave in the United States??
@lilian, Americans get maternity/paternity through their employer, so it varies greatly. Our maternity/paternity leave is usually pretty abysmal.
Wish we had maternity leave that was similar to Sweden, 56 weeks of maternity leave paid at 80% for the first part of the benefit…and gov subsidized child care like Mexico. It may be a third world country but my mom never paid a dime in childcare. She was a single mom with 4 kids and the subsidized gov childcare was heaven sent., safe and very involved in the healthy development of children.Back then she worked for a gov branch that covered medical expenses at 100%. Those were the days…i am surprised that the US being a first world country and taxing americans so highly can’t handle to subsidize at least part of the cost, not just food assistance for child care centers but also aleviate the cost for parents. When i moved to the US i couldn’t believe how expensive child care is, so i was a stay at home mom for a while. I was working to pay someone to watch my baby. No way i was doing that, i was fortunate to be able to have that option. But i feel for those parents who don’t have a choice and are stuck paying so much in a service that i believe should be prioritized and at least partially footed by the gov.
“@lilian, Americans get maternity/paternity through their employer, so it varies greatly. Our maternity/paternity leave is usually pretty abysmal. ”
I never heard of an American employer providing maternity/ paternity leave and I’ve worked for a number of US multinationals. If it happens, it is extremely rare.
Usually a disability insurance pays for 6 weeks of disability and then there is 12 weeks unpaid FMLA leave , both of these are concurrent. That is it.
@sasha
i work for a large company and our maternity leave is 6 mo iirc and out paternity leave is a few wks
There is State Disability in the US which is already 6 weeks paid. But there’s a cap, so the amount of money you get is pennies. They also offer unpaid leave which is FMLA but that’s depending on the size of the company. Any company with less than 50 employees do not have FMLA. Some companies have their own maternity leave plans but they’re not legally obligated to giving anything. Hillary’s plan already gives more time to not only the mother but to the father as well and to same sex marriages. Now if she can work on the state paying for a person’s entire salary that would be glorious. Ivanka also isn’t understanding that it’s not just a time for the mother to heal from childbirth it’s a bonding experience as well.
The U.S. military as of Mar officially grants 12 weeks paid maternity leave. Dads get two weeks paid leave. This is a huge difference from when my hubby went in 23 years ago and got no time off except regular leave and couldn’t even take it when our eldest was born–and in the NICU for a week.
Then you don’t really understand HRC! She cares less than nothing about woman. She cares only about her agenda to become president. If she cared about women she would have left her low life husband. Instead she crushed the women he used and abused, so that she could get to her goal of being the first female president!
Yawn. Same old Republican smear campaign script I’ve been hearing for 25 years.
It’s unfortunate that D. Trump can cheat on his wives, commit assault, and generally be a misogynistic are. But HRC didn’t leave her husband and trash talked his mistresses so she’s the evil one. Where are all those religious people who would tell her to forgive him and stand by her man? HRC, as usual, can do no right.
She has been working on maternity leave and child health and education issues for 30 years. You don’t have to like her, you don’t have to vote for her. But at least do some research about her actual record instead of believing whatever the echo chamber tells you.
40 years of mostly baseless vile commentary, I guess everyone starts believing it.
Are you kidding right now? You think staying with a cheating husband has anything to do with her position on women’s rights? I believe the choice to stay or leave a spouse is a perfect example of a woman’s rights. Please go somewhere and have several seats.
ps – I am not an HRC fan, but WTF do we expect someone to say about a woman that sleeps with her husband?!? I think she should be applauded for not snatching their faces off.
apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. She just looks and speaks better but is in fact no better than her father
She isn’t that pretty. She is just pretty for a child of his. Her veneers, hair, and thinness make her seem pretty, but you wouldn’t look at her twice in Los Angeles.
And let’s not forget the nose job which totally changed her. She was quite homely before all the work.
This is family is like the Great Wallandas except the Wallandas actually walked the walk. Literally.
In complete agreement. And for her to accuse the journalist of not giving the quote as it was said just boggles my mind.
Ivanka also sounds like she has key points she repeats over and over. And she does not have a very extensive vocabulary. She couldn’t think of a synonym for REALLY?
And good for Cosmo. This should be brought to the attention of all voters and women especially.
Someone needs to teach the Trump family that scrutiny is not negativity.
THIS ^^. They’re very thin-skinned for people in the public eye.
In their case, if you are not blindly kissing their arses, anything you say is negative.
Temperament is a big deal. Not answering vital questions (such as posed by this interviewer) is a big deal.
Thank you! And may I add that the resting bitch face of the woman above the anointed is hilarious! She looks as if she smelled something ROTTEN.
Thats Wendy Deng. As the ex-wife of Rupert Murdoch and rumored girlfriend of Vladimir Putin, she’s had plenty of opportunities to perfect that look.
And Murdoch was concerned about Wendi’s “closeness” to Tony Blair….she has great taste in men.
The Trump family and the Clinton family. They both have aversions to the press and are fundraising off that talking point. Ivanka is entitled but so is Chelsea. They are both entitled and come from privilege. DT is racist but so is HRC. He made horrible statements about Mexicans and she made those horrific super predator comments.
She made that comment twenty years ago based on studies from the time. She has since apologized. Donald, on the other hand, sees no issue with how he talks about anyone. Mexicans, women, Muslims…
@Betsy
Oh, ok. She said she’s sorry.
So let me get this straight. Hilary Clinton said something 20 years ago, while Donald Trump has based his entire campaign on raging xenophobia. Yeah, totally the same thing.
Bridget, false equivalency is intellectually lazy. They are not both “horrible candidates.” One comment, decades ago? Good grief.
Nice try, dom. But no one is buying what you’re selling.
Trump has based his whole campaign on lies, distractions and whipping up hate and fear about “the other” Prior to that, he’s spent his whole life trying to add to the fortune that “daddy” gave him, often by slinking out of business commitments (bankruptcy, refusal to pay vendors) and possibly breaking laws (discrimination against tenants, the debacle of Trump University, whatever TH is going on with his “charitable” foundation) . Clinton, on the other hand, has spent most of her adult life in public service. Is she perfect? No. No candidate is, no human being is. But she’s not basing every speech and PR op on lies, misdirection and bigotry. Not to mention his refusal to come clean about his taxes, refusing to disclose information as done by EVERY.OTHER.CANDIDATE. for the US Presidency since Nixon. Nixon! Seriously, secretive, squirrelly, Richard-Watergate-Nixon was more open about his finances than Donald J. Trump.
dom…why bring Chelsea up? She is not the one lying her way through an interview. And FYI..I don’t have a dog in this fight. I am a Canadian who is appalled that Trump has so many apologists. He is a lying POS plain and simple. I do understand misgivings about HRC but to me she is lesser of 2 evils.
dom, are you just repeating someone else’s memes? The reference to predators was about specific people who were preying on specific neighborhoods by turning them into dangerous open air drug markets. These predators were real and wrecked havoc in some neighborhoods. Maybe you’re too young to remember or happily don’t live in those areas affected but tough action was needed to make life safer for very vulnerable communities.
Hillary Clinton has never been racist – not even close.
Totally true about Trumps and sensitivity, but they’re continuing a grand Republican tradition of taking offense at any actual questions from the media. Remember Palin, the queen of offense, and her complaints about “gotcha” journalism. The GOP has made it a part of their practice for the past few decades to attack any decent journalist as a biased partisan out to attack and twist the facts. That policy has worked because I think that’s part of why so many media outlets take it easy on the GOP (including Trump) because they don’t want to be accused of being partisan, even though the taking it easy approach is actually the partisan approach.
To me, a “lie” is when you tell a deliberate untruth…but in Ivanka’s case, I don’t think she actually knows anything, so she doesn’t even know that she’s saying things that are factually incorrect.
Can’t decide which is worse, really.
That’s what I initially thought, too. She just sounds totally uninformed and out of her depth. But policy reform regarding women and families is Clinton’s bread and butter. She’s been contributing to the dialogue since she graduated law school, and that’s common knowledge for any relatively informed voter, much less one of the surrogates of the opposing presidential candidate. There’s simply no way Ivanka doesn’t know that Clinton has repeatedly shown interest and leadership where it regards policy reform for families, so to characterize her father as getting there before Clinton IS a lie. She’s trying to appeal to young people and people with short or corrupted memories by lying.
I’m with you. Ivanka is glib and vague (just like her father) because the real problem is she is uninformed. She is given a script that uses language that makes her appear educated but it is glaringly obvious, she is unaware and ignorant of the aspects and details of her subject matter. Once she’s asked a question she has no answer for because she really doesn’t know and it’s not in her script, she scurries away and cries foul.
I agree that she might be willingly uninformed but I don’t think that woman is dumb at all. Her mother is an intelligent business woman and I think Ivanka is as well. I don’t estimate her but I side eye everything she says. I think she knows how horrible her father is and she is just too greedy to care, same as Ivana. Money over everything. What she did to people in that Cabo scam was horrible.
I don’t think she is dumb either. But I don’t think she is thoroughly educated on the topics she speaks to. The generic statements make her appear informed, but any questions regarding details prove she is not informed – basically talking out of her a$$.
I think sheltered is probably a better term. And willingly ignorant.
I’ll apply what Jon Stewart said about George W. Bush back in the day:
She’s not stupid, but she thinks the all rest of us are.
That’s what all of this is – an incredible snow job by the Trump family, and people around them / supporting them hoping for scraps from a billionaire’s table.
I don’t believe she developed any of the proposal. She is unable to answer any questions. It comes across as a script she has been handed. Additionally the plan seems to be ONLY for women who’ve given birth. What if the child is adopted? Not only traditional or same sex marriage or partners why wouldn’t a single parent be offered coverage? This a FAMILY concern. Why are father’s not offered coverage? This is about making it better for families so it seems to me that a comprehensive plan would be, oh, I don’t know, comprehensive.
The questions Ivanka was asked were reasonable and could have been easily answered by anyone with working knowledge of this plan. Ivanka has made this her platform yet she was unable to speak on the basics. I don’t believe she does anything more than put a face on the issue because she is a working mother with a newborn.
Yup. And a working mother with a newborn and nannies.
Her answer made it clear she is only thinking about a woman’s physical recovery. If she said anything about bonding with a child, I missed it. Her assumptions are that women need it to physically recover from childbirth and pregnancy, which to her means dieting and training a new baby nurse so she can go back to her job. The women I know who wept over having to leave their tiny babies to go back to work weren’t crying over their unhealed stitches. They weren’t ready to leave their babies or they didn’t want to leave them at all.
But she made these comments about Hillary not having a plan, was corrected, and then repeated those same lies in other forums. She knows the truth even if she won’t speak it.
Let’s stop making excuses for Ivanka. She doesn’t deserve them.
Senator Ted Kennedy proposed paid parental leave in the US Senate in 1996. The idea has been kicking around in various states for decades. Other parts of the world have had it for decades. Educate yourself, Ivanka.
Educating oneself and being a Trump supporter is a direct conflict of interest.
At this point, if you support Trump you are living in a land of delusion, denial, cultural isolation, insularity, and just plain ignorance and in order to continue your support of this man, you must stay there. You must turn a blind eye to logic, fact, history, and politics in general to remain a Trump supporter.
It’s really terrifying to see people just stick their heads in the sand. I’m just so troubled by the idea that all these Americans are clinging to philistinism like it’s a life raft.
What the f*ck is wrong with us?
At this point, it’s like a bad science fiction novel.
I used to think the comparisons to Nazi Germany were a bit hyperbolic, but I’m starting to think that they are far more accurate that I originally thought.
In short: Hold me, I’m scared.
I’m going to go swing on the cool swings on the Lawn at D. Swings make me feel better. But the swings will be gone by Election Day.
Addendum: I just got an email from their campaign (on the email list thanks to once contacting my former Senator Scott Brown on some legislation – ethics? What are ethics?). They accuse Hillary of wanting to rip apart the Constitution amendment by amendment (the Articles aren’t mentioned) and how Trump will protect it by appointing strict constructionists to the Supremes. Uhm, strict constructionists OPPOSE the Amendments. These morons are totally clueless. Swings on the Lawn at D! Where are the swings? I need swings that light up and spin around!
Rip apart the constitution? Here we go again with the scare tactics and fear mongering.
GOP Playbook Rule #1: Just insert “constitution” into anything and watch the base freak the f*ck out.
And it will work because his supporters eagerly devour any and all lies as long as it validates their existing beliefs.
Ok enjoy the swings, I’ll be at the bocce court because I feel like throwing things…..
Ugh – let me start by saying that I come here to read gossip and post petty catty responses re celebrities. I come here for fun…in peace.
I’m aware that my fellow celebitchies are intelligent and well informed.
But…
Making blanket statements about the caliber of those who support Trump is unfair to say the least.
I keep in mind that those who have contrary beliefs are as steadfast in them as I am mine.
And that simply because others’ views are polar opposite of my own does not make them delusional or uneducated.
Me too. I am terrified by Rump and Co. And I thought GWB was horrific. . .even moving to Canada wouldn’t be far enough.
Myrna–
I’d argue that if those beliefs go against fact, and have nothing to support them, then it DOES become delusional. It’d have been unfair if it encompassed ALL republicans as a whole – but anyone who wholeheartedly supports Trump and his comments IS definitely diving into the deep end of the delusion pool.
Ah, but Erinn.
The same could be said for Hilary supporters.
Those who support Trump, for the good or the bad – perhaps the least of the 2 evils – have similar opinions about those who support her.
There are blatant facts about her (server bleach) that Trump supporters can’t fathom her supporters turn a blind eye.
What I’m saying is that there are masses of Trump supporters who are educated, thoughtful, intelligent, have strong moral character…folks like me!
And I take issue with being called delusional.
That’s all…we need to agree that we disagree without the blanket degradation.
@Myrna- We don’t have to agree, no problem.
But I’m not going to shy away from “blanket statements” for fear of offending Trump supporters. I’m done being polite and I’m done trying not to hurt people’s feelings.
You know what offends me? Misogyny, racism, xenophobia, classism, ignorance, callowness, jingoism, and everything that Mr. Trump represents.
If you want to talk about Trump’s policies (what are they BTW besides The Wall and over-spending?) then I’ll gladly engage. But don’t try to tell me that people who support Trump are people who simply subscribe to a different political viewpoint because while it’s a nice sentiment, it’s also a completely false notion that doesn’t fly with me.
This man has proven time and time again that he is politically incapable of being our President. He has ZERO experience, no feasible policy and no real ideas about how to run this country short of barring all the brown people from coming in and I think that’s pretty inarguable at this stage of the game.
So no, when it’s my country’s future at stake I’m not going to be pleasant and I refuse to coat my words in neutral, benign or soothing language just because I’m scared to be divisive. Sorry not sorry. If my comments bug you, you can just scroll past, no lectures necessary.
@Myrna-Do you frequent Yahoo and DM comment sections and chastise the people who attack HRC-supporters as well? I’m not trying to be rude, I’m genuinely curious.
Fascist is as fascist does.
Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
It’s past 5 p.m. here. *pours wine* I mean at this point, all I can do is drink. I obviously can’t vote in this election so to everyone who can I say PLEASE DON’T F*CK US OVER!
It’s only noon here but I’m SO ready for wine.
Now that I’ve managed to massively offend people while simultaneously popping off on Trump, it almost feels like my day is done.
I agree with others that this election has gone too far for niceties. I do not want to offend people but I think supporting Trump is offensive in itself due to his outward racist beliefs. I just don’t believe people when they say that they aren’t racist but support him. Maybe they just care about the economy more then how people live & their rights? I find that offensive though. We are not talking about Bush or Regan or others who are on the other side politically- Trump has said he will implement immediate policies that will affect people’s lives and take away their rights based on their religion, country of origin & race. I always thought that comparing politicians to Hitler was ridiculous, and I hold firm on that since it was not been applicable until now but it’s been overused and lost it’s affect. Trump is a fascist who supports ruling like a dictator (you shouldn’t be able to say you will round people up in 24 hours in this country- that is not American). I just don’t understand how people can agree with going back to a time when we rounded up the Japanese during WWII because they don’t like our two party system or distrust politicians, etc. Germany wanted change too and they got it. We can’t be okay with this.
Kitten for President!
(I agree, wholeheartedly, with all of your comments. I’m with HER, and MY STATE IS IN PLAY!!!! I’M IN GA AND THERE’S A CHANCE WE COULD GO BLUE! )
Kitten, I get what you’re saying. Even now, after what feels like 5 years of this Trump sh*t and ALL that he and his supporters have said, my first reaction is never “I’m going to insult them and fight them on the internet.” Please. That’s not me and I never want to be rude or impolite. However. This man. These people. Come on. The fact that not everyone is throwing mouldy cheese at them is a miracle. I’m past the point of politeness. At some point the gloves come off. Supporting Trump is the most horrifying declaration of a complete disregard for what can only be described as one’s humanity (and everyone else’s). You support Trump, you support what he stands for. And that is offensive. So the gloves are off.
And to the women who vote for him. When you’re in that booth, do not forget one thing: This man doesn’t like you. He’s probably laughing at you as you put in your vote. He does not like you.
@LizLemonGotMarried-It would be SO amazing if you guys brought it home. I truly believe that you guys would be blue by now if the GOP hadn’t worked so hard to reduce places in (surprise!) primarily black communities.
But I will give you the biggest virtual hug if you guys pull through!
@LittleMissNaughty-Exactly and thank you for getting it. For all my tough talk I spent the last couple hours feeling bad because I know Myrna from prior comments and I recall her to be a very empathetic person. Just so hard for me to reconcile that with the image of a Trump supporter. Maybe that’s Myrna’s point–that Trump supporters aren’t all jerks. But right now, at this moment, I just can’t for the life of me be nice to anyone who’s actively helping this guy get elected. I just can’t do it.
@ Myrna – have you read Donald’s words? Have you heard what he has said about women, people with disabilities, Muslims, in his own words? Inviting assassination, hacking, supporting torture and retributive violence? I know that sometimes links aren’t allowed here so I won’t try to link to it, but Slate has been keeping a list of the heinous things he’s said; I believe they number 191 now. I’d be curious if you could slog through that list of frankly childish and unAmerican things he has said and still support Trump.
love your screen name, btw.
Myrna – I disagree with you. My brother is a Trump supporter and he’s about the white-trashiest uneducated dude-bro you can imagine. Racist, misogynist, anti-Muslim, and yesterday he told me Trump couldn’t do anything that would change his vote. His supporters ARE stupid and uneducated, and worse yet, they’re so proud of how stupid and uneducated they are.
@Myrna let’s put it simply. POTUS is a job position needing to be filled. Experience required. There are two candidates. If you placed Trumps resume next to Clintons resume Trump has zero experience.
If I need to hire a Chef interviewing a person who has zero experience working in a kitchen is a waste of time.
@LizLemonGotMarried, in the last presidential election, three of my blue-voting relatives were voting in your state of Georgia. This presidential election, my family has upped that number to … drumroll, please … EIGHT! Doing our part to turn Georgia, if not blue, at least very dark purple.
@Myrna
Trump is a racist and a misogynist. As a woman of color, I am deeply offended by the things that come out of his mouth. I am also deeply offended by anyone that supports him. We can’t agree to disagree when the subject is my right to exist and be treated with dignity and respect.
And if you have people of color in your life that you love, you should talk to them about your support for Trump and see what their responses are. 99% of us aren’t opposed to him because of ideological differences.
Sorry I had to move my comment.
When you degrade people and assume that they are misogynists and ignorant racists you are no better than what you say you oppose.
And that mentality is precisely what divides a nation.
I am not any of those things but I will vote for Trump.
And I am mature enough to do so without denigrating Clinton supporters.
And it’s not a lecture.
It’s where I stand.
Myrna, go vote Trump. Have fun. Vote for a racist f*ckface and see where it gets you. That’s democracy and the U.S. just has to deal with it (non-Trump supporters have my sympathy).
But I have NO problem making blanket statements about Trump supporters because guess what, there is no nuance to be found in anything that man says. Why do you hold the other side to that standard? So Mexicans are rapists. But when I say his supporter are assh*les, that’s offensive? No. Don’t sit there and expect the world to be polite to you while his entire campaign is based on the notion that he can be the rudest and crudest. Are you kidding me???
ETA: And btw, even if you could give me only two good reasons why you would vote for him (I hate Hillary does not count), I would still not respect that decision. Because you may not be a racist but in my experience, people who respect others, who respect minorities, women, HUMAN BEINGS, do not vote for someone so blatantly racist, misogynistic, and all-around horrid.
“When you degrade people and assume that they are misogynists and ignorant racists you are no better than what you say you oppose.”
@Myrna- Ok I still don’t agree, though.
If you voted for Lester Maddox or Trent Lott do you then get to say that you are not a racist?
If you support xenophobic policy, do you get to say that you’re NOT a xenophobe?
If you support a party that cares nothing about women, our basic human rights, and our quest for TRUE equality, do you then get to turn around and say that you’re a feminist?
I’m not really sure that’s fair.
Because isn’t that a huge part of why we vote for a presidential candidate, beyond the political and social policies, isn’t what they represent, what they symbolize—isn’t that important??? Isn’t that kind of what we’re doing in November: picking the candidate that most closely aligns with our political, personal and social beliefs?
I have no desire to try to stop you from voting for Trump but please just own it. If you believe this guy is best for this country then commit to falling in line with everything he stands for. If you TRULY believe this guy is right for us, then you shouldn’t be cowed by what others have to say about him and his supporters.
I never intended to offend you because I do like you, Myrna, but I won’t back down from how I feel. Neither should you, if you really believe that Orange Julius is what our country deserves then you should be confident enough to weather the naysayers like myself and others on this board.
Myrna-
I would really like know why exactly you support Trump. I’m asking to gain knowledge and am very interested in the answer. Please explain.
It reminds me of people who join the KKK but say they are not racist. I just don’t get how people can say that they are not racist but vote for a man who has said that he will immediately put in place policies that discriminate people based on their race. He’s not saying that he is racist but won’t do anything about it (I think Bush)- he has said that deportations will start 24 hours after he gets elected & Muslims can’t come freely in & out of the country just for being Muslim. What would that mean & what would that look like? We have had that happen in history and it was not pretty, it was not civil and not without a ton of damage to innocent people.
I am curious how someone can want to vote Trump who does not hold prejudice views towards Mexicans and Muslims?
@MC2- That’s what I’m saying. There has to be some small (or large) part of a Trump-supporter that–at the very least–sees his anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant stance as a positive thing for this country. I mean, if you don’t have an immediate aversion to everything he wants to do with immigration policy, then it follows that a part of you thinks that it’s a good thing which….I just cannot.
His policies are unequivocally xenophobic–straight-up–and despite his recent backpedaling and the repackaging of his policy in more “toned-down” language, his original ideas still stand.
Myrna, I’m with you. There are so many reasons to support Trump. Trump doesn’t like women unless they are a “10”. And we all know that according to Trump you can’t be a 10 without having big breasts. That’s just a fact. It’s in the Geneva Convention. Maybe Myrna is a 10 and Trump would find her to be a woman of value in our society. I know that I’m jazzed about having my country possibly represented by the guy who lied about foot spurs to dodge the draft and said his sex life during that time was his own “personal Vietnam”. So inspiring! She and I want the Commander in Chief to be the BFF of Putin and not have even basic knowledge of foreign relations/foreign policy (he didn’t even know that Russia had invaded Crimea). We all know that Putin gets a bad rap, you know being a dictator and all, but he is a strong leader! Strong is more important than just. Who needs a just leader? Myrna and I see no use to NATO, what have they ever done?! Pay up you bums! Myrna and I get inspired by Trump’s distain of journalism and his promise to expand libel laws so journalists can’t criticize what he says and does. I don’t need fact checkers and journalists digging around, Trump will tell us everything we need to know.
WOW
@Melly – I am a journalist for a major regional newspaper.
And, yes, I am empathetic @Kitten.
Thank you for remembering.
My point, again, is that fair game if you want to trash the candidate, but it’s not fair or even rational to blanket with horrible, insulting, hateful statements those of us who are voting for him.
Ever consider that we don’t see the issues through the same lens?
That’s what makes up the world – opposing views.
And I am an enlightened person when I consider other views.
I don’t have to support them, but I respect them.
And in my profession, I work every day with every word I draft to be unbiased.
I cherish letting the facts speak for themselves.
I could list as many reasons and facts for why I don’t support Hilary.
Facts and beliefs I am passionate about.
But it won’t matter.
All I am saying is that it’s insulting to rake a fellow citizen (if being a fellow Celebitchy doesn’t have any weight 😎) over the coals and call me a racist, misogynist and all of the other insulting things I’ve been called on here today.
I don’t do it…but then again, I can only control how I conduct myself.
Over and out…and for christ’s sake – PEACE.
Myrna –
What lens do you see Trump’s views through?
Why won’t you say specifically why you are voting for Trump?
If you are so passionate about your facts and beliefs, why won’t you say what they are and defend them?
You claiming you’re not a racist, misogynist, and bigot isn’t a defense. Be specific in your defense of yourself.
What do you like about Trump, and why are you voting for him?
Myrna
I don’t think anyone is raking you over the coals here. I think people are genuinely surprised by your support of Trump. You are the company you keep. If I came on here and was like “Hitler was pretty alright, he had some good points”, you wouldn’t defend me and make your “lens” argument. If you support a candidate like Trump, someone who has publicly said some pretty crazy and arguably bigoted things, people are going to make some assumptions about you and what you believe in.
If you cherish facts so much, it boggles my mind that you could vote for Trump with a clear conscience. Wasn’t Trump given the Politifacts Liar of the Year title? I think they found 70% of what he said to be untrue, misleading, or pants on fire. Very enlightening.
This election is obviously not your typical American election. It’s not a contest where the American people are deciding what policies best meet their world views. This election is about the soul of our country. I really believe that is the most important election of our life time. I know that most elections are said to be the most important, but this one is profoundly unlike the rest.
@Myrna was going to ask the same thing as trixie. please give us a reason (other than hillary bashing) why you (an enlightened, reasonable person) would vote trump?
@Myrna, several people have now asked you, some quite politely, why you support Trump. You have not answered that question.
Okay- I came back to read more about how & why Trump supporters could support him while not being racist. Genuinely curious in the macro & personally because I have a co-worker that supports Trump and I am having a hard time. I equate Trump with racism and I just can’t. This election is so hard because it is unearthing the sad truth that a large portion of us are racists or prejudice at the least. Ugh.
I heard an amazing piece on NPR last weekend (?) about a Nazi who was a doting father. I was interested in the holocaust during high school/college because How.Did.That.Happen. People are multifaceted and we should never forget that. People can be nice &, at the same time, total racists that want to destroy a whole section of the population. I have seen people that gave their life to helping others but if their wife doesn’t listen to them then she gets the fist. I have met men who are wonderful dads and rapists too. A lot of horrible things in history have been done by people that weren’t monsters on the outside. And I have tried to rack my brain on how my co-worker could not be a total a-hole and support Trump. I still come up blank. I don’t believe that about republicans, libertarians, anarchists or any political party but Trump is a single candidate that has run his campaign on the platform of racism & acting on it. He hasn’t given any solid plans for anything else so we can’t even point to that for an excuse to support him. Except that wall.
There is a saying that “when someone shows you who they are, believe them”. There is another one “never underestimate how much you are hated”. I have been thinking about those a lot lately.
I say that the only intolerance I have is intolerance. I just can’t with people who support taking away rights from others. That is the one thing that I don’t forgive (easily). I studied how the holocaust happened- the country in turmoil, the appeasement of Hitler, him getting elected on fear & then stripping away rights after he was in power and the ‘nice’ people who supported killing a whole section of their people & shot Jews during the day only to stop by the grocery store on the way home to their wife & kids . I learned that Trump used to go to bed with a copy of Hitler’s speeches next to his bed and I wasn’t surprised at all. Nazis were typical people in the population and we had a lot in the USA too. I don’t trust someone who supports Trump. I will, though, treat them with respect.
Yeah, for me at this point, it’s not a Republican vs Democrat thing.
It’s a Trump is a misogynist, egotistical, racist, immature, thin-skinned, bully thing. Possibly a moron, definitely anti-intellectual and manipulative of the “facts” (and not in a legalistic/splitting hairs way, but in a purposely spreading lies and innuendo for effect way) And if he is NOT those things (some have supposedly claimed he’s a completely different, thoughtful person behind closed doors), then he is a reality TV personality masquerading as those things to appeal to the basest qualities of human nature to garner attention, votes, ratings, whatever else he craves while not giving two sh*ts about what it means for the country, society, the fate of the human race. But despite how he acts, in reality he’s not running for the CEO (or Grand Poobah or Supreme Ruler) of the United States of America. He doesn’t get to say “believe me!” or “trust me” or “I’m the only one with the answers”. He has an obligation to show his work to the American people (as do his surrogates). And if we, or the press representing us, have some questions, we get to ask them without Trump or Trumpettes stomping off in a huff saying we’re being “negative”.
And if otherwise reasonable people seem to be supporting this sorry excuse for a aspiring public servant, it’s reasonable to ask them what qualities they see in him, what policies of his they support. And if his most obvious policies seem to fly in the face of basic human rights, NATO agreements, the Geneva convention, freedom of the press, laws ensuring equal protection under the law for people of all races and religions, well then it shouldn’t be surprising that people start to question the values, awareness or intelligence of his supporters. Especially if they don’t offer any reason for their Trump support beyond “HRC is eviiiiiil”
I’m from Massachusetts, did not care for Mitt Romney, thought he was a lightweight privileged money grubbing twit who was not my idea of a good governor or good potential president. His proposed policies/focus did not align with my view of the world, at all. (While I’m socially conservative in my own behavior, the Republican penchant to try to eliminate all regulation except that which governs OTHER PEOPLE’s (esp women’s) bedrooms, love lives, bodies, relationship with their doctors troubles me to no end ) But I could see how people with a reasonable but different view of the world could support him and want to see him as president. Friends/family who are business owners, lean libertarian, socially conservative, etc. We had plenty of healthy and animated discussions about why we were supporting the candidates we were supporting, but I never questioned the sanity, decency or humanity of Romney supporters (though I did giggle when showing them the “RMONEY” Romney family tee-shirt gaffe.)
And I understand the impulse to bring an outsider in to snap the sheets, shake up insider Washington and politics as usual. But Trump and his dystopian isolationist fearful view of the world goes beyond party differences and into dangerous willful ignorance and megalomania. And his reliance on lies, insults and the “you’re rubber and I’m glue” approach to any criticism shows a disrespect for the office he’s seeking, the seriousness of the duties involved and the American people in general. Heck, even many mainstream Republicans who are no fans of Obama and the Clintons are having trouble lining up behind him.
Some of the states in THIS country already have it. I work for State Government and we get paid maternity leave – 6 weeks. My husband works for General Motors and he got 9 weeks paid paternity leave and that was 12 years ago. Ivanka needs to read up more on the topic before claiming her father is ‘revolutionary’. He wasn’t the first, nor the second. His plan is not revolutionary – not by a long shot. And his plan only addressing women/mothers isn’t even indicative of the 21st century. The big 4 in the auto industry have had paid paternity leave that either mirrors that of women or is actually more, for decades. They should be the model for a national comprehensive plan – certainly not cheeto with the corn hair (that’s what I hear the kids calling him. LOL)
Wow, that’s awesome! Personally, I haven’t worked at any place that has had paid maternity or paternity leave
This is the reason I stay off FB Myrna – and needless to say I believe Kitten et. al have hit this issue directly head on, and they’re right. My sister and brother-in-law, wonderful liberals both, have been arguing over and over with her husband’s best friend and his wife, respectively a fireman and a cop. Those two are what are called the new normal – crazy Republicans, perhaps ushered in by McCain and Palin esp. with their whole Joe the Plumber schtick, or Bush’s “Who would you rather have a beer with?”. They are actually voting against their own economic interests, but somehow they buy into this and yes, ignore how their own taxes will be increased and the national deficit, etc. And yes, they are sexist and racists of course. You can’t support something like a wall being built across the Mexican border and not be a racist, etc. The cop, who works in Chicago thinks she speaks for all the police forces in the U.S. and if that is how they truly think in Chicago – well they’re all raving pro-Trump racists. I sure as hell hope they aren’t like her.
When my sister put up real, absolutely truthful and despicable quotes that Trump had made – those two supporters had fits, denied that Trump had ever said them, just like Ivanka. That must be the party line. Denial is easy. They didn’t even bother to use Google. Just ranted and raved. That’s when my sister’s friend, a retired Democratic cop who had worked in Manhattan and L.A., wrote some great liberal comments – smashing the other cop’s ideas and well, the Chicago cop went nuts. Nice to see that kind of thinking being challenged. They really go apeshit. That part is kind of amusing. The fact that they are supposed to be Chicago’s best and finest, not so much. That’s sickening. And yes I think Rahm is a wonderful and a tough no bs Mayor, a strong Democrat, love him. So I can’t goddamn explain it. Chicago has almost always been a Democratic, liberal city – but those Trump supporters don’t even give a damn about their own Mayor, or other Democratic politicians, like say President Obama!
Here’s a story that seems to explain Ivanka’s pov in the above article – if you look for the Johnson heir’s documentary on the upper 2% (parts are probably on YouTube) mostly based on his younger friends, you will hear them say some of the most racist and other horrific, at best idiotic comments, quite a few to do with what they like to call the homeless. Ivanka’s story was about her father, a self-made man of course, (of course! please look into his background – what bs) who passed a homeless man in front of one of his buildings, literally begging for money and the Donald said “he is worth more money than me”. Because Trump, as per usual, was in massive debt. Then she said she had never admired her father more. Do I need to say anything else about Ivanka? Or any of the Trumps? I’m guessing they didn’t give the man that they passed a dime, either.
There is no pass for the Trumps or their supporters. I live if in a state surrounded by other solidly Democratic states. I’m not worried about Trump winning. At all. I think his followers are fringe lunatics. And a friend of mine actually has a theory that Trump ran out of some sense of hubris and neither he or the Republican Party expected him to get nominated. Now he’s terrified and doing and saying anything crazy to get out of this mess and he still can’t shake his leech like, insane followers. I absolutely agree with her. I’m feeling fairly confident he won’t win, but comparing his actions and what he’s saying to a Dictator is right on point. The fact that these ultra crazy, fiscally unsound and unsafe, etc. Republican followers actually exist now, well that scares the fuck out of me. Please don’t pretend like they have sane, well thought out points of view. They do not. They never will. By doing so, you just validate and push their insane, hateful rhetoric and actions even farther.
So, let me get this straight. Myrna just had a temper tantrum, stomped her feet, said “I don’t want to play with you anymore” and hung up the phone. Just like Ivanka did. When confronted with facts and asked polite questions. Enough said.
Chicagoan here. We are not all like that. Trump claims to love Chicago but has done nothing to actually help or support the city besides use us as a talking point (no he never met with the Chicago pd to reduce crime) and to build big shiny buildings to appease his ego. He’s afraid to even come and speak here due to anti Trump protests. Chicago, like many others, doesn’t want him.
@Juls – Ha!!! And to all the other celebitches out there defending their ideas with facts and sound reasoning (in other words, most of the people above) – I love you and thank you for the comments that I can only read late at night when I get home from work. This election scares the bejeezus out of me. Ivanka -of all people in her father’s camp – should know a LITTLE something about her “good friend” Chelsea’s mother. After graduating the prestigious Yale Law School, did she choose a well paying white shoe law firm? Oh no. She went to work for Marian Wright Edelman at the CHILDREN’S DEFENSE FUND. That’s right, a non-profit started by the first African American woman admitted to the bar in Mississippi. That is how long HRC has been making children’s issues part of her life’s work.
There is ample evidence to show that Trump is unfit for office in a way that no other candidate of a major party has been in the history of US elections. Outside of the racism and misogyny, he has no ability to understand complex issues and lies all the time without any compunction. He is a con man.
Anyone who votes for him now has serious mental problems. You can hate Hillary all you want but if you can’t even choose Gary Johnson or to not vote at all instead of voting for someone who is a danger to the US and the world , then you deserve all the attacks on social media for your stupidity. Trump is not a republican, has no understanding or willingness to understand diplomacy and likes Putin because the guy said good things about him. Reagan must be spinning in his grave when his party members are supporting a guy who likes a Former KGB spy.
‘Nother Chicagoan. My heart leapt when the students on campus where I work lined up to protest. So proud of my alma mater. I like to think that “the city that works” does not support “the candidate that leeches off of others”.
Absolutely proud to be a Chicagoan as well! The anti-Trump protests were fantastic! There is nothing I love more than the city, for things exactly like that, it’s protests and it’s politics. It’s a great place to be from and live. Also throwing in a completely extraneous thing for others – since I worked for the AIC – take a look at the modern update and wing, as well as the Bean and Gehry’s Millenium Park, if you get the chance. Like many sights in Chicago (the beautiful architecture being one of many) it’s something not to be missed. Nicely done, fellow Chicagoans, etc. And as we all know, Trump will lose in Illinois. It’s a good feeling.
I was surprised to read about this 6 week maternity proposal. In South Africa we have 3 months maternity (half pay depending on your company’s benefits, it might be 3/4 pay with a bonus) and at my company if you have been employed there for 5 years you get 6 months maternity and if you’ve worked there 10 years you get 12 months maternity leave. Men get 1 week paternity leave.
So strange to me that a country like United States (first world country) doesn’t seem to have decent maternity benefits.
Our constitution is very democratic (same sex marriage legal etc) that’s not to say we don’t have other problems (such as poverty, crime and financial inequality we definitely do) but workplace policies are good, there are policies to ensure woman get hired and compensated fairly and equally. Being a female here has not been a barrier to my career or growth and development within my field. Our management team (junior, mid and senior) is compromised men and women but the ladies are in the majority 🙂 It’s a digital private sector business (so not a traditional female vocation)
Canada has had one year of paid parental leave for ages now. The year can be split between the father and mother, or if it is a same sex couple between both parents. None of this stuff in the US is remotely revolutionary. Shows how sheltered and ignorant Ivanka is to even suggest otherwise.
I must say its sad when it’s Cosmo that’s doing hard journalism
My thoughts exactly!!
It’s sad, as in it’s a shame that other legit hardcore journalistic outlets couldn’t dare to do it, right?
Yes! I thought the same thing. Why is it Cosmo that is actually pushing for answers and none of our so-called “journalists” that claim to be fighting to uncover the truth. This is ridiculous.
Cosmo has been wooing several good writers over the last few years. It seems to be working.
It’s a strange day indeed when Cosmo shows finer journalism on a political campaign than NBC.
Ivanka probably came up with the plan and that’s why she’s so defensive when asked about it. And she probably didn’t read Hilary’s plan which is why she’s spouting BS. About the Trump interview question, my god Ivanka is just such an idiot. Just like her father. I hope Trump loses and the entire Trump klan just goes away.
Or any other plans, like the ones that have been in place in European countries for decades or the one Ted Kennedy proposed in the Senate 20 years ago. Only Trumps can think of these things.
Well, they are new at politics. Like, brand new. Daddy hasn’t held ANY political office before.
Hillary supporter here from way back…as in I campaigned for her when she ran the first time. Just want to drop in that Obama didn’t have any real political experience either when he was elected. This was one of the biggest arguments against him in the democratic primaries…he was a community organizer and a very green Senator (jaw dropping oratory skills notwithstanding). Hillary has been at this since she ran the WMF way back when, and I still think she was the better candidate. But voters thought differently – all is fair in love and politics.
My point is that Obama’s inexperience didn’t sink our country – he is one piece in the huge puzzle that is our government. Even if Trump is elected, he still has to deal with Congress – it’s not like he will enter office and just be able to start building walls. Congress has to approve his policy proposals, and that will be a tough fight when his own party isn’t enthusiastic about him. Realistically, I see four years of government gridlock and Trump raging in the press about the wimps in congress. Annoying, but not annihilating.
All of this fear is a bit silly…we’ve had some batsh*t crazy presidents, yet we are still here. It’s simply a sign of the times we are living in.
ETA: sorry Christin…don’t know why my comment ended up here. I wasn’t responding to you personally…just offering a general opinion.
This is President Obama’s resume: http://cdn.theladders.net/static/pdf/Senator_Obama_Resume.pdf
Where is Trump’s political resume?
Literally it is a BLANK PAGE. He has done absolutely nothing politically because for his entire life he’s been stealing from contractors, filing for bankruptcy/finding any way to line his pockets, and starring on his own reality TV show. I mean, COME ON. Obama does NOT deserve to ve compared to Trump in any capacity.
My apologies for sounding like a broken record, but one candidate has zero (NO) political experience — not so much as serving on city council or a local school board.
As Donald holds his latest crazy press conference over the birthed conspiracy (because it’s a yuge deal, folks), my boss turned up the volume and started laughing. He’s a reasonable Republican who thinks DT is just nutty.
Hi Kitten – that’s not what I said, or at least it’s not what I intended. What I’m saying is that the hysteria over Trump is in many ways very similar to what Hillary supporters (and a hysterical media) were saying about Obama during the democratic primaries. I know this because I campaigned for her…and it didn’t come to pass. It’s inflammatory/fear rhetoric to get clicks or make us tune in, and at the end of the day, whether or not you feel that the better candidate won is completely subjective. Do any of us really think that Hillary or Trump will be actually able to do much of what they are proposing? This whole election is an internet generated circus.
Here are our options:
Hillary wins and has to fight congress to get anything done, as she has few (if any) friends there.
Trump wins and has to fight congress to get anything done, as he has few (if any) friends there.
Four years will pass, and the US will muddle through like we always do and hold another crazy election.
The president, him or herself, does not have the power to do most of what they float to the public to order to get elected. So in essence, we should be *terrified* of Congress…not the president. I consider this a distraction from the real elections that have the power to affect our daily lives – and those are our state elections (which ironically, no one cares about). Forget Donald and Hillary…we should be looking to the people we elect to keep both of them in line.
Excellent points, Shannon.
Um, Shannon. The president has the power to nominate judges to the Supreme Court. The country will not “keep on muddling” in the same direction regardless of whether Clinton or Trump win the presidency. As well, the president is the Commander in Chief and has a large role to play in foreign policy. Clinton has plenty of friends in Congress, having been in and out of DC for years (including before she married Bill) and having been a US Senator, let alone working as Secretary of State, accountable to Congress. She’s worked across the aisle.
If you’re trying to say they’re about the same and neither would have much power, remember you are talking about the United States President. There is always a lot of power vested in that role, including to help shape the Supreme Court and military action.
By all means support all other races down ticket enthusiastically too, but just because the President isn’t EVERYTHING doesn’t mean she or he is NOTHING either.
@Shannon-I get what you’re saying but the difference is that the fear regarding Trump’s political inexperience is justified, whereas with Obama his relative inexperience was at the very least a point of debate. I mean, even Reagan was governor of California before he was elected president. Trump literally has ZERO political experience, nothing. This is more than mere clickbate–this is a reality that most people should be concerned with.
And It’s not like I don’t disagree with you about the importance of local elections but I disagree with the insinuation that the POTUS is just some ineffective figurehead. This is an oft repeated refrain I see anytime American politics is discussed and it’s simply NOT true. As long as the POTUS works within the law, he can essentially direct any executive agency to do anything he wants. Most presidents are mindful of this power so they don’t abuse it, but it’s still there for them to take if they so chose. The President is Commander in Chief of military, he is both the head of State and the head of Government which gives him a huge amount of authority, he has the ability to veto any bill that Congress sends to him, he has the ability to appoint ambassadors, cabinet secretaries, judges to the SC, and on and on.
And even if you wanted to ignore all those things, the POTUS is still largely seen as The Leader of The Free World so globally-speaking who we elect MATTERS, how qualified our POTUS is MATTERS, and how the world views us MATTERS.
Having a reality TV star with ZERO political experience as our president is problematic for obvious reasons and it scares me to see this prevalent, laissez-faire attitude that whoever is in the Oval Office is interchangeable or powerless or somehow irrelevant. Not only is that factually incorrect, it’s simply a dangerous (and dare I say lazy) way of thinking.
ETA: WATP- I ♥ you. I wish I hadn’t been typing at the same time. Could have saved myself some time 😉
Experience aside, having as POTUS someone who:
– frequently gets in twitter fights over trivial matters,
– talks a boastful game but evades when called out or folds and gets quiet if he can’t evade (eg meeting with Mexican president, session at church in Flint) and then lashes out boastfully later,
– has as his go to response when challenged personal insults that attempt to demean and diminish whoever he perceives as against him (including about appearance, race, gender),
– frequently lies (or is habitually? reflexively? compulsively?) Who offers bald-faced lies or inveigles, obfuscates when complete lies aren’t at the ready*
– shoots off his ill-informed mouth about other countries, cultures, leaders, current events (Russia and Crimea for example)
– glibly disrespects longstanding treaties/agreements with our allies,
– speaks cavalierly about displays of force, use of force, use of nuclear weapons, political assassinations as a means to an end, hacking of US political organizations, espionage by foreign powers, voliations of standards of prisoner treatment/human rights/the Constitution
could have serious ramifications on worldwide dynamics, who speaks cavalierly about displays of force, use of nuclear force, violations of standards of prisoner treatment/human rights/the Constitution
*And before anyone tries to go down that path, there is no way that Hillary Clinton’s legalistic splitting of hairs about email servers or habit of secrecy compares to Trump’s willful disregard of the truth and purposeful repetition of things that have been pointed out as false. Multiple hearings and inquiries, 11 hours of testimony, years and years in public service, years and years of released tax returns? Yeah, come see me when Congress pulls W in to answer for the 13 Embassy attacks and 60+ related deaths on his watch and analysts have had a chance to pore over Trump’s returns.
I would like to politely disagree with Shannon that being a community organizer means you have zero qualifications to be President. Do you even know how hard that job and others like it are? It’s time for those jobs to get more respect. Frankly I prefer that background than a business one. Why does being a businessman make you a more qualified or more intelligent person than being in social services? (My personal bone to pick) Plus let’s also realize that the man also had other accomplishments than a community organizer.
@Shannon, Gandhi was a community organizer. But moving on from that. Barack Obama not only had read but understood the Constitution. The same holds for Hillary Clinton. Nothing has shown me that Trump has. Indeed, the email sent to me by his people just yesterday, in which he claimed that Clinton would tear the Constitution apart amendment by amendment, with no acknowledgment that there are Articles, and that he would protect it by appointing strict constructionists to the Supremes. The problem is, strict constructionists believe all Amendments, and some would include the first ten, the Bill of Rights, should be struck down. Not my idea of protecting the Constitution at all. Additionally, a President can order troops deployed, without Congress; can issue Executive Orders without input of Congress, and Trump has indicated he plans to do much by this method; and is responsible for the administration of all federal agencies – he can’t form a new one or abolish one without Congressional input but he can do a great deal of harm without it.
Trump is more dangerous for the kind of antipathy he’s stirring up in low-income whites than what he can accomplish on his own, IMO. He’s normalizing the idea that it’s acceptable to blame minority communities for the problems of general society. The first step toward militant oppression of a demographic is isolating them as the “other.” The second is characterizing them as emblematic of the country’s ills. Plenty of reason to fear him, more so if his winds up with a supportive Congressional base AND a hand in appointing the next few Supreme court positions. Even a diametrically opposed Congress won’t bode well for the rest of us – he’s generated enough of a nationalistic following under the guise of “anti-government” that the fallout will be ugly as people increasingly lash out in frustration.
This is why when people are all “poor ivanka” I give them the side eye. She is a puppet paid for by her deeply dad to sway “feminists”. Ie not any real feminist but those that like to pretend to be one while spouting GOP talking points.
How Chelsea Clinton is friends with her I will never know.
ITA except Ivanka is no puppet. That woman is a player and she is as deceitful and cunning as Dunald. “Poor Ivanka” my a$$.
IMO. both candidates are shady liers. But I support Clinton because I feel a Clinton presidency will be balanced by a Republican House (Dems may make a play for the Senate but I don’t see them winning the House), whereas I do not trust the House Repubs to hold a Trump presidency in check.
For me it’s balancing the power.
They have a lot in common. Both are bright and educated. Both are around the same age, married working mothers living in NYC. Their parents are/were friends until recently, so they spent time together when they were younger before they took interest in politics or formed strong personal beliefs. Both grew up in the public eye and face scrutiny and criticism because of who their parents are. They can trust the friendship is genuine and not about access, fame, or money. They both go to events and on vacations the average person doesn’t. Their husbands also have a lot in common. Having friends with opinions different than yours is a good thing. Someone’s religion or political leanings should not be as important as their character, how well you get along, and how much you enjoy spending time with one another. Some people have friends (or family) they don’t discuss politics or religion with, agreeing to disagree and respecting one another’s view points, even if they don’t mesh with yours, helps the relationship work.
RE: “political leanings should not be as important as their character” >>> True, unless their politics gives you an insight into their character. For example, supporting someone who spews misogyny, bigotry, racism, xenophobia, etc. Disagreements on social welfare, taxes, military spending, are just that: disagreements. Not believing in the equality and fair treatment of another human being is not simply a difference of opinion. It’s a matter of danger. One of the reasons hatred and intolerance grows is because the people that disagree are busy remaining silent.
While I may have family who don’t agree on certain views, I certainly don’t have friends or other “voluntary” relationships where I entertain such nonsense. When it comes to relationships (personal or professional) that must be maintained, yes silence or staying away from the subject is an option.
I agree to an extent. Ie I can’t be friends with a racist personally. It doesn’t matter if I don’t talk about it, it colors my opinion.
I have friends that feel differently about things like the second amendment that I can get along with. Or how to take care of the national budget. For me fundamental differences like racism or homophobia is a no go for me. I just dropped friends for constantly spouting casually racist rhetoric around me. I just can’t deal
Racism and homophobia, especially if you are spouting it casually goes to character. I think that is perfectly acceptable. We don’t know how much her true belief system lines up with her father’s ideology (and how much he plays his up). So I don’t think Chelsea should be judged for being friends with her.
I agree with Nicole. Political slant and character are somewhat interchangeable IMO. If you are a die-hard conservative in this day and age, it says a lot abut who you are – that you are anti-feminist, racist, and have a sense of entitlement, feel no base instinct to share and protect. I can’t be friends with right wings because our beliefs completely clash. Personality only goes so far – maybe okay talking about the weather or other fluff, but any deep conversations – we’re going to have problems. I won’t hate. I just won’t be around it.
What if Ivanka is friends with Chelsea only because she wants to be in the “child of the president club?” Chelsea lived in the White House for 8 years and that brings a cachet that Ivanka can only dream about.
Well, she and Chelsea are both well educated, obscenely rich, and employed by their family businesses (with no real career success outside of that either). They are both married to financial types with shady families (I believe both of their FILs have been to jail). They both have young kids, nannies, trust funds, and multi-million dollar homes in Manhattan. Why is it surprising that they are friends?
This interview is just another example of trump’s whole philosophy of evading criticism by deflecting and attacking (then fleeing). Sadly, it seems pretty effective with voters in general.
This exactly. I will add that their political beliefs are probably pretty similar. Trump is new to this whole “Republican” thing, simply because he saw an opportunity to get attention (and make money). Ivanka didn’t even vote for him in the primary because she wasn’t registered. This Trump scam is really quite epic. Amazing and disturbing how gullible 50 million people can be.
2008 and 2012 showed how amazingly gullible tens of millions of people can be.
@ Robin – I know. I pity the millions who voted for Romney and McCain, too.
Robin – take your shade somewhere else. You know you’re on a liberal site, so obviously you’re just looking to push buttons. Why troll? You must be bored.
Ivanka fully expects to be de facto First Lady. If Melania is smart she’s already talking to lawyers.
It wouldn’t have to be de facto. Chelsea was First Lady for portions of her dad’s presidency. The first First Lady was the presidents niece. He can name whoever he want if God forbid he gets elected. If anything Melania would be considered the de facto First Lady because we are used to that being the title of the President’s wife. I don’t think she wants it and he doesn’t have to appoint her. I think she is happy in Trump Towers raising her son and is a bit exasperated with this new ambition. She definitely isn’t as on board as his kids.
I know very little specifics about Ivanka, and she really shouldn’t have gotten upset about the softball questions Cosmo was throwing her. With her experience, she really should have been able to handle it better. First, even though the statement is false, who cares if Donald Trump is the first to bring up a maternity leave act. The first time an idea is brought up it usually never becomes enacted. In politics being first isn’t a really good thing, but in Trump land it might be. Second, I think even the Trumps are bit embarrassed by the fact that their company is really a marketing brand company now. Really they owe their success to Mark Burnett and the Apprentice. I am sure if he ever released his tax returns we would all realize how little product he owns or builds. Finally, the picture above makes her look like she has been having a boatload of Botox. She’s a bit young, but maybe it is the picture it made me laugh a bit because extreme botox always makes me think of Jack Nicolson as the Joker.
Like father, like daughter. No surprise.
No specifics, no real engagement with details of how all of these “really incredible” proposals are going to work, blaming the media and/or preexisting political bias the moment anyone is a tad persistent, spewing untruths as “arguments” – totally like her father.
Pretty much.
It’s a pretty sad day when Cosmo is the only media outlet asking hard questions…
MTE!!!!
Most working women can’t afford nannies or live so close to their office they can go home for an hour or two then continue with a 14 hour day. Ivanka doesn’t live or understand the real world neither does her father. Thursday should be interesting where does Trump think he is getting all this money for his plans?
Mexico?
Or the old Trump stand by, make horrible decisions and spend tons of money and when it is time to pay up declare bankruptcy.
He also wants the US to start running a mob like racket. “Nice country you have here. It would be a shame if something happened to it… For a reasonable price I can make sure it doesn’t.” He would turn the US Armed Forces into his own personal stable of mercenaries.
Lots of great options!
He’s going after welfare cheats. That’s how he wants to pay for everything. All the dirty welfare cheats trying to feed their families.
All 2% of them? Wow
Which in my mind equates to him yanking any and all government subsidies because it is literally impossible to avoid some cheating. A small percentage of people will find ways to cheat about anything and everything. It comes with the territory. You don’t take it from everybody because of a handful of idiots, but he probably will.
Yes, JenJus, Trump knows all about cheating, as he has stiffed so many people who have done work for him.
Not welfare cheats, unemployment fraud. So basically the government will spend more money investigating on the smallest percentage of people who actually do commit unemployment fraud. Unemployment that you’re on for 6 months and then you’re cut off. Unemployment that caps you and depending on what your salary is isn’t nearly as much as you were making while you were employed. It’s laughable!
Going to eliminate “fraud and abuse” — standard politician line — which is a fraction of the budget but voters eat it up.
Truth.
Yes, and we eat up the dumbest little things that will never happen, like a Wall for example There is a sucker born every minute, and this is what scares me about this election.
Cause they’ve never had to worry about money.
In Canada mothers get a year
In US, we’re legally allowed to take 12 weeks before they can give the position away. No pay is legally required. Some companies offer some pay, or partial, but it’s extermely rare for full pay for anywhere close to all 12 weeks.
Since short term disability pays (% of pay) for 6 weeks, its an option many woman take and then come back after the 6 weeks as they can’t afford no income. I’m wondering if that’s just his plan to make all states cover short-term disability for pregnancy (not all do at the moment). I doubt it’s full pay, unless on gov’t dime, he’d never pay full for his on-leave employees or he’d already be doing it.
We are legally allowed to take 12 weeks unpaid IF our company follows the FMLA – my company is large in the fact that we have over 7 locations – but they sneak by the FMLA standards because each location has less than 50 employees and the locations are more than so many miles apart. Plus they don’t offer short term disability. The whole situation is annoying because it specifically says that they follow FMLA in our handbook. But then they conveniently mention that we don’t qualify for it, IMO leave it the F out of the handbook then…they are offering me three weeks paid leave. Than I will need to use all my vacation days to have any more time off….This whole country is just ridiculous when it comes to maternity leave…we are SO far behind the rest of the world it is pathetic! {rant over}
This is exactly what I’m thinking. Just enforce the short term disability law, with most women covered by their insurance plans (which I’m sure will make the insurance companies have to increase their costs to cover this benefit).
Fun to point out that adoptive parents don’t get coverage with Trumps plan. And most company ones won’t cover it under their short term disability. When I brought my children home, I was offered 12 weeks leave, unpaid, under FMLA. Because while I had adjustments (imagine being handed a newborn and sent off to parent) and exhaustion of late nights and even some light depression (google it, it’s real post-adoption), I didn’t have “trauma” to my body. I mean, unless you count the years of shots, numerous surgeries, and miscarriages.
That’s all I can think any time this comes up. Sure, it’s a little inconvenient in the work place (we can’t get temps in to fill positions as we’re a pretty specialized job), but as my workplace is pretty much 80% female, I don’t think any one of us (even the ones who never will use it) begrudge anyone taking that year off to parent. And the leave can be split between mothers and fathers. My colleague took 6 months paternity leave (after his wife took the first 6) as she wanted to get back to work. It baffles me that the US is still so far behind on this.
As far as the GOP is concerned, women shouldn’t be working in the first place and this is their way of punishing working moms, especially if you’re not one of the wealthy class.
It’s easier to control women if they’re tied down by kids unable to work.
Not only that, but EI will cover time off for those who adopt as well.
We have maternity leave and parental leave… parental leave is the ‘big’ one that covers 35 weeks (not full wages) for EITHER parent, and it can be shared.
I could have a baby, take my 17 week maternity leave, my husband could then take all, or part of the 35 weeks of parental leave if I wanted to go back to work. I could even go back to work after the mat leave, realize after two weeks that I’d rather be home, and switch off with my husband.
I’m so thankful that we have such a flexible system in place. I honestly have no idea how people manage without something like this.
Not just mothers. Fifteen weeks maternity leave is for biological mother or surrogate. Essentially, it’s to recover. And then 35 weeks parental leave that you can divide how you like with your spouse.
The father resorts to name calling. The daughter resorted to hanging up when they get called on their lies. The apple never fell far from the tree. It’s still up there, hanging on to the goddamned tree.
Like father, like daughter. Amazing that people fall for any of their BS.
Even more amazing is that there are still people out there that are going to vote for Trump. The world is going to hell in a hand basket if that POS becomes president. Mark my words!!!
No we won’t. If we have a congress full of Trump sycophants, then we can all line up for that basket to hell. But that is extremely unlikely.
Shannon, you give the Republican lawmakers too much credit. Really – they’ll do whatever Trump wants. Remember back when they didn’t like the Tea Partiers, and now that’s pretty much the Party? They have no scruples.
Shannon, don’t forget that the next president is probably going to be nominating two, possible three supreme court justices.
I am sorry lady, but when one is in the public eye + running for office, journalists and your constituents have the right to press for the hard answers! Complaining about “negativity” and “not focusing on the right things” when they don’t like the question? GTFO!
Trump family idiocy and lies aside, what really makes me scratch my head is the idea that 6 weeks paid maternity leave is revolutionary. As an Irish person, I simply can’t get my head around the notion of there not being any paid maternity leave, let alone unpaid maternity leave. I know that it doesn’t exist in the US, yet every time I read it, I feel shocked all over again.
It’s not that it doesn’t exist.
Companies can offer it and some do, but not enough IMO and I do think that it should be mandatory federal law to offer AT LEAST six months of PAID maternity leave.
There is some variability. I live in California and here you get 6-8 weeks of pregnancy disability (at 55% of your pay, up to a maximum amount of about $4500/month) and then you can also take 6 weeks of Paid Family Leave (at 55% pay again, though the PFL is taxed but the disability money is not for some reason). Fathers can take 6 weeks of PFL also (you can also use it for events other than having a baby). It’s not ideal (it’s utilized more by well-off parents who can afford to have 6-18 weeks where one or the other is only earning partial pay), but it is still a big help–in particular I think it has done a lot to make the idea of taking 12+ weeks off instead of 6 or less more of the norm. My employer actually offers up to 6 months of job protection (so I could use the 12 weeks of partial pay from the state, then take another 14 weeks off with no pay….though my employer also does some weird stuff with health insurance that makes it tricky to take 5-6 months off for many of us), so maternity leaves at our company are now often a minimum of 12 weeks, with 4-6 months being acceptable also.
Having recently gone back to work myself, I agree that six months of paid leave or at least 6 months of job protection with health insurance covered really should be a universally mandated minimum. I went back at 4 months and it was not good for my family–my baby was not yet sleeping through the night and he also went through the four month sleep regression, waking up multiple times per night in my first month back at work. I had just started to get my own sleep deprivation under control before going back to work and it all went out the window. Between being super sleep deprived and having to stop work to pump milk 3x/day, I was getting very little work done at the office and I felt I was wasting my employer’s time. Now my kid is 7 months, we have him sleeping through the night most nights (and on the nights he does wake up he goes back to sleep pretty quickly). I am still breastfeeding so pumping is a big chunk of time out of my day, but getting more sleep has made a HUGE difference in my productivity and well-being. I can see now that if I’d taken 6 months off I would have been going back to work in much better shape and really would have been able to hit the ground running.
This. I took six months off but 3 months of that was an unpaid leave of absence where we also had to pay our full health insurance premiums. so not only was I out my salary but I was paying about $1200 a month for health insurance for my family. Luckily we had saved enough money to be able to do that but most people would not have that ability.
Pinetree: I worked for an agency in state government, at the time, the employer policy was 6 months of unpaid maternity leave and either your job placement was reserved for your return or a similar job would be available.
I returned in six months back to my original job, but missed my 6 month old and quit after several months because leaving in the morning was too hard on both of us 🙂
I agree Ninks it’s shocking!
Also 6 weeks? WTH it should be 6 MONTHS minimum of partial payment from the government. I can’t imagine having to put my child in daycare when they were only 6 weeks old! How sad!!!!!!
How is this plan impressive? Colour me not impressed at all.
It is absolutely shocking for anyone who didn’t grow up in the US and also speaks to how far behind Europe the US is in women’s equality and rights.
There is on and on talk about how actresses don’t get equal opportunity in Hollywood or how not enough women are CEOs.
Why is there no talk about the lack of maternity leave in the US? About difficulty of finding childcare, how expensive it is, and how women are forced to stay home to provide childcare because it take up majority of their salary? I guess somewhere in there is buried the answer to questions like why not enough women are CEOs and why not enough women are movie producers, scientists and such.
Well I just can’t believe that Ivanka Trump – of all people- would act like and/or possibly be sort of an asshole. The *hell* you say! I mean, look at her parents, do you even know who her dad is? Donald Trump, you guys. That man is practically a saint. He’s known the world over for hosting philanthropy and his deep, agape-style love for man and woman kind.
She’s repulsive.
Can’t stand this privileged twit.
If you don’t like the subject then don’t read or comment on it – simple as that.
For the record – Chelsea is not involved in her mother’s policies nor does she give interviews after interviews about her.
Unlike Chelsea, Ivanka is greedy for PR and is involved in the policies.
Exactly because HRC doesn’t need her daughter stumping for her, trying to make her image more appealing. HRC is perfectly capable of handling things on her own.
Done defending Ivanka because at this point, she’s part of the problem, and it’s a big, YUGE, ORANGE problem.
At this point, her only redeeming quality is her oh-so-cute cute kids.
Her “daughter” is out stumping for her daily. Days after giving birth, she was speaking for HRC. She runs the Clinton Foundation so, she is in it big time.
Both candidates are absolutely making politics the family business. Thinking that Bill and Chelsea are not heavily involved in Hillary’s campaign would be very naive. In fact, we know that they are…Bill is almost a liability for Hillary at this point. He can’t help himself but stick his nose (and other appendages) in where it really doesn’t belong. I get it, as an ex-president, sitting on the sidelines this election must be excruciating for him. As a family, they are as brilliant as they come.
In reality, however they are portrayed in the media….neither the Clintons, nor the Trumps, are stupid people.
She has? How many magazine and television interviews has Chelsea done for Hillary? How many has Bill done? I’m not trying to be sassy here, genuinely curious because it *seems* like I’ve seen far more from Melania and Ivanka but I have no problem being wrong about it.
Also, I never said that Hillary is hiding her family from the public (she’d be a moron to do that) I simply made the point that she doesn’t need Chelsea to gain followers or rehab her image, she just doesn’t. if Chelsea want to be an active part of her mother’s campaign because she’s passionate about politics and believes in what HRC stands for, that’s a little different than being used as a pawn to appeal to us womenfolk.
I actually agree that Chelsea is definitely involved in her family’s politics. The difference to me is, Chelsea is informed. She is thoroughly educated on the topics she speaks to. She comes prepared and can answer questions. If she were asked a question she didn’t have an answer for she would simply say she can’t speak to that. She would not act like a baby and proclaim “negativity” or ‘not focusing on the right things.” Ivanka came into the political arena cold. She only pretends as far as it will get her, but she is not politically savvy. Chelsea is and that’s a compliment.
@goo “Daughter”? Really?
Chelsea’s involved in the policies and the campaigning.
Daddy daddy come save me from the big bad journalist..
The trump family are a bunch of lying, deceitful, racist cowards who will run scared of people challenged them.
Hopefully America will see sense and elect Hillary, give the house and senate to democrats and appoint Obama as SCUTOS.
God help us if that happens….
Myrna: Trump is retreating from his original Obama birther theory. Why did Trump even start on questioning our President’s birth place and records, if he is now believing that Obama was born in the US?
Can you as an “objective” journalist explain that, because to me it sounds like pandering to a racist segment of his followers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/03/us/politics/donald-trump-birther-obama.html?_r=0
Thank you.
See, this whole Mexican wall thing is b.s. in my opinion. How are we going to pay for it? Raise taxes? No way Mexico is going to pay for it. That is just a blatant appeal to the people who are anti-immigrant. So obvs full of it to me. I guess his supporters just don’t care about the logistics of it, just keep dreaming we will go back to an all white America. I know several black people that are voting for him. I don’t get it, if he’s racist against these other people, odds are he’s racist against you. Plus, it’s a well known fact that in the 60s, they would not rent to black people. Hello!
I can’t believe building a wall along the Mexican border is a genuine policy for a potential POTUS. The mind boggles that there isn’t a full scale revolt on this issue alone.
^but there’s a billion dollar trade deficit!!!
/sarcasm
He thinks because we buy more goods from Mexico’s companies then the US’s companies sell back… that Mexico owes us money and a wall?? How can you make a trade deficit into money for a wall?? Is he going to ruin one of our largest trade deals to put up said wall?? And who benefits from the new non-Mexican trade deals??
I know and it kills me. For decades, the foreign policy with Japan has been they can sell their cars here but we can’t sell our cars there. I would much rather see that addressed because even though foreign auto maker factories here create jobs here and therefore, boost the economy, the bottom line is, all the profit goes right back to Japan but we have no profit because we can’t sell American cars in Japan. If we stopped selling Hondas here, Japan wouldn’t be making a profit off of us. And, it would force American’s to buy American and keep the auto profits right here in our own country. But sure, Trump, focus your foreign trade policy on one of the poorest countries in the Western hemisphere, because….racist bully.
He has walked this claim back a lot. At one point he conceded that it might be a “virtual wall.” A surprising number of his supporters don’t believe that he will actually build the wall or follow through on other ridiculous ‘promises’ but don’t care that he is lying. Jon Oliver did a great segment on why building the wall is impossible. It is funny and worth watching on YouTube if you haven’t seen it yet. Even putting aside the great expense there are a lot of logistical problems that make it and impossiblity. Also, most illegal immigrants get here by plane. Something like 20% do it by sneaking across the Mexican border.
Seriously? Only 20% hop the border? In my naivete I thought the number would be much higher. That’s what I get for wasting my time with the TV.
As if tunnels wouldn’t be dug under a wall to get passed it? Where there is a will there is a way. I don’t believe a wall would do much other than take up valuable resources and money. America was built on the beleif that we are open – the melting pot. The pioneers and early settlers were all immigrants – Ireland, England, Mexico, Italy, etc. We are all immigrants in that affect. We simply have birth rights because we were born here. But we didn’t do anything to earn it. We don’t deserve it. It is a merely a given right – a blessing or luck depending on your beliefs. I don’t believe we have a right to block anyone wanting to come here for a better life. Those that feel they have a right to say No to people wanting to come here have a false sense of entitlement – as if they did something to achieve their natural citizenship. They/we did not. The only natives of the country are the American Indians – our nation’s dirty secret. Those are the only people here that have a right to stake claim on this land but they’ve been rounded up and flocked to parcels of land like so many sheep where they remain isolated from the rest of us, and have not acclimated to the culture here because they haven’t been welcomed to do so. Instead they have the highest rates of suicide, alcoholism, and rape than any other population in the world. I understand immigration is a problem. It needs to be better regulated and I don’t have the answer for how to do that, but it certainly isn’t by shutting them out and claiming only we who’ve been born here have a right to be here. I can’t understand the stance that we are the only rightful owners of this country.
But he’s FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE!!!! Haven’t you heard, Snowflake?
Lol. That was a really good post you put up earlier in the comments. Just mind blowing to me how people ignore the obvious lies, manipulating and racism and STILL day they will vote for him. I’m scared too Kitten. Never in a million years would i have thought that lunatic would have so many supporters.
Thanks Snowflake and I’m so with you. None of this seems real.
How salty do you think Wendi Deng is that for now, she can’t dig her claws in the Donald? I should say I ask this b/c the pic of her glaring at Ivanka and Jared speaks volumes.
lolol!
She’s a chip off the old bloc, just awful. Her pretentious voice & mannerisms are like nails on a chalkboard She knows nothing about working people, the plan is a total sham. So sick of the MSM gushing over her. The entire Trump family is repulsive. Sad that it took Cosmo to expose her.
Did I read Ivanka’s word salad correctly? Under her father’s plan, the paid maternity leave for the mother is basically unemployment benefits, not full salary compensation?
Disability pay. For having a baby.
That’s how it works in many other countries. You get a percentage of unemployment pay (usually something like 40-50% of your wage, higher in some countries) but those same countries give a year off.
Six weeks of paid maternity leave? Not impressive…at all.
Do not sit on the sidelines, we must all get out and VOTE!
Never mind the fact that the ‘plan’ is only for married mothers after giving birth. Nothing for adoptions. Nothing for dads. Nothing for same sex marriages. Nothing for single parents.
It’s complete bs and I was impressed that the Cosmo reporter went there. Very politely to. Pointing out lies and having a hard look at a policy isn’t being a hater-it’s doing your job. Clearly she thought Cosmo was just going to be a pr puff piece with softball questions.
THiS. What year are they living in? This isn’t even legal.
And there’s no way to pay for it. It’s all bizarre. I think “revolutionary” meant on the Republican side, which is their problem, imo.
Neither party has had the stomach to make this law. If the democrats had thought it imperative when Hillary first proposed it, they would have fought harder to make it happen. Realistically, it’s not a priority for either party. It’s campaign mud.
I think we are missing the most important question here, if it wasn’t asked. What maternity leave does she provide her current staff??
She isn’t running for office, so how she runs her company is irrelevant. The most important question is really: who will you elect to keep watch over whoever is elected president? Who is representing YOU in our government? It’s the state elections…not the national one…that is really important. But no one cares…instead we are worrying about a fashion company.
ETA: not directed towards you, Bella. I’m just frustrated with this whole story. It’s a non-issue and silly distraction from the real issue…like who will make maternity leave a law? Not Trump – OR- Hillary. It’s Congress.
…..even then, congress will change the proposal a million times, fight over every comma and bury some legislative bombs like funding for squirrel reproduction studies in their legislative district (which will not actually receive the funding…it will go elsewhere in a sleight of hand language loophole), within any maternity leave laws….which I doubt is a priority for either party beyond the elections anyway.
I obviously have a love/hate relationship with politics.
I mean, Shannon, it IS a gossip site you know? 😉
I agree that the interview is dumb and ultimately irrelevant but it’s not like people here are focusing on it. In fact, the majority of people here are talking about the upcoming election and not about Ivanka at all.
I had something to say but I literally forgot it because my mind is blown by this privileged twatwaffle. (can we say that here?)
I’m glad you did. It fits.
Ivanka and her siblings are the face of the future if we don’t stop this madness. Like Prez Obama said, don’t boo, vote!
Americans! Why can’t you just BELIEVE this family has only good intentions for you? Sheesh. You act as though there will be a Trump Tower on top of Mount Rushmore …
This family is the worst. God help us all if they win. I hope no one is buying Ivanka as a feminist model???
OK, couldn’t she have just said, “yes, he did say that in 2004, but his opinions have changed as he’s grown. He thinks differently now.” Done. Easy. Why did she freak out?! Oh yeah, because her dad is friggin Donald trump! Ugh. Just go away.
Ivanka thought she was going to be petted with kid gloves and asked about her favorite designer and make up. She wasn’t prepared for real questions. Poor thing. How DARE they not coddle her and not kiss her butt.
She would have likely remained on the line had the reporter asked how she is a such a super mom, being able to balance work and daily selfies / kiddie photos (always keeping the paid help out of frame).
Exactly. That’s why she went with Cosmo. Fashionsista, Supermom who has it all! How DOES she do it? Didn’t get what she expected. I find it hysterical!
That is exactly what has happened (only gets asked superficial and * easy * questions with no follow up), and as people have noted, from the * hard * news outlets. Of course, she is not used to hard questions. It is pretty amazing actually and very telling! So Cosmo reporter!!
Trump said his special snowflake was viciously attacked by a non-intelligent interviewer. Donnie, did you mean unintelligent) vvhe said she was doing the magazine a favor.
The NY TIMES reported after the Republican Convention that the company that makes Ivanka’s own clothing line doesn’t offer paid maternity leave.
Huh! I wonder why not?
Ivanka???
::crickets chirping::
This is a silly distraction. The president can only PROPOSE policy…only Congress can make it LAW. Just as the President cannot go to war without the consent of Congress. None of them function in a bubble – that’s the genius of the way our government was set up. With two bad candidates on our plate, we should collectively start looking to our state senators and representatives elections. That’s our defensive line, but no one pays them any attention!
Why do we even care what Ivanka says? She isn’t running for office, and both Donald *and* Hillary will have a daily fight to get anything done. It’s the state elections that will determine how our government functions!! Let’s talk about Paul Ryan – as speaker, he is our nation’s goalie and he hadn’t signaled that he is onboard with the Trump Train. Until he does, there is hope.
Shannon, are you NOT aware that POTUS can sign an Executive Order, and has, any time his little heart desires?
Please tell me this is sarcasm, Goo. 🙂
Seriously Shannon your acting as if the president has no power is insane. Please look up executive orders.
Shannon Goo is correct! The president has final say he can start a war if he so chooses.
Seriously! And you vote! Wow… No sarcasm whatsoever! Google is your friend.
Paul Ryan is on board with the Tea Party train. Call his office and listen to the outgoing voicemail greeting to learn his priorities. He is no moderate.
Contact Ryan’s office on any issue. Not even on the same planet as moderate. That is one nasty, angry, rabidly conservative, women-hating, big gun-loving, little man.
Apparently you haven’t read the patriot act. You should. Riveting stuff.
VOTE VOTE VOTE, folks. Encourage everyone.
+1000000000
And more important: educate yourself and VOTE VOTE VOTE for your state reps!!
Yes Shannon educate yourself please on executive order.
The day a Republican actually proposes AND gets Congress to pass a PAID national parental leave policy is the day I will eat every shoe in my closet.
I’m not even being political about this, there’s precedent that supports the fact that I’ll never have to eat all those shoes.
The FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act), which is UNPAID parental (and illness) leave, was first proposed by the Women’s Legal Defense Fund in 1984. The FMLA was then introduced in Congress every year from 1984 to 1993 and was blocked repeatedly by Republicans. Congress finally passed the legislation in 1991 and 1992 — but it was vetoed both times by President George H.W. Bush.
It took Clinton taking office for it to finally be passed. In fact, signing the FMLA was one of the first things Clinton did after taking office. I remember it so vividly because I did a research paper on the FMLA way back in 1988, and then again in 1992 in college. I was dismayed thinking it would never become law, and at the time, I was a young woman hoping to have both a career and a family some day. When Clinton signed it almost immediately after taking office, I had hope again. And I took 8 weeks of the FMLA from early December 1994 to January 1995, when the law was still pretty brand new.
I was thankful for it, even though it was unpaid. It allowed me extra time at home with my daughter without fear of losing my job. And yet still, it has its limitations: it is only for people employed at places with 50 or more employees, and it is, as I said above, unpaid. It’s basically federal job protection in the case of a newborn child, adoption, or grave illness.
It’s like America, in 1993, finally caught up to where Europe had been for years and years. And then we just stopped there.
Trump’s proposals are NOT budget-neutral, as Ivanka said. How can they be?
I wonder why Hillary didn’t get any of these magical things done during the eight years of the Clinton presidency. She couldn’t even get a healthcare package done when it was her job.
We need a retirement age for politicians – younger people with more knowledge of today’s problems as young families/ career people need to be our leaders. Not 70-year-olds who just want power, like the choices we got this year.
Members of Congress – who are funded in part by the health insurance business – blocked national health insurance. It took guts even to try, and when Congress blocked national insurance, Clinton salvaged insurance for children, which is still going as CHIPS (iirc). It covers kids whose family incomes are a bit too high for Medicaid but too low to afford anything else. That’s Clinton’s work, from another time when progress had to be incremental.
Her husband DID sign the FMLA, and was the only president to do so. Bush Sr. refused to sign it TWICE after Congress passed it.
I think there’s a natural “retirement age” for politicians, and it is when they get voted out of office! I do agree that it helps to have people representing us who are really in touch with the actual day-to-day struggles of working people, families, etc.
She wasn’t president, her husband was.
Kitten, WATP, Melly and a few others-thank you for your well thought out, informative and eloquent posts. After listening to NPR most of the day, hearing Trump’s latest lies(the birther crap which he nows blames on Hillary!!!)it’s refreshing to read intelligent postings of the truth.
Dammit the suspense is killing me. Myrna still hasn’t come back to tell us why she’s voting for Trump! And I’ve got to go to bed now without knowing.
Maybe someone else can explain their reasons. I would genuinely like to know, too.
I just watched “How the Clinton Foundation Ripped Off Haiti” on YouTube. Everyone needs to see this. The Clintons are vile people in my opinion. How can anyone excuse this type of treatment of other human beings? The Haitians protested outside the Clinton Foundation a few weeks ago. They want it known what the Clintons did to their country and people.
Thank you Kitten and others for your patient replies. I can’t stomach these delusional people who support such a rotten soul. Can’t begin to understand how they can justify a vote for that creature.
Like her father, stepmother, mother and brothers, she is excrement on the face of the earth.
There needs to be a bigger focus on her linguistic tactics and how people keep using them. I just read another interview where somebody reacted with the exact same words to very appropriate criticism: “negative” and “Judgemental” have become phrases for people to avoid being called out on their bullshit.
“How dare the little people question me!” — Ivanka Marie Antoinette Trump
Perfectly written, Caro. It’s a sense of entitlement most Americans who I know disdain. That’s what makes this country great, not medieval.
This is what happens when you don’t come from a political family, partly. It doesn’t excuse ignorance entirely, but it is understandable. She hasn’t been schooled on politics from an early age like, say, Chelsea probably has. It’s part of what I like about the Trump family and dislike about the Clintons. At least she is being real – she doesn’t know how to lie very well. And we can catch her in them.
Honestly, I think she thought she was going to get softball questions. Why wouldn’t she think that. It was Cosmo. Serious “journalists” have tossed her softballs so why would she think Cosmo would ask her real questions?
In more disgusting news: Trump has once again tried to stir up the gun nuts into taking action against Clinton.
In happier news: Hersheys has issued versions of Kisses, Rolos, Minatures, and Peppermint Patties in patriotic wrappers for the election. Get out and vote!
In even happier news, Michelle Obama is on the campaign trail for Hillary. I just watched her first speech in Virginia trying to get out the youth vote.
She was SPECTACULAR!!!!!!
She was spectacular because she IS spectacular!
FLOTUS is amazing!!!
Echoing you smart ladies! Michelle is spectacular!!!
I used to find her quite impressive in her education and professional life, but her rabid defense of her father is really over the top. If she didn’t actually believe this stuff she would no doubt take a back seat and make non-committal noises about supporting her father and believing in him. That’s not what she’s doing. I’ve lost all respect for her.
Ivanka acts like she and her father invented the concept of maternity leave, and we should all kiss their feet and ask no questions. I didn’t think she was that clueless and entitled, but boy, was I wrong.
Also, the “Trump plan” (if one can call it that) sounds like it came straight from the 1950s. In Ivanka’s own words, it will “benefit the mother who has given birth to the child if they have legal married status under the tax code. ”
So only married mothers who’ve had a biological child qualify. If you adopted, the Trumps don’t think you deserve maternity leave. If you are man and (shocking!) would like to take time off to spend with your newborn, you’re out of luck. If you’re a single mom, forget about it!
Seriously?
What about a plastic surgery program for women who will never be good enough, pretty enough, sexy enough or thin enough for their fathers and husbands?
Ugh she is just like her father, and to all trump supporters please remember this man will be our mouth piece! This same man who is racist and violent, who says that p.o.w. are not hero’s of war because they were captured! I mean really do you want another war because with his mouth we will be in trouble. It’s very scary that because people are so desperate for change that they would support such a horrible horrible awful man. A so called Republican who has flipped sides. I thought republicans were religious and so conservative this man and his policies are a joke his nasty mouth and hateful attitude makes me sick. I understand people are desperate but come on seriously seriously? Ugh!