I honestly sat here are read this entire Donald Trump cover story in The Hollywood Reporter last night. I got through it all and culled an enormous selection of highlights. But the truth is, Trump isn’t as fun/crazy/stupid as he was just one month ago. The presidential campaign has started to get “real” for him and he’s actually toning down some of his comments. I mean, these quotes would be career-killers for a normal politician, but this is Donald Trump, so obviously 30% of the GOP is going to agree with him, which is just enough for Trump to continue leading in the polls. Anyway, you can read the full THR piece here. Highlights:
How he plans to win the female vote: “So my daughter Ivanka, who is a terrific person, she came to me and she said, “You care so much about women, and you care so much about the whole thing with women’s health issues,” which is such an important issue to me. And she said, “You are really misunderstood, and you have to get the word out.” And in the last week, I’ve been putting the word out. Melania told me that, and Ivanka told me that. And [Jeb] Bush came out and said he didn’t want to fund women’s health, and then he went back and he said he made a mistake by saying it. That’s not a mistake, that’s stupidity.
He’s attended a gay wedding: “Yes, I have. [Broadway theater owner] Jordan Roth. You know Jordan, right? Great guy. Some people have hopes of passing amendments, but it’s not going to happen. Congress can’t pass simple things, let alone that. So anybody that’s making that an issue is doing it for political reasons. The Supreme Court ruled on it.
When Melania will get on the stump: “Pretty soon. She wants to do it. She is a very confident person. .. She’s got a great style, and she would be an amazing first lady with heart. She would care very much about women’s issues. We’re talking about mostly medical issues but women’s issues. She was very strong on that with me the other day… My mother was this incredible woman. I have known incredible women. I have many women executives, frankly, that are better than my men executives. I pay them the same or more.
What he thinks of Hillary Clinton: “Hillary has problems far greater than the nomination. If you look at what’s going on with the emails, it’s a fraud if you think about it. This looks like Watergate on steroids, frankly. Watergate was about the cover-up more than the act. This isn’t something we’re going to solve tomorrow. This could go on for years. You can’t have a nominee who is under investigation. What are they going to do, run and then two nights before the presidential race she gets indicted? General Petraeus, for doing 5 percent of what she did, his life has been destroyed. And it goes up to 20 years in prison. It’s from one to 20 years for what she did!”
His level of intelligence: “One of the reasons I tell people about my level of intelligence — like, for instance, I had an uncle, Dr. John Trump, who was at MIT, like totally brilliant, became a professor at MIT — is when you’re a Republican conservative, you have to build up your credentials a little bit. But I can pivot any way. I can be a very elegant, highly refined person, I can be a very politically correct person where I would never ever say anything that’s even slightly over the edge, or I can be who I want to be. It’s very time-consuming to be politically correct. And I don’t have the time. It’s also very boring to be politically correct. Right? You wouldn’t be here if I was totally politically correct.
He’s picked sides on Deflategate: “Tom Brady. Tom is an unbelievable guy. He’s a very good friend of mine. I have his number right here someplace. Whatever. Here, look, he just called me. (He holds up a Post-it that says “Tom Brady’s New Cell #.”)
His favorite actor: “Clint Eastwood is a great actor. I still think the spaghetti Westerns are among the great [movies]. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in particular. I love Robert Duvall. Marlon Brando was fabulous, fabulous when he was on. And some of his interviews were among the great classics because he was almost like, “I don’t care.” Cary Grant, Errol Flynn, Gone With the Wind, how can you do better, right? Clark Gable. I love the actors of the past, and I don’t believe we’ll ever be at that level again. It’s probably because of television because you get to know ’em too well.
Favorite actresses: “Julia Roberts is terrific, and many others. Meryl Streep is excellent; she’s a fine person, too. The problem is I’ll name three or four or five and then the hundred that I know will be insulted, and I don’t mean to insult them.
He’s always hated Bill Cosby: “I’ve never been a fan. I had one bad experience with him. I was on Letterman, and he was following me on the show. He said, “Oh, I want to buy you a suit.” It was nice, he bought me a suit. And then he was on [the Today show], and my name was mentioned, and he went absolutely crazy…I was never a fan. His humor was always, like, slow and stupid to me. I never saw it. And then he’s obviously got this stuff. What amazes me is he was so quiet and then you see these depositions. What was he doing? Was he drunk? You see he admitted all this stuff on top of everything else. I think he’s weird. And I never found his humor good at all. Just sit in a chair, talk very slowly? And I say to myself, “What’s this all about?”
I wonder how Meryl feels about being named as one of Trump’s favorites? The thing is… it doesn’t feel like a lot of Hollywood people are lining up specifically against Trump. He even says in this piece that some of his Hollywood buddies are quietly supporting him. Also included in the piece: Trump’s thoughts on Rupert Murdoch, Murdoch’s sons, Roger Ailes and a lengthy critique of Fox News. While I think Trump is a total and utter buffoon, one of the unintended consequences of his campaign is that he’s pulled back the curtain on a lot of conservative-media machinations AND the donor class in American politics. It’s sort of fascinating.
Photos courtesy of THR.
I am just going to ignore him so as not to get to angry, but I suppose it would be just perfect poetic justice for the U.S. to make this psychopath President.
Poetic justice, yes. But I can’t support that because we are all going to die! His shoot-from-the-hip routine may be amusing for some people, but we can’t have a president interacting with foreign leaders who just shoots his mouth off any old way. We’re going to have World War 3. I truly believe that. He offends enough American people; if he starts doing that on an international stage, we’re sunk.
I can’t even hate-watch this dude.
His mouth is damaging enough on its own. We don’t need to give this idiot control of nuclear weapons or command of our military forces
He cares and understands women?! Is That why he assaulted Ivana? He understands menstrual cycles, so that’s why he assumed Megyn Kelly had her period? And of course he can be elegant. Just a few more layers of Cheeto Dust bronzer, a freshly trapped, skinned marmoset slapped on his head and he is the epitome of The Elegant Gentleman. I would like to waffle iron his gonads.
I am more scared of the candidates that said they would let a woman die before allowing an abortion, more scared of the ones that are ok with a 10 year old child giving birth than Trump’s disgusting menstrual insult. I didn’t understand why a bigger deal wasn’t made about the odious comments from the rest of the GOP.
The problem is that I think Trump can get traction with new supporters if he goes hard on women’s issues. I think he left himself enough room to backpedal on the current attacks on Planned Parenthood (I’m paraphasing but he said something to the extent of ‘they do a lot a good also”) — Ithink he’s just warming his engine and I think his strategy is to go after the female vote.
The female vote will out weigh any minority, any religious, pretty much any other social group and changes a lot of things about the race. I am not a Trump supporter because I think he’s a joke, but I think if he goes as fervent for feminist issues as he has immigration. people are going to glom onto him, and it will be theh last people you expect
Well said, analoo. I think people are sick and tired of the ‘The-government-owns-your-body-and-your-income’ bulls*** that he actually has a decent chance.
He’s appearing in my town – Mobile – on Friday. Apparently, tickets are going like hotcakes. My daughter and some of her freaky friends have tickets and are plotting what to do, maybe dress up as clowns. I’d join them but being within twenty miles of this a$$hat would induce uncontrollable vomiting, I’m sure.
Ha! Good for them…but I hope they’ll be safe.
@ Alice. No you can’t join them. Because you have to be available with the bail money when the s**t hits the fan for whatever they are planning to do.
If she was my daughter, I would be very proud that she had inherited my “fearless weirdness” gene and that she was using it to focus attention on this travesty called the political process.
I agree, it is all very fascinating. I both love him and hate him. I’m very torn. Arg.
CRUMPET I feel the same! Obviously he and his views are repellent. But he is entertaining, and he is authentic. When he says something awful, he is unapologetic and doesn’t turn around the next day and grovel about it like Jeb Bush.
Chris Christie is also a bully and a “plain talker,” but everybody knows he plays political games and is lying his ass off. It’s curious that people give Trump a pass. I think it’s because whatever he says, he’s NOT SORRY. If you don’t like it, you’re fired.
I am also torn about The Donald but can’t help loving him not being politically correct. I would vote for Trump over the socially conservative republicans.
I’ve read reports that they have to change the venue in Mobile to accommodate a larger audience. Not sure if it’s because people want to hear him or if they are waiting for more rudeness to fall out of his pie hole. Uggh..
Yeah, now it’s moved to the football stadium(outdoors). 60% chance of rain. Woo-hoo. This used to be a fairly progressive city for its location – the only one in Alabama that did not mimic Bombingham, Selma, Montgomery, etc. during the 60s. Now, it has a heavy load of teabaggers, flag wavers, and so on. If you’re a Democrat, don’t bother running for even dog catcher – you’ve already lost.
It’d almost be worth seeing him win for the sheer entertainment value of his presidency. But the flipside is that a lot people would suffer if he did. He’d be a real blame the poor for being poor and then punish them for it type.
So that makes the Reagan comparison on the cover even more apt.
That’s it – I think I finally figured out what is happening.
Mr Trump is the Democrats’ secret weapon in this election. The more Trump talks/insults women, people from other ethnicity, poor etc the more votes the democrats are getting.
That’s the only explanation for why the republicans are letting this man in.
Yeah, the false flag thing. It’s brilliant if it’s true, except I think he may be starting to believe the crap he’s spewing.
I told my husband if Trump wins the Republican nomination, that I’d turn Democrat. But if Hillary wins the Democratic nomination, than I will go independent (which I might do anyway). Seriously, I despair.
Right now, I am Team We are really screwed.
Joining you on team we are really screwed. Beginning to be truly afraid we are going to have to choose between Hillary and the Donald.
I guess he’s pro-LGBTQ? That’s maybe the only redeeming thing, but it’s not enough. So not enough. I wonder if he really is a false flag.
He says what he thinks and he OWNS it. For that alone, I respect the man. You can call him all the names you want, but he’s certainly hit a nerve and a lot of people are listening to him because he is saying what a lot of people are thinking about this country.
If what he is saying is what a lot of people are thinking in this country, that is truly dismal news. He is a racist and a misogynist.
We are at the Idiocracy.
President Camacho!
There’s no value in saying what you think and owning it if what you think and own is total garbage. I am really hoping that the American people have the sense to show this oaf that they don’t share his views.
Does anyone else think it’s funny that, when speaking about his own intelligence, he talks about his uncle’s intelligence instead? Maybe he said more in the article, but that was pretty funny.
That photo with the pointed fingers is reminiscent of any cliched local used car salesman billboards or ads. At least they color-corrected to remove the carrot oil.
The Republican Party better get it together and find a real candidate and/or stop focusing on pandering to all the crazy fragmentation. I would be mortified if he was the leading person for my cause. Dems need to find what’s up with Hilary too, and Bernie needs to find a way to ramp up fundraising. Above all, I feel the American need to stop being so apathetic and short-sighted and really look at what’s going on election wise.
Anyone else notice that the only people who use the term “politically correct” now are bigots?
We do not need a First Lady who supports “women’s issues.” We need a President, Speaker, and Senate Majority leader who recognize that women have equal rights to men, that we must receive equal protection under our laws, and our health issues cannot be ignored or overridden in our laws just because the men on our Supreme Court are squeamish, sexist jerks
Yup. “Politically correct” is the new “I don’t care if someone is purple”. Or, “I’m not racist, but…”
I guess it depends. For Trump, that is true. The article that commenter Amy posted from the Atlantic was enlightening, for me, as to what is going on on college campuses. There seems to be extreme policing of words, material, thought and jokes, and it’s originating from the left. The blowback will be more and more over the top ANTI-PC, bigoted statements, with intent to harm, as a form of rebellion. There needs to be a balance of reactions to speech and art, in general, or we risk moving backward, getting too hung up on words; we fight picayune battles putting out little brush fires with gasoline. I have had to do some real soul searching on this issue for my own contribution toward this trend.
@Lilacflowers So true!!! Well said!
THIS
+1000000
Eventually, he is going to have to present some actual policy. I know a guy in the Middle East, who can fix ISIS, isn’t foreign policy and building a wall, a really good wall isn’t domestic policy. Do you notice his wife Melania is not much in the picture. I have read that his campaign handlers don’t know what to do with her, like can she relate to the American people and how American s will handle ,that she will be the First Lady that is foreign born.
Any discussion of Donald Trump and the presidential election makes me feel sorry for the Republican Party and Jeb Bush. And that is weird because I am a politically left of center Canadian who wouldn’t vote republican if my life depended on it. But it is one of the two major political parties in the US and it seems to be in total disarray – to the point where it isn’t able to function as a legitimate opposition to anything the Democrats do. And that’s not good for America or Americans IMO.
Now after that serious political comment, I will go to another story and make a bitchy comment on someone’s clothes. 🙂
Don’t feel sorry for Jeb. If the GOP is in disarray it’s his father and brother who helped put it there.
@ Pedro45 : So very true. I should have written “almost feel sorry”.
Since what America does affects so many other countries, I sometime have the totally unrealistic wish that a percentage of voters from other countries could participate in our presidential elections.(I also wish we had viable third and fourth parties. Also totally unrealistic, probably.)
I spent last year in China with its one party system. No elections, no voting, no nothing. The government is like an ominous presence hanging over everything. I think most people just hope the government leaves them alone so that they can make a living.
With regards to 3rd and 4th parties, I am now back in Canada which has a bumper crop of regional parties in politics – the Wild Rose party in Alberta, anyone? Or perhaps the Parti Quebecois in Quebec? – as well as three main political parties. It’s crazy sometimes but it mostly works.
I am terrified that he will become president.
“You can’t have a nominee that is under investigation”. Unless that nominee is Scott Walker, apparently.
And Chris Christie.
I never thought he’d last this long but apparently he is popular with some people and he’s now the guy to beat in the Republican party.
If he ends up as president we are totally screwed. I worry people don’t realize how serious it is that he’s being taken so seriously.
Is there anyone running that would make a great president? They are all a bunch of liars swaying whichever way the wind blows.
Admittedly I’ve only read the highlights here, but apart from the Hilary stuff, i’m just seeing a lot of bluster.
I do agree with him about Hilary. I’m clearly going to hell for agreeing with anything trump.
I’m not American but have watched some of the politics lately. I think some of what Trump says is bang on. Especially when it comes to political correctness. I’m sick of it myself. Our governments are scaring the crap out of us and turning us into sheep. Read the Wages of Rebellion and you can see what’s happening. The future does not look good. There’s no way I would bring a child into this world at this point in time.
So Donald has no time for political correctness yet demands others speak to and about him using political correctness. Megyn Kelly was mean to me! Wah!
I seem to remember someone in the past promising to “Make Germany Great Again.” Sad, old people who are left behind in a changing world want all the “different” people to “go away” so they can Take Back THEIR Country and things can be like they used to when America Was Strong in the Archie Bunker Glory Days. And women, blacks, gays knew their places and weren’t so uppity demanding equality and rights and stuff. Things were just so much more….Pleasant when Pleasantville was still Pleasantville, amirite?
Certainly all that’s needed to win at the foreign policy game is a big mouth.
God. Help. Us.
Seriously.
What this shows is that America has reached Peak Idiocracy, thanks to Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. Drink Brawndo.
It’s got what plants need!
A lot of people refer to Republicans as “rich old, white men” but there’s more diversity among the 2016 GOP candidates than the Democratic party. Ben Carson (African-American), Bobby Jindal (Indian-American) and Marco Rubio (Cuban-American) and now, Carly Fiorina.