If Donald Trump were a woman...

I am very bemused by this. People here are being tougher on Donald Trump than they were on Sarah Palin. People in the mainstream media are being tougher on Donald Trump than they were on Sarah Palin. I don't see that most people respect Trump's intelligence any more than they did Sarah Palin's.

I don't see any prominent attacks on Hillary Clinton's intelligence from either side. This seems relevant given that you do see public questions being raised, and public jokes being made, about Trump's intelligence.

I think this is a case where the narrative is more important than the facts (and the facts don't back the narrative).

Disagree - Palin was completely swept aside as an airhead moron (think Tina Fey). Trump is at least acknowledged as shithouse rat cunning.

You don't see attacks on HRC's intelligence because she had 4 years as Secretary of State where she managed not to look like an ignoramus. Palin couldn't sustain that illusion for an interview - and Trump prevaricates and waffles hoping you can't tell.

1) It is very clear that women have often been disadvantaged in society by their gender.

2) It is not clear at all that Hillary Clinton has been disadvantaged by her gender.

People seem to be making the logical error that one leads to the other. But the facts don't back this narrative up.

Hillary is one of the most recognized, marketed, and politically connected people in the country right now. She has all of the advantages, name-recognition, resume from opportunities she was given because of her privilege, a polished political machine.

I see zero real evidence that Hillary is seeing any disadvantage from her gender. Her intelligence and experience is being celebrated. Her political connections and power are clear to everyone.

And there aren't even any insults being made about her that haven't been made by men in her position. The attacks against her are about integrity (a trait stereotypically ascribed to women). Hillary's own actions make these questions about her integrity appropriate and men have faced the same questions.

People want to make this ideological narrative. I get it... it is a very nice narrative.

But the facts simply don't back it up.

If Donald Trump were a woman...

.... she'd still be buying spouses from former Soviet-block countries.

Lol. I am not so sure a Clinton supporter wants to make jokes about spouses (glass houses... ya know what I mean).

I forget: which marriage did which Clinton obtain which Clinton as spouse from what former Soviet block nation again, seriously - I can't remember!

Think Bobsal.

Do you really want to continue this race to the gutter you started by flinging sleaze at Trump's spouse?

Clinton did come from a former Soviet block nation, but there was something that happened under the table (see what you are driving me to?).

On a more serious note, no one has made a plausible claim the either of the Trump spouses has raped them.

Who's flinging sleasze at tRump's spouses - any of the five them? I'm flicking verifiable facts at Cheeto-jebus. Since when do facts achieve sleaze only AFTER the fact? Cheeto-jebus is the sleaze here. How he treats his wives and refers to them - including as "pieces of a**" - is exceptionally sleazy. I also submit - and I will stipulate it wasn't her idea - that only a sleazeball would take nude and semi-nude photos of his wife from an unspecified former Soviet-block country and postt them on line.

If you doubt any of that I will provide links to every little bit of it.

Have you EVER referred to any of your wives as a "piece of *ss" in a news interview?

It's amazing how people can't see how Trump treats women. His own words can't seem to penetrate some people's brains.

Could you please explain to me what you are saying here. Maybe I misunderstood it.

It seems to me that you are insinuating that Melania is a woman was purchased (I am assuming you are implying a mail order bride) rather than a woman who met her husband.

Melania is a human being with real feelings. Can you imagine how she would feel about this accusation (if this is the accusation you are making)?

If someone said that I was bought from a "former soviet republic" I would take it personally.

The subject is Donald Trump's wealth and how he treats women, not any of his wives.

Cheeto condemns himself from his own words and actions. No one need to dig any this unfortunate crap up, it drips down off of the tRump like the sleaze it is.

You don't think there's brokers and memberships involved in the relationship between an American "billionaire" and the lower classed minimally educated women he "meets" in formerly Soviet influenced Europe? That he just chats up women decades younger than he on busses and in cafes?????

No, I don't have any reason to believe that there were brokers and memberships involved in the relationship between Melania and Donald Trump. How their relationship started is well documented and I see no reason to not believe it.

I think that describing Melania as "lower classed, minimally educated" is a little prejudiced. If she had been American, or from a Western European country would your opinion of her be better?

I think you are being very unfair to this woman.

I agree that "lower classed, minimally educated" should not acceptable to describe anyone.

So you think tRump just "bumped into her somewhere. That's rich.

Melania Trump's Website Disappears Amid Accusations That She Lied About Graduating from College

http://www.people.com/article/melania-trump-website-disappears-college-education

Melania Trump Website Disappears Amid Questions on Her College Education
Melania Trump
Alex Wong/Getty Images

By Andrea Park @scandreapark

07/28/2016 AT 11:00 AM EDT
Melania Trump's official website has been wiped from the Internet after questions arose recently over whether the site's claim that she holds a college degree is in fact true.

MelaniaTrump.com now reroutes to the homepage of the Trump Organization's website, the extensive biography page of which bears no mention of Donald Trump's wife. However, screengrabs from her former website obtained by the Huffington Post show that she claimed to have earned "a degree in design and architecture at University in Slovenia" before pursuing her modeling career.

Additionally, much of the 46-year-old's biography on the 2016 Republican National Convention's website echoes the wording used on her former website, including her claim of "obtaining a degree in design and architecture at University in Slovenia."

WATCH: Melania Trump's RNC Speech Shares Striking Similarities to Michelle Obama's 2008 Address


However, a recent GQ profile of Trump said she "decamped to Milan after her first year of college, effectively dropping out."

And a new unauthorized biography of the former model, Melania Trump: The Inside Story, claims that Trump's educational history was fabricated in order to maintain a certain image, The Hill reports.

"[Donald Trump and his advisers] were desperate to give off the impression that the Slovenian model was not just beautiful, but also smart and well-educated," the biographers claim.

Trump's education came into question earlier this month after it was discovered that her GOP convention speech plagiarized parts of a 2008 speech by Michelle Obama.

Although Trump originally claimed to have written the entire speech herself, a Trump campaign staffer soon took responsibility for the plagiarism, claiming that Trump had sent her passages of Obama's speech as inspiration for her own speech but the staffer failed to change the wording of those passages.

Really? We're a classless society with no educational requirements? Good to know.

Melania Exposed: Trump Furious


Mar 23, 2016 by Donna Garner Education Policy Commentator EducationViews.org



“Melania Exposed: Trump Furious”

By Donna Garner

3.23.16



In spite of the hoopla raised yesterday by the Trump campaign, he lost big-time in Utah where Cruz got 69.2% and Trump got a measly 14%. In delegate counts, Trump only beat Cruz by 18 delegates – not exactly a knock-out day for Trump.



What this tells us is that in a state such as Utah that reverences pro-family, pro-marriage, and pro-traditional values, the people there overwhelmingly chose Ted Cruz who holds their very same values.



The people of Utah evidently saw right through the glitz and glamor of Donald Trump and were not fooled by the supposed “conservative” image of him and his family that he is trying to portray during the primaries.



Now a new element has entered the “picture,” literally. GQ Magazine (for whom Melania Trump did a naked photo shoot in 2000) decided to publish those photos in a 3.4.16 article.



(To find the GQ article, the public — including the entire world — can easily do an Internet search under “photoshoot with Melania Trump from January 2000.”)



To raise the political heat a little bit more, yesterday the Washington Post decided to publish one of those nude photos of Melania (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/03/22/donald-trump-just-threatened-to-spill-the-beans-on-ted-cruzs-wife/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-low_bush-610a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory).



The photo clearly states at the bottom, “Paid for by Make America Awesome. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee.”



This statement means that Make America Awesome, without any authorization from any candidate, chose to make those photos public probably in an attempt to alert Utah voters to Donald and Melania Trump’s very scandalous past.



Because those naked GQ photos are now popping up everywhere, this has made Donald Trump furious because they rip off the “conservative” mask around himself and his family that he has worked so hard to sell to the American voters during the run-up to the primaries.



Trump’s problem is that he cannot actually sue the Washington Post or GQ Magazine for defamation because the photos are real; Melania posed for them willingly.



As any typical Narcissist does when his god-like status is questioned, Trump had to find someone upon whom he could direct his wrath. That person was Ted Cruz; and Trump sent Cruz a tweet that said, “Be careful or I will spill the beans on your wife.”



Now exactly what is there secretive and negative that Trump could possibly find to say about Heidi Cruz? Trump’s problem is that Ted Cruz and Heidi have already told their life stories, warts on all, in their book “Time for Truth,” published on June 31, 2015. In that book they told of Heidi’s brief bout with depression and her victory over it (p.179).



It is also public knowledge that Heidi was a member for a short time of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) where she focused on economic issues to try to influence CFR to support free-market positions. John Bolton is still a member of CRF, probably trying to do what he can to influence CFR in a better direction.



Heidi Cruz was one of 31 people who wrote a CFR report, and here is what Heidi Cruz wrote about the final version:

I support the Task Force report and its recommendations aimed at building a safer and more prosperous North America. Economic prosperity and a world safe from terrorism and other security threats are no doubt inextricably linked. While governments play an invaluable role in both regards, we must emphasize the imperative that economic
investment be led and perpetuated by the private sector. There is no force proven like the market for aligning incentives, sourcing capital, and producing results like financial markets and profit-making businesses.
This is simply necessary to sustain a higher living standard for the poorest among us–truly the measure of our success. As such, investment funds and financing mechanisms should be deemed attractive instruments by those committing the capital and should only be developed in conjunction with market participants.





Below are many interviews and articles in which Ted and Heidi Cruz have opened their lives to public scrutiny, speaking honestly about every aspect of their lives. Trump is going to have a hard time digging out any scuttlebutt to throw at them because of the Cruz’s honesty. On the other hand, Trump and Melania have much to hide from the voters.

http://www.educationviews.org/melania-exposed-trump-furious-2/

You made the implication that Melania was "bought" from a "former socialist Republic". Every bit of evidence I see suggests that she came to the US on her own, and was here for a while, before she met him.

But now there is a bigger question.

Why are you attacking Melania Trump so viciously? She isn't running for office, it seems you shouldn't be making these personal attacks on her. I suppose it is a little ironic given the topic of the thread.

Making nasty personal attacks against a woman because you don't like her husband; it feels like you are crossing a line somehow.

I think you've hit a nerve, you've upset a particular demographic; men have to pay for sex because no woman would willingly submit to their putrescent advances.