Trump Continues to Be Maximum Trump

[Content Note: Misogyny; violent rhetoric.]

Following last Thursday's Republican debate, during which candidate Donald Trump got into it with moderator Megyn Kelly over his rank misogyny, Trump has gone on the offensive (in every sense of the word) against Kelly.

First he took to Twitter, calling her unprofessional and retweeting a supporter's tweet in which Kelly was called a "bimbo." His special counsel and surrogate, Michael Cohen, also retweeted a supporter's tweet with the hashtag "boycottmegynkelly" and the message "we can gut her."

[CN: Video autoplays at link] Then, on Friday night, Trump told CNN anchor Don Lemon that: "You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes; blood coming out of her—wherever." Now, everyone without a pro-Trump agenda knows exactly what Donald Trump meant by that: Megyn Kelly was being a bitch because she was menstruating.

(Note: The misogynistic "joke" here is predicated on the concept that women who menstruate are "moody" when they have PMS, which stands for premenstrual syndrome. Pre. As in before. As in not having her period yet. For many PMS-sufferers, getting one's period alleviates some or all symptoms of PMS, particularly as regards irritability and tension. So the whole "on the rag" thing doesn't really make a whole lot of sense, for a whole lot of women. I suppose the sort of shitlord who uses a "joke" like this isn't too concerned about its medical accuracy, but I'm a pedant, so there you go.)

Trump, of course, denies this was the implication of his comment and said: "Only a deviant would say that what I said was what they were referring to, because nobody would make that statement. You almost have to be sick to put that together." Okay, player.

By yesterday morning, Trump was being asked about his insults against Kelly by Meet the Press host Chuck Todd, not exactly known by his rigorous challenges to power, who read a rundown of only a small selection of reprehensible things, many of which focused on appearance, that Trump has said about women with whom he disagrees.

And this was Donald Trump's actual fucking response: "When I'm attacked, I fight back. When I was attacked viciously by those women, of course, it's very hard for them to attack me on looks, because I'm so good-looking."

There aren't even words.

Later in the day, Trump invoked a classic misogynistic trope against the only female Republican candidate, Carly Fiorina, tweeting: "I just realized that if you listen to Carly Fiorina for more than ten minutes straight, you develop a massive headache. She has zero chance!"

As for Trump's chances, well, as of Saturday, Trump was still polling at the top of the pack.

I suspect not for much longer. This is getting embarrassing even for a base that thinks Mike Huckabee is a reasonable human being.