Donald Trump Has Too Many Scandals To Keep Track Of

I’ve been meaning to write a blog post on Donald Trump for a while. However, I faced a major problem, in that there are just so many scandals that it’s impossible to keep track of them all. I was simply overwhelmed by the enormous amount of horrendous things Trump has said and done, and that’s without even starting on his policies (although he seems to have very few of these). To give all his scandals the attention they deserve would require a ten part series, and each part alone would be disqualifying. But I don’t have the time to make such a list (I doubt anyone does) and even the professional media has trouble keeping up. Even this post took several days, and I more than likely missed something important.

By far the most damaging and most horrifying scandal afflicting Trump is his treatment of women. Many interviews have revealed his demeaning view of women and how he solely judges them on their attractiveness. He once described his attitude towards women as: “You have to treat ’em like shit.” He frequently judges women based on their looks, and seems to believe that if they’re not attractive then they’re not competent or truthful. He boasted of walking into the changing rooms of his beauty pageants while the contestants were naked. He met a ten year old girl and said “I am going to be dating her in 10 years. Can you believe it?” I have no words to describe how disgusting and creepy this is.

There are a huge number of women who have accused him of making unwanted sexual advances towards them. Even a single accusation would be incredibly damaging, to be accused by 15 women is unprecedented.

• Jill Harth She filed a lawsuit against Trump in 1997 and has claimed that Trump sexually harassed her. “He absolutely groped me. He just slipped his hand there, touching my private parts.” On one occasion: “He is pushing me up against the wall, forcing a kiss on me,” and a third attempt: “It turned into a wrestling match”
• Temple Taggart She claims that as the Miss Utah contest in the Miss USA pageant, Trump began kissing her without asking.
• Anonymous (“Jane Doe”) An unknown woman has filed a lawsuit against Trump claiming that he raped her in 1994, when she was only 13 years old.
• Cassandra Searles She claims that Trump “continually grabbed my ass” while she was the Miss Washington contestant in 2013
• Jennifer Murphy She claims that while a contestant on The Apprentice, Trump kissed her after a job interview
• Natasha Stoynoff She claims that while interviewing him at his home, Trump lead her to a bedroom and “he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat”
• Mindy McGillivray She claims that in 2003, Trump grabbed her ass
• Rachel Crooks She claims that in 2005, she felt violated when he started kissing her without permission
• Jessica Leeds She claims that 30 years ago, Trump started kissing and groping her while on a flight. He put his hand up her skirt and as she described it: “His hands were everywhere.”
• Kristin Anderson She claims that at a nightclub in the 1990s, Trump put his hand up her skirt and began rubbing her vagina through her underwear.
• Summer Zervos She claims that as a contestant on the Apprentice, on several occasions, Trump kissed and groped her, even “began thrusting his genitals” at her on one occasion.
• Cathy Heller She claims that 20 years ago, Trump attempted to kiss her, despite her being married with children. When she pulled away, he held her and kissed her.
• Karena Virginia She claims that at the 1998 US Open, Trump groped her breast.
• Jessica Drake She claims that in 2006 Trump grabbed her and her friends, and kissed them without their consent. Later someone on Trump’s behalf her to dinner alone with him, when she refused he offered her $10,000.
• Ivanka Trump Even his ex-wife accused him of rape and violent assault during their divorce proceedings. She later retracted this allegation, saying she didn’t mean it literally. However, it is common in divorce proceedings for a non-disclosure agreement to be signed, which would prevent her from discussing it.

Trump has essentially no response to these allegations, only offering blanket denials and implying that some of the women weren’t attractive enough for him to assault. It’s possible for one or two allegations to be false or inaccurate, but it’s highly unlikely that not a single one of the 15 allegations are true. These allegations are supported by what Trump himself has said, how he boasted of trying to sleep with married women and how he grabs women and starts kissing them without warning or asking. These allegations seem very plausible when Trump himself has boasted that when he sees attractive women, he likes to “grab them by the pussy”.

Trump has a long history of scandals. In fact, the first time he was mentioned in newspapers was when his father’s firm (of which he was the chairman) was sued for racial discrimination by the Justice Department in 1973. When black people tried to rent a room, they were told that there was no apartments available, yet when white people inquired about the same rooms, they were offered a choice of several. Black applications were marked with a special code and were steered away from “white” buildings. Woody Gutherie even wrote a song (although it was never published) accusing Trump’s father of stirring up “racial hate” with his accommodation policy. Investigations found that of the thousands of people living in Trump accommodation almost none were black. Despite the case being settled, there was a follow up investigation in 1978 alleging that Trump had not changed the policies.

Another major scandal is his management of The Trump Foundation which essentially gives out other people’s money while Trump takes the credit. Trump hasn’t donated to the foundation since 2008, since then, all of the donations have been other people’s money — an arrangement that experts say is almost unheard of for a family foundation. Trump then takes that money and generally does with it as he pleases. Despite promising to pay “out of my wallet” to the winners of The Celebrity Apprentice, the money didn’t come from Trump, but from the Trump Foundation. A show literally called “Trump pays your bills” was paid for not by Trump, but the Foundation. The Trump Foundation paid $20,000 for a six foot painting of Trump and $12,000 for a signed football helmet by Tim Tebow. That someone would use charity money for such vanity gifts is shocking.

Trump has promised millions to charities, yet reporters have not been able to find evidence for this. The Washington Post contacted more than 400 charities in an effort to find proof of the millions he has said he donated to them. They found less than $10,000 over 7 years. He has frequently promised to donate the proceeds of his books, TV appearances and royalties to charity, but breaks these promises.

Trump loves to accuse Clinton of corruption, but there are hints that he might be the guilty one. When Florida attorney general Pam Bondi was considering investigating Trump University for fraud, Trump donated $25,000 to her re-election campaign and the charges were not investigated. The money came from the Trump Foundation for which the IRS fined him $2,500 as its illegal for a charity to donate to a political campaign. Trump himself has boasted on the campaign trail of giving money to politicians and receiving favours in return. Similarly, the Texas attorney general received a $35,000 donation after dropping an investigation into Trump University.

Only 15% of Trumps statements were judged as True while 60% were to some degree false

On the campaign trail Trump has said so many things are that are ridiculous, immoral or just plain wrong that I could never compile a list long enough. The New York Times even compiled a list of all the people and places that Trump has insulted, there are 282 entries. Here’s just some of the biggest and most ridiculous:

• Insulted John McCain and said real heroes aren’t captured
• Suggested US soldiers are stealing money meant for Iraq
• Mocked a reporter’s disability
• Claimed the US should kill the families of terrorists
• All Muslims should be banned from entering America
• Encouraged his supporters to attack counter-protestors promising to pay their legal fees
• When endorsed by the KKK he initially refused to disown them, claiming he never heard of David Duke
• Trump usually responds to terrorist attacks by congratulating himself
• Said women who get abortions should be punished
• Repeatedly insulted Ted Cruz, threatened to “spill the beans” on his wife, claimed his father was involved in the JFK assassination
• Argued that a judge was biased against him because he had Mexican heritage
• Praised Saddam Hussein for his terrorist killing skills
• Encouraged Russia to hack Clinton’s emails and reveal their secrets

Trump is a compulsive liar, he has broken all sorts of records for dishonesty. One journalist has dedicated himself to recording all the lies that Trump tells on a daily basis. Since he began in the middle of September, Trump has lied every single day. The lowest number of lies in a day is 4, the highest 37. He lied 378 times in the space of only 25 days. He notes how Trump continuously lies even unnecessarily about trivial matters.

• Falsely linked illegal immigrants with rape and crime (there is no evidence for this)
• Falsely claimed that Obama spent $4 million in legal fees to hide his college record
• Falsely claimed that the unemployment rate is 22-23% or even 42%, that there are 60-80 million unemployed
• Falsely claimed he saw thousands of Muslims celebrating 9/11 on television
• Falsely claimed he was always against the Iraq War
• Falsely claimed that immigration has caused crime to sky rocket
• Falsely claimed veterans are being treated worse than illegal immigrants
• Claimed without any evidence that there is and will be voter fraud at the election
• Falsely claimed Clinton is paying people to disrupt his rallies and incite violence
• Absurdly claimed that Clinton could let in 650 million pour into the country in one week
• Falsely claimed $6 billion has gone missing from the State Department and might be stolen
• Falsely claimed that Hillary Clinton “viciously attacked” those who accused Bill Clinton of sexual abuse
• Claimed she laughed at a rape victim
• Claimed Clinton will bring 620,000 refugees into America in her first term
• Falsely claimed there could be up to 30 million illegal immigrants
• Falsely claimed that inner city crime is reaching record levels
• Bizarrely claimed that Obama founded ISIS and Hillary co-founded it
• Claimed Obama-Clinton cost 50,000 coal jobs in Michigan which is impossible because Michigan doesn’t have any coal
• Claimed America is the highest taxed nation in the world
• Claimed Clinton wants to abolish the 2^nd Amendment
• Claimed Muslims don’t assimilate even 2^nd and 3^rd generations
• Claimed Obama and Clinton support Al-Qaeda in Iraq
• Falsely claimed crime is rising, when it has been falling for decades
• Claimed Clinton wants to release all violent criminals from prison
• Claimed we are giving $150 billion to Iran for nothing

Trump has history with the Mob, and it is claimed that he hired firms linked to the mafia to build Trump Tower and Trump Plaza. It is claimed that the New York construction industry was rife with the Mafia in the 80s and as part of this Trump had contacts with various mobsters. Trump worked closely with Roy Cohn, a mob lawyer, former chief counsel to Joe McCarthy during the Red Scare and finally disbarred as a lawyer for fraud and lying. It’s claimed Trump turned a blind eye to mob-owned businesses and unions in order to make money.

Trump University promised to make people rich by offering Trump’s secret tips and advice from his hand-picked instructors. However, the seminars were mainly a sales pitch for even more expensive seminars. Despite implying that Trump was personally involved and might even show up, Trump never participated in any of the seminars. People paid thousands and even tens of thousands and received only bland, generic advice in return. It had no right to call itself University as it did not have a charter. A lawsuit of 5,000 people are suing him for lying.

Trump has a serious problem with failing to pay his contractors for work done. There have been at least 60 lawsuits against him for failing to pay, his companies have been cited for 24 violations of Labour Laws for failing to pay overtime or minimum wage. On just one project, Trump’s Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City at least 253 subcontractors weren’t paid in full or on time.

Trump has been wildly inconsistent with claims of his net worth, variously claiming he’s worth between $5-10 billion, while others have cast doubt on his claims. In 2006, he sued Tim O’Brien for claiming he was only worth $150-250 million. Trump is the first candidate in 40 years not to release his tax returns, despite claiming he would and criticising Romney in 2012 for not doing so. They would show his real net worth and how much tax (if any he has paid any). It is unbelievable that a man who may not have paid taxes, might become President.

Despite running on the basis of being an extremely successful businessman, Trump has made some terrible decisions and has even gone bankrupt four times. He has invested or put his name on many ventures which end in failure like Trump Airlines (Trump redesigned the airline by making it overly expensive and giving the air hostesses shorter blouses), Trump Mortgage (launched in 2006, pretty much the worst time, despite Trumps claim “the real estate market is going to be very strong for a long time to come.”), Trump Steak, Trump Magazine, Trump Network (which was compared to a pyramid scheme), Trump Vodka, a travel website and a football team, the New Jersey Generals (not only did Trump cause the team to fail, but also the entire league).

Considering all these massive flaws, failures and terrible ideas, how is Trump so close to winning? The alleged scandals of Clinton are minuscule in comparison and to act as if the two are comparable is ridiculous. Hundreds of economists, including most living Nobel Prize winners, from both the left and right have signed an open letter condemning him. Trump is a dishonest compulsive liar who is encouraging bigotry and hatred. How can anyone vote for such a man?