GRAB TRUMP BY THE BALLOT: SEPTEMBER EDITION

With less than 50 days until the Election, Trump continues to demonstrate just how dangerously unfit he is for the job of President.

From purposefully downplaying the coronavirus pandemic that has now killed almost 200,000 Americans to encouraging the right-wing conspiracy theory QAnon to defending the gunman who killed two anti-racism protestors, he is sowing discord and endangering lives in unprecedented ways.

Here’s the latest update on groups Trump has mocked, disrespected, or belittled in recent days.

Survivors

Trump has been accused by at least 25 women of sexual misconduct. One of them, E. Jean Carroll, is suing Trump for defamation after he denied her allegations of rape.

Now the U.S. Department of Justice is moving to take responsibility for Trump’s defense in court. The DOJ is claiming that Trump’s remarks, which include saying he could not have raped Carroll because she is “not my type,” were made under his official capacity as president. The move, if successful, would allow Trump to use government resources — taxpayer money — to evade accountability for his private misconduct. 

Veterans

Trump’s contempt for the military has long been established, from his denigration of John McCain’s service record (“I like people who weren’t captured”) to his attacks on Gold Star parents Khizr and Ghazala Khan, to his claims that avoiding sexually transmitted diseases constituted his “personal Vietnam.” 

New reports this month, including reporting by Fox News, show just how deep Trump’s disparagement of the military goes. He has repeatedly called Americans who died in war “losers” and “suckers,” including thousands of Marines who died in a critical World War I battle. He doesn’t understand why “smart” people would join the military, and he has asked for wounded veterans to be excluded from military parades because “nobody wants to see” amputees. 

People of Color

Once again, Trump’s history of racist statements and actions dates back decades, starting with discriminatory housing practices in his father’s real estate company and his full page ad calling for the execution of the Central Park Five, through questioning the birthplace of President Obama and kicking off his presidential campaign by calling Mexicans “rapists” and criminals.

And he hasn’t changed. Just last month he encouraged a birther conspiracy theory about Kamala Harris, the first Black and first Indian-American woman to be on a major party ticket. And when asked by Bob Woodward if he felt he had a responsibility to understand the “pain and anger” of Black people, especially as a privileged white man, Trump scoffed, “No. You really drank the Kool-Aid, didn’t you? Just listen to you. Wow. No, I don’t feel that at all.”