This week, Donald Trump's zombie presidential campaign faced an existential crisis as the fallout over the infamous "grab 'em by the pussy" tape worsened.
With the number of women coming forward to accuse Trump of various types of sexual misconduct reaching the double digits, and more tapes emerging of Trump speaking in wholly inappropriate ways about girls as young as 10-years-old, the campaign went into full Breitbart mode.
Having first tried (and failed) to divert attention to Bill Clinton, and then to dismiss Trump's predatory language as mere "locker room talk," they decided to go on the attack.
Top surrogates were dispatched to the cable news shows, where they raised all sorts of questions about airplane armrests and whatnot.
Meanwhile, Trump himself questioned whether any of his accusers were hot enough to warrant being sexually assaulted.
The answer, in Trump's telling, is an emphatic "no."
To his mind, and that of his supporters, the accusations are all the work of New York Times shareholder Carlos Slim and a cabal of international (read: Jewish) bankers.
Perhaps we should shut down Trump's access to women until we can figure out what the hell is going on.
Morning lineup:
Meet the Press: Vice President Joe Biden (D); Republican Vice Presidential Nominee Mike Pence; Roundtable: Chris Cillizza (Washington Post), Joy-Ann Reid (MSNBC), Radio Talk Show Host Hugh Hewitt & Kristen Welker (NBC News).
Face The Nation: Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee Tim Kaine; Republican Vice Presidential Nominee Mike Pence; Conserative Panel: Alfonso Aguilar (Latino Partnership for Conservative Principals), Matt Schlapp (American Conservative Union), Russell Moore (Southern Baptist Convention) & Radio Talk Show Host Tammy Bruce; Roundtable: Jon Meacham (Random House), Bob Woodward (Washington Post), David Ignatius (Washington Post) & Maureen Dowd (New York Times).
This Week: Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee Tim Kaine; Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R); Former CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus; Roundtable: Yamiche Alcindor (New York Times), Dan Balz (Washington Post), LZ Granderson (ESPN) & Republican Pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson.
Fox News Sunday: Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee Tim Kaine; Republican Vice Presidential Nominee Mike Pence; Roundtable: Charles Hurt (Washington Times), Jennifer Griffin (Fox News), Monica Crowley (Washington Times) & Democratic Strategist Joe Trippi.
State of the Union: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D); Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani (9/11); Roundtable: Former South Carolina State Rep. Bakari Sellers (D), Democratic Strategist Paul Begala, Rep. Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) && Republican Strategist Alice Stewart.
Evening lineup:
60 Minutes will feature: an interview with Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson (preview); and, interviews with the children of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (preview).
Late night shows:
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Monday: Bill O'Reilly (Fox News); Actor Randall Park; Musician Bob Weir.
Tuesday: Actor Nick Offerman; Former NHL Player Wayne Gretzky; Documentarian Morgan Spurlock; Band Joseph.
Wednesday: Actor Hugh Laurie; Author Paul Reiser; Nate Silver (FiveThirtyEight).
Thursday: Pro Golfer Tiger Woods; Actor Elijah Wood; Jorge Ramos (Univision).
Friday: Actor Matt LeBlanc; Actress Joy Bryant; Rapper Wyclef Jean.
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Monday: Entrepreneur Russell Simmons; Tuesday: Actress Uzo Aduba; Wednesday: Guest TBA; Thursday: Actor Mike Colter.
Elsewhere...
Republican commentator Richard Grenell questioned Katy Tur's qualifications.
Fox News contributor Richard Grenell unloaded on MSNBC's Katy Tur Friday morning on Twitter, saying she has "no clue" and suggesting that she landed her job because of a past relationship with Keith Olbermann.
He tweeted, "Calling yourself a journalist is offensive to real ones. Did u intern for @KeithOlbermann or date him? Either way doesn't make u a reporter."
It started when Grenell went after Tur over what he feels is biased reporting on the recent WikiLeaks document dumps. Grenell, a former Mitt Romney spokesperson, said, "MSNBC's Tur has no clue about the Breaking News of the smoking gun email found."
Tur, who has been one of the hardest-working reporters covering Donald Trump during the election season, seemed to take it in stride. Quoting one of Grenell's tweets, she replied, "Classy."
Meanwhile...
Trump surrogate Ben Carson tried to silence one of his female critics.
During a combative interview with Morning Joe on MSNBC, Donald Trump supporter Ben Carson asked the show's crew to turn off panelist Katty Kay's microphone so he could talk.
About four minutes into the interview, Kay asked Carson if he is saying that the women who have claimed Trump sexually assaulted them are lying. Carson was silent for a moment, and then told Kay, "That's your characterization, because you need to characterize it that way, to try to make me the bad guy."
Kay tried to chime in at that point, but Carson began talking over her, repeatedly saying, “Stop.” Joe Scarborough said that she wasn’t going to stop because it was a "simple question." Then, Carson asked, "Can you turn her microphone off please so I can talk?" Scarborough refused and the interview continued for another five minutes.
Scarborough insisted that they jut wanted a yes or no answer.
"It doesn't matter whether they're lying or not," Carson said, pointing at the screen. "What matters is that the train is going off the cliff. We're taking our eye off of that and we're getting involved in other issues that can be taken care of later." Carson went on to say that he's happy the discussion turned to "morality in this country," but he doesn't think that now is the time to talk about it, during a presidential election.
And, finally...
Lou Dobbs doxxed one of Trump's accusers.
Fox Business host Lou Dobbs on Thursday posted a phone number and an address purportedly belonging to one of the women who has accused Donald Trump of unwanted sexual contact.
Dobbs, a fierce Trump supporter, retweeted an individual who had posted the purported information of Jessica Leeds. The 74-year-old woman told The New York Times in an article published Wednesday that decades ago Trump groped her on a first-class flight.
"This is the Dirtiest Campaign in our History," Dobbs wrote, using the hashtags "MAGA," "TrumpPence16," and "AmericaFirst."
The purported personal information was posted to claim that Leeds had the same phone number as one listed for the Clinton Foundation in WikiLeaks releases (even though the phone numbers themselves did not match).
Men, amirite?
– Trix