The New York Times apparently assigned two reporters to look into how supporters of both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are appalled at the thought of the opposing candidate in the White House. Because Donald Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women and Hillary Clinton mumble mumble something about Bill, and voters are pointing fingers and it is All The Same. The question is if Patrick Healy and Farah Stockman were really putting in a good-faith effort to show that both sides do it, or if they were intentionally undermining the entire premise of the assignment. Because the “both sides” premise is actively and repeatedly undermined by the article itself:
Among many Democrats, despair is setting in that the next president could be, in their minds, a sexual predator. Among many Republicans, disgust is widespread that the next president could be married to a man who was, as they see it, a serial adulterer at best.
Sexual predator vs. wife of a serial adulterer. Apple, meet orange.
Darwin Rieck, a farmer and Trump backer in Luzerne, Iowa, said he was dismayed that sexual behavior had become a dimension of the race, and accused the Clinton campaign and the news media of hyping the issue to hurt Mr. Trump.
“Now all we’re talking about is his sexual encounters that supposedly he had — that’s all we’re talking about!” Mr. Rieck said. “How can the Clintons talk about it with what Bill has done when he was in office? They have no room to be even talking about anything!”
Trump is talking about it an awful lot more than the Clintons are, dude. Starting with his “grab them by the pussy” video, this has all been driven by things Donald Trump has said and done and said about what he’s done. As another New York Times article makes clear, if in problematic terms, Hillary Clinton is pretty much sitting back and letting others do the talking on this one.
But others were appalled by the comparisons of the Clintons and Mr. Trump. Mrs. Clinton has not made sexually lewd remarks or been accused of physically harming anyone, as Mr. Trump has, and it is the Trump campaign that has been far more aggressive in throwing mud.
Well, yeah. Exactly. How about if we put that at the center of the story?
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