I've always been made to understand that the right wing thinks "family values" means women put up with whatever their husbands do because the marriage matters more than the person.
Except when you're Donald Trump, and then the bar moves all over the place. Basically, if you're Bill Clinton, engaging in consensual oral sex with an intern is somehow a terrible thing which is Hillary Clinton's fault because she didn't leave him afterwards?
On the other hand, Donald Trump's two divorces don't count because he wasn't President of the United States, even though they were nasty and ugly.
On Meet the Press Sunday, Trump explained this anomaly.
“I mean, your first divorce was ugly,” Todd replied. “It was all over the tabloids.”
“You know what? I wasn’t the President of the United States, and I wasn’t dealing in the Oval Office, all right? Big difference,” Trump parried.
Trump went on to say that his first wife, Ivana, thinks he is “great,” without mentioning his affair with Georgia beauty queen Marla Maples that broke up his first marriage before Maples briefly became his second wife.
No, not a big difference, unless you're a two-bit huckster selling hate and avarice in order to occupy that same Oval Office. I can only imagine the debauchery that would take place while President Trump occupied the White House. (shudder)
Full transcript below, via NBC News:
CHUCK TODD: Welcome back. When Hillary Clinton called Donald Trump out for his attitude towards women, Trump wasted no time in firing back. Saying, if she wants to play that game so can he - with Bill Clinton as the target. Well, I asked him yesterday if he's serious about going down that road.
(BEGIN TAPE)
CHUCK TODD: You've said you're willing to bring up Bill Clinton's past with women if Hillary Clinton attacks you for being a sexist. So is that a threat to her? Is that essentially what you're saying is, hey, you want me to go down that road? You go down that road, I go down this road. Is this sort of public threat--
DONALD TRUMP: Well, I don't want to say it's a threat.
CHUCK TODD: What is it?
DONALD TRUMP: But it is a threat. Of course. I mean, I can call it a nicer name, yeah. She was saying he has tendencies toward being sexist.
CHUCK TODD: Talking about who? You?
DONALD TRUMP: Talking about me. And I said, wait a minute. She's married to an abuser. A woman claimed rape, and all sorts of things. I mean, horrible things. You read the books--
CHUCK TODD: You do know, though, if you bring it up, people are going to bring up your--
DONALD TRUMP: It's okay.
CHUCK TODD: I mean, your first divorce was ugly.
DONALD TRUMP: Number one, it's fine--
CHUCK TODD: All over the tabloids.
DONALD TRUMP: But, you know what? I wasn't the President of the United States. And I wasn't dealing in the Oval Office, all right? A big difference. I wasn't the president. And my first wife thinks I'm great. And my second wife and my-- and I have a great marriage. I mean, I have a great marriage. So I mean, it's fine. I'm not saying don't bring anything up with me. But when she says that, I had to bring it up. And by the way, they've become very unresponsive since then.
CHUCK TODD: Oh, they have.
DONALD TRUMP: And I just won the FOX poll against her, even. I'm up substantially over Hillary in the FOX poll that just came out--
