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I think the "rational electoral strategy" is that this is the kind of message that Musk loves and thinks appeals to normies. And now that he's effectively the sole source of funding for the party, it's suicide for them to reject or denounce this kind of abuser talk.

all true, and I think even more broadly applicable—for a political movement based on defending entrenched hierarchies, almost all reports of abusive acts have to be dismissed (unless committed by immigrants, woke professors, George Soros, etc)

I believe the women and I’ve watched this disgusting man for many many years—he’s a rapist. Ivana swore in court documents that he raped her, too. She withdrew the charge but that either cost him big money or, more likely, he threatened her (he did tear her hair out) as he did 13 year old Katie.

That’s *without* factoring in everything we know about Trump’s character that might affect our judgment of how plausible it is that he’d be guilty of that sort of behavior.

I firmly believe Trump is guilty of sexual assault. However, I get queasy seeing arguments based on assuming the independence of events and invoking large exponents to support extravagant probabilities. I’ve seen it misused in bad causes too many times to favor its unnecessary use in good causes.

Presumably a GOP apologist would say that they aren't independent and that his public status makes him more likely to be falsely accused. It's horseshit, of course, but they've got to tell themselves something.

People who make excuses for sexual assault expect to have need of them someday.