A Republican who decided to defend the way Donald Trump deals with the issue of sexual abuse got more than she bargained for when she showed up as a guest on AM Joy Sunday morning.
Former Nevada Republican Party chair Amy Tarkanian was asked by host Joy Reid why Trump always seems to defend men who treat women in terrible ways:
“If it was just Rob Porter, you know, General Kelly knew about this last fall. Seeing that photo one would think if you’re a person of conscience, that photo alone would give you pause about having them stay in place. But you haven’t had just Rob Porter. Donald Trump himself multiple times has been accused of sexual misconduct.”
Reid was far from finished, continuing to reel of the men the president has stood up for:
“Steve Bannon and Andrew Puzder, who had to withdraw as the nominee for Secretary of Labor, and David Sorenson, the speechwriter that is now gone. You have Steve Wynn, the finance chief of the RNC. It goes on and on and on. I guess my question to you as a woman, as a Republican woman: what does it say to you that your party is cultivating so many of these men and Donald Trump defends them all?”
Tarkanian took a page from Trump and tried to deflect the question with another question, always a sign of desperation in a debate:
“Well, I don’t know if he necessarily defends them all, he says lives are being destroyed. Who’s he defending? He said you need to be careful because a lot of these — these are allegations not everyone has been found guilty. You have to be careful.”
That led Reid to ask:
“Well, when has he ever stood up for women against an abusive man? Can you name any instance when he stood up to a Republican man accused of abusing women, just one?”
Again, Tarkanian refused to answer the question, telling Reid:
“I don’t talk to him on a regular basis.”
Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin, who was also on the panel, then gave Tarkanian a dose of harsh reality, commenting:
“This is the problem. You have women like Amy go on television and defend the president. And he seizes upon this and his supporters seize upon this and the pattern repeats itself because they get away with it. As long as you have Republican women like Amy, like Concerned Women for America, who want something out of this president whether it’s judges or whether it’s discrimination against gays, whatever it is that they want — they make excuses for him and they have to stop it.”
The excuses do indeed have to stop. More importantly, the abuse has to stop at every level of society.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggtNLme7LaQ
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