Reporter: How Creepy Donald Trump ‘Hit On’ Me Today

[kpete]

Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner for the presidential nomination, met with The Washington Post’s editorial board Monday to answer questions ranging from his views on NATO and the American criminal justice system to the violence that has been plaguing his rallies. We hoped that we would get to peel back some of the layers of Trump. In our meeting, when asked whether he thought there were racial disparities in how laws are enforced, Trump said he had “no opinion.” As time was running out, I wanted to press him a little more on if he plans to run on and/or govern on a message of racial inclusion.

TRUMP: Well, first of all, if you look at some polls that have come out, I’m doing very well with African Americans. I’m doing, actually if you look at the polls, a lot of the polls that came out, in the, um, what do they call it? Exit polls, like from Nevada and other places, I’m doing very well with Hispanics.

ATTIAH: I think the some of the polls are saying you’re doing([in the] negatives.

TRUMP: We do, if it’s illegals, in other words, if it’s everybody, but people that are legally living here, I’m doing very well. In other words, people that are here, like Hispanics that are in the country, I’m doing very well. People that vote. Like people leaving voting booths and all, I’m doing very well with them. I want to be inclusive, but at the same time, people should come here legally, they should be here legally. And I think the reason I’m doing, that I will do well, especially once I get started, don’t forget I haven’t even focused on Hillary yet. And, and as you know, you know I’ve had polls that are against me, but I’ve had many polls that say I’d beat Hillary, but they’re not that, that, they don’t mean anything now because it’s too early. Because I haven’t hit her. I’ve only hit her once, and that was eight weeks ago, but, I haven’t started on Hillary yet, and when I do I think I’ll be able to make my points. I mean, you know, but, but I think that just to try and answer your question: Uh, I am the least racist person that you will ever meet. Okay. That I can tell you.

ATTIAH: But do you feel that your messages, your rhetoric, are dangerous and divisive for this country? How do you feel they’re . . .

TRUMP: I don’t think so. No, I don’t think so. With the Muslim thing I think it’s a serious problem. I’ve had Muslims call and tell me you’re right with the Muslim thing, I think it’s a serious problem. And it’s a problem that has to be addressed. I mean, there’s tremendous hatred. Even the, even the guy they caught in Paris. He was being hid out by other Muslims, and everybody is after him, and he’s living right next to where he grew up. There’s a serious, serious problem with the Muslims and it’s got to be addressed. It’s temporary, and it’s got to be addressed. And you know you may think of it as negative, many people think it’s very positive.

As the meeting ended and we were walking out of the room, I thanked Trump for taking my question. He turned to me and said, “I really hope I answered your question,” and added casually with a smile, “Beautiful.” I was stunned. I didn’t say thank you, and I don’t think I smiled. He then walked out to meet with my Post colleagues briefly before heading to the elevator. I stayed in the conference room for a few minutes as it sunk in that the potential GOP nominee for president thought it was okay to comment on my appearance. Did he just say that?

Planning out how to question Trump in a way that was illuminating was like planning for asymmetrical warfare against an opponent who doesn’t follow the same rules as you do. Who doesn’t believe in rules. Who thinks that rules won’t help make America great again. In Trump’s world, commenting on a woman’s appearance in a professional setting is fair game, as is predicting riots if he doesn’t get the nomination, threatening the speaker of the House, vowing to “open up” libel laws to go after “unfair” media, and helping to stoke the flames of violence at his rallies.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2016/03/21/i-asked-trump-a-policy-question-then-he-called-me-beautiful/
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2016/03/21/reporter-how-creepy-donald-trump-hit-on-me-today-tweet/

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

1. No surprise here... tRump is an ass.

[metroins]

2. I don't think he hit on her

It's just part of his vocabulary.

The guy only says like 5 real words, beautiful is just below great.

[Stallion]

8. Yeah I'd be careful about this-"beautiful" means "great" to some people

I'm not so sure he was hitting on her

[Bucky]

11. You can't tell from this article, it lacks context. It'd be the *way* he said it to make it a pass

But the reporter didn't bother to explain how his delivery could be understood as hitting on her. I assume she used the words "hit on me" to get your attention. It's not good reporting. Not that commenting on someone's appearance is exactly appropriate. And I don't exactly begrudge anyone their right to launch baseless inflammatory slurs against Donald Trump. He lives in a world in which exaggerations and outright lies are fair game.

[oberliner]

13. Also, she does not refer to him as "creepy" at any point

That embellishment seems to have been added by an unaffiliated headline writer.

[Skittles]

48. I'll add it too

the man is CREEPY

[Paladin]

3. Anybody who's surprised by this, hasn't been paying attention to Trump.

He has the morals of your neighborhood alley cat. Typical entitled rich boy.

[meow2u3]

19. Don't insult alley cats

Alley cats have a purpose, at least--to keep vermin to a minimum. tRump IS vermin!

I always said that because tRump has the morals of an alley cat, he should be treated like an alley cat--take him to the vet to get him neutered!

[Paladin]

21. You're absolutely correct.

Every alley cat I can recall encountering had far more restraint and class than Trump ever dreamed of having.

[Arkansas Granny]

4. I read the entire interview. Trump is delusional, arrogant and really shows his ignorance of world

affairs throughout the interview. Just the same old same old bragging about himself, blaming others for the violence at his rallies, blaming Rubio for making him comment on his hands (he spent a lot of time on that). It's frightening to think how many people believe that he would be a good choice for President.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2016/03/21/a-transcript-of-donald-trumps-meeting-with-the-washington-post-editorial-board/?tid=a_inl

[tblue37]

53. The man actually thinks that judges sign bills! When commenting that he thought

his sister would make a good SCOTUS justice, he defended her position on an aborrtion case:

Trump, exhibiting his own ignorance of the workings of the judiciary, botched his defense of his sister. "She's a brilliant judge," he said during the Houston debate last month. "He's [Cruz] been criticizing -- he's been criticizing my sister for signing a certain bill. You know who else signed that bill? Justice Samuel Alito, a very conservative member of the Supreme Court, with my sister, signed that bill. So I think that maybe we should get a little bit of an apology from Ted.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-donald-trump-sister-20160308-story.html

[Glimmer of Hope]

5. His comment was unprofessional. The interview reads like gibberish coming

from a six year old.

[Dont call me Shirley]

52. Palinesque.

[oberliner]

6. Where's the part where he hits on her?

It doesn't seem like he did from what is written here.

[justiceischeap]

10. I'm guessing it was all in the vibe of the interaction

To you his comment may seem benign but, to her, she took it as being hit on.

Either way, that isn't how one should conduct themselves in a professional environment (whether you are running for President or talking about ad sales).

[oberliner]

12. She doesn't describe anything about the vibe of the interaction

If there was something about the way he spoke to her or his physicality or anything of that nature which made her feel as if she was being hit on, she did not make mention of it in what she wrote here.

[justiceischeap]

22. No but she stated she was hit on

That means something about the way he said "Beautiful" to her led her to believe he was hitting on her.

[oberliner]

23. Where does she state that?

She does not use that phrase anywhere in this article.

[justiceischeap]

24. Well here's the excerpt from the above link

As the meeting ended and we were walking out of the room, I thanked Trump for taking my question. He turned to me and said, “I really hope I answered your question,” and added casually with a smile, “Beautiful.” I was stunned. I didn’t say thank you, and I don’t think I smiled. He then walked out to meet with my Post colleagues briefly before heading to the elevator. I stayed in the conference room for a few minutes as it sunk in that the potential GOP nominee for president thought it was okay to comment on my appearance. Did he just say that?

...

Perhaps he thought that calling me beautiful would make me ignore the fact that he brazenly lied about his polling numbers among Hispanic voters. Or make me believe that he wasn’t really a racist. Who knows? At least now I know, firsthand, that the sexism that Trump puts on display against Megyn Kelly under the lights of national TV is not that much different from how he is in real life toward female journalists.

Here's another story on Jezebel that provides a Tweet from someone else in the meeting:
http://theslot.jezebel.com/donald-trump-sexually-harassed-a-washington-post-editor-1766197101

Vince Bzdek ‎@Bzdekv
Oh my god, Trump told one of our editors that "she was very beautiful" DURING an editorial board meeting here.

[oberliner]

27. In that excerpt she does not say that he hit on her

Just that she believed he commented on her appearance.

I guess it depends on what the definition of hitting on someone is.

[eShirl]

14. OK, now imagine Bill Clinton saying it instead of The Donald.

[oberliner]

16. OK, not sure what the difference would be.

I have no doubt that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton have hit on a lot of women in inappropriate settings. It just does not seem like that is the case here.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

17. If Bill Clinton did it, they're would be a 200 thread post demanding Hillary drop out immediately nm

[oberliner]

18. Oh, people would spin it into a Bernie v. Hillary thing

I wish everything didn't have to be viewed through that prism around here these days.

[Starry Messenger]

42. What an interesting question, beautiful.

[oberliner]

43. Different from: "What an interesting question. Beautiful."

The period and new one-word sentence indicates that you find my question to be beautiful.

The comma construction you used suggests that you are calling me beautiful.

The author of this story seems to indicate the former rather than the latter.

[Starry Messenger]

44. “I really hope I answered your question,” and added casually with a smile, “Beautiful.”

I see a comma there. You saw a period? The author of the story doesn't indicate what you are indicating.

[oberliner]

45. The word Beautiful is capitalized

If a direct quotation is interrupted mid-sentence, ones does not capitalize the second part of the quotation.

[Starry Messenger]

46. They do if they call you that as a name, Oberliner.

Whatever, I know you love endlessly parsing this shit. Enjoy. Nothing is ever bad in your world. Great to be a man, I guess.

[oberliner]

47. You just wrote: "What an interesting question, beautiful."

Without capitalizing beautiful.

Edit to add: This is just a discussion board. I do enjoy discussing things like this with people. I hope there are no hard feelings.

[tblue37]

54. And you would capitalize "Mothere" if addressing your mother that way, but not

if referring to her as "my mother."

"On Capitalizing 'Mom' and 'Dad' and 'Great Aunt Betty' ":

http://grammartips.homestead.com/betty.html

[oberliner]

58. Yeah, fair enough

Maybe he did mean it that way. I just know that I have said "beautiful" in the way that I described above, i.e. not as a comment on a person's appearance. But maybe he was commenting on her appearance here. Obviously we are all going on incomplete information.

[SamKnause]

7. I missed the part where he hit on her.

[Gormy Cuss]

25. She didn't miss it.

She heard it in context and as an adult woman I'm betting she's had enough experience to recognize it for what it was.

[SamKnause]

26. I am a 62 year old woman.

I was a model.

I was steel worker.

I have built freight cars.

I have been a tugboat cook with a crew of 7 men.

I have built decks.

He did not hit on her.

She sounds like someone looking for attention.

He did not say she was beautiful, he said the word beautiful.

Even if he did say she was beautiful, since when is that hitting

on someone ???

It makes me ill having to defend Trump.

[Gormy Cuss]

28. You weren't there.

Working in male-dominated jobs doesn't make you an expert on flirting and hitting on people. I'm old enough to be your little sister and have also worked in male-dominated environments (law enforcement, factories) as well as jobs where women were more equally represented. In my experience (anecdotal, just like yours) there was tolerance for comments like this when it was a male-dominated environment, but less so when there were many women in the ranks. Also less so as the novelty of women in certain workplaces wore off.

I can see how this written comment could be hitting on her or not, but I wasn't there and prefer to believe her than assume she's overly sensitive.

[SamKnause]

30. You weren't there either.

I never said I was an expert.

It is your right to believe her.

[Gormy Cuss]

33. And it's your right to call her a liar

or overly sensitive or whatever other excuse to deny what she and at least one witness both agree was creepy and inappropriate.

Yes, I factored in that I didn't witness the exchange. You don't seem to have done the same.

[SamKnause]

35. I never called her a liar.

You are rude.

Do not reply to me anymore.

[Gormy Cuss]

37. Don't post if you don't want replies

If you think that I've been rude to you, hit that 'alert' button. If you don't want to engage posters who disagree with you, there's a tool for that too: 'ignore.'

[CreekDog]

29. Almost everyone saying they missed it seems to be male

oh well.

what a privilege not to notice.

[SamKnause]

31. Try reading the above comments from me.

I am a 62 year old female.

Sam is my nickname.

[greymouse]

9. I don't think he hit on her, BUT

this is the equivalent of construction workers catcalling at women who walk by. It is unacceptable to make remarks like that in most contexts.

The people who think this is okay, ask your female relatives if they want random people commenting on their appearance. They will tell you it creeps them out.

[oberliner]

15. Saying the word "beautiful" is not a comment on someone's appearance necessarily

If he had said something like "You are beautiful" then that is clearly a comment on her appearance, but one can also say "beautiful" as if to mean, ok, great. As in, "Did I answer your question? Ok, great. Beautiful."

It really does not sound like he hit on her or even commented on her appearance.

[SamKnause]

20. Agree.

[CreekDog]

31. really fun watching all the guys discuss how it wasn't inappropriate

maybe you can all gather a group of like minded men to decide what does and doesn't constitute sexual harassment.

[SamKnause]

36. You assumed I am male.

You are wrong.

Please read post #26.

Thank you.

[CreekDog]

39. No I didn't assume you were male

DU is male dominated and especially when the topic of sexism comes up, it's a pattern that males dominate the conversations to say it's not a problem, isn't happening or is something else.

[oberliner]

38. Sexual harassment?

I don't think anyone has made the claim that this was sexual harassment.

[LanternWaste]

40. Whistling at a woman walking by is not a cat-call necessarily.

Whistling at a woman walking by is not a cat-call necessarily. Just a tune stick in their head, most likely. Billy Joel, I would guess...

[oberliner]

41. Exactly

Misunderstandings are pretty common.

I remember a time that I was trying to pull out of a driveway and was looking intently to my left to make sure there were no cars coming and a woman who was walking along the sidewalk from that same direction apparently thought I was staring at her and yelled "take a picture, it'll last longer" as she passed my car - when I had not even noticed that she was there.

[tblue37]

55. According to someone at the meeting, he did say, "You're very beautiful," during the

meeting, though, so that suggests his comment as they were leaving was a reiteration of the earlier comment on her appearance.

[oberliner]

57. Yeah, it could be

I guess I was just trying to make the point that one can say "Beautiful" and not have it be a comment about the person's appearance, but in this case, maybe it was.

[catbyte]

34. Ew. Even if he didn't try to"hit on her", it was misogynistic and creepy. Just another

example of how Trump doesn't see women as equals--or even human beings--we're eye candy, put here on earth for him and men like him to "rate," ogle, and remark about. It is despicable and, frankly, beyond creepy. It's pathological. Just like him saying he'd bang his daughter if she wasn't his daughter.

What a despicable POS.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

49. K&R and uh...

[Warren DeMontague]

50. Part of Trump's "appeal" is that he gets people to play the "youre not allowed to say that" game

And then everyone demands that he apologize or obsequiously acknowledge his egregious boundary-crossing of the lines of good decorum or political correctness or common decency, expecting that this time, he will because he HAS TO!

...and instead, he goes "eh. fuck you"

And, the crowd goes wild.

[tblue37]

51. Remember when Obama was raked over the coals for commenting that the CA attorney general

was attractive?

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2013/04/05/were-president-obamas-comments-about-the-california-attorney-general-sexist

Were Obama's Comments Sexist?: President Obama called the California attorney general "the best-looking attorney general in the country.

But of course Trump will get away with it, just as he ultimately gets away with insulting Fiorina's face, or with making comments--positive or negaative--about other high ranking or influential women. Always IOKIYAR, and now also IOKIYDT.

[Warren DeMontague]

56. Trump will get away with it because he just doesn't give a shit.

I mean, he's already seriously alienated Megyn Kelly and half of Fox News with her, and they're supposed to be his allies.