Trump wants us all to remember that he bragged about committing sexual assault

I am glad that so many people (and some journalists) are beginning to call Donald Trump out for the fascist dictator he's promising to be if re-elected. But I don't feel the need to do that myself. That's because, like many of you, it's not news to me.

I've known it since: 

• he called for the execution of five innocent young Black men in 1989 before they even stepped foot inside a courtroom. 
• he peddled the racist birther lie about Barack Obama - this country's first African American president.
• he launched his presidential bid in 2016 by calling Mexicans rapists and criminals.
• he bragged about being able to sexually assault women. 

All of that happened BEFORE he was elected in 2016!

Last night,  Trump indicated that he doesn't want us to forget that last one. 

The former president bizarrely tried to put a profound new spin on his infamous 2016 “grab ’em by the pussy” scandal at a gala for the New York Young Republican Club in New York City on Saturday evening, suggesting that his handling of the fallout (so he’d been told) transcends even the courage of war heroes...

“We had a meeting when it was looking bad,” he said, describing the scandal as one of many “inescapable situations,” and recalling how he’d been urged to drop out of the race just weeks before the election.

“But you know, the next day, or very shortly thereafter, we had the debate… I went onto that stage just a few days later, and a general, who’s a fantastic general, actually said to me, ‘Sir, I’ve been on the battlefield, men have gone down on my left and on my right, I stood on hills where soldiers were killed, but I believe the bravest thing I’ve ever seen was the night you went onto that stage with Hillary Clinton after what happened, and then that woman asked you the first question about it, and [you] said ‘locker room talk.’”

Frankly, I don't have the words to describe how much of a low-life you have to be to say that. The man doesn't just want us to remember that he was BRAGGING about committing sexual assault. He wants us to think that he has the courage of a war hero for calling it "locker room talk."

The person who did have the words for this vile man was Michelle Obama - who gave this speech in New Hampshire a few days after the Access Hollywood tape was released. I share it here in case there's anyone out there who needs a reminder.

I was literally moved to tears by that speech. She talked about how all of this was affecting us as women.

This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior, and actually bragging about kissing and groping women, using language so obscene that many of us were worried about our children hearing it when we turn on the TV...

It is cruel. It's frightening. And the truth is, it hurts. It hurts...

And all of us are doing what women have always done: We're trying to keep our heads above water, just trying to get through it, trying to pretend like this doesn't really bother us maybe because we think that admitting how much it hurts makes us as women look weak.

Maybe we're afraid to be that vulnerable. Maybe we've grown accustomed to swallowing these emotions and staying quiet, because we've seen that people often won't take our word over his. Or maybe we don't want to believe that there are still people out there who think so little of us as women. Too many are treating this as just another day's headline, as if our outrage is overblown or unwarranted, as if this is normal, just politics as usual.

But, New Hampshire, be clear: This is not normal. This is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is intolerable. And it doesn't matter what party you belong to — Democrat, Republican, independent — no woman deserves to be treated this way. None of us deserves this kind of abuse.

I don't know about you, but I needed to hear that in 2016 - and I needed to hear it again today.

But Michelle didn't stop there. She also had some words for the men in our lives (emphasis mine).

I can tell you that the men in my life do not talk about women like this. And I know that my family is not unusual. And to dismiss this as everyday locker-room talk is an insult to decent men everywhere.

The men that you and I know don't treat women this way. They are loving fathers who are sickened by the thought of their daughters being exposed to this kind of vicious language about women. They are husbands and brothers and sons who don't tolerate women being treated and demeaned and disrespected.

Michelle tried to warn us all back then. Too many people didn't listen. Now the man who bragged about committing sexual assault wants us to remember just how cruel and disrespectful he can be. He thinks that makes him some kind of courageous hero. It actually makes him a vile human being worthy of nothing but contempt.