Trump, Clinton turn up heat in swing states
ATTACKS FLY: Charges include disregard for women, ‘rigged’ polls
GOFFSTOWN, N.H. — Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump each launched fresh attacks against the other on Monday, signaling that harshly negative closing arguments may dominate the final two weeks of the campaign.
Clinton’s campaign tried to build on its case that Trump doesn’t respect women, while Trump again questioned the integrity of the election process — this time asserting that polls showing Clinton ahead across the country are “phony” and “rigged.”
Perhaps the most intense rhetoric of the day came from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., one of Clinton’s top allies, who said Trump’s disregard for women would be his undoing in the election. As Trump continued to suggest that he might not accept a Clinton victory
on Nov. 8, Warren seemed to revel in the role that women may play not only in defeating him but also in electing the first female president in the nation’s history.
“I’ve got news for you, Donald Trump,” Warren said, standing on stage alongside Clinton and U.S. Senate candidate Maggie Hassan — and riffing on Trump’s reference to Clinton as a “nasty woman” during their third presidential debate. “Women have had it with guys like you. And nasty women have really had it with guys like you. Yeah, get this, Donald: Nasty women are tough, nasty women are smart, and nasty women vote.”
Although the Clinton campaign has been working for weeks to portray Trump as a misogynist, allies and surrogates jumped on his latest utterance to continue the effort. Pop star Katy Perry wore a T-shirt emblazoned with “Nasty Woman” while knocking on dormitory doors at George Mason University in Virginia. Other merchandise, including crossstitch pillows and mugs, popped up for sale on the internet.
“He thinks because he has a mouth full of Tic-Tacs that he can force himself on any woman within groping distance,” Warren said Monday, referring to a 2005 video in which Trump lewdly described forcing himself on women and then took the breath mints as he explained he liked to kiss women without asking permission.
With just 15 days left until Election Day, Trump spent Monday in Florida, telling supporters that the national media have deliberately skewed polls to undermine his candidacy and that he is actually winning.
During a discussion with farmers at Bedner’s Farm Fresh Market in Boynton Beach, Fla., Trump devoted nearly half of his seven-minute public remarks to criticizing the news media.
“I believe we’re actually winning,” he said, speaking in a thatched-roof structure adorned with decorative gourds. He asserted that the majority of public opinion polls, which show Clinton leading nationally and in most battleground states, reflect the “crooked system, the rigged system I’ve been talking about since I entered the race.”
“What they do is they show these phony polls where they look at Democrats, and it’s heavily weighted with Democrats, and then they’ll put on a poll where we’re not winning, and everybody says, ‘Oh they’re not winning,’ ” he added.
His campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, acknowledged Sunday that her candidate trails Clinton, saying, “We are behind.” But Trump said Monday that he trusts the two polls that have shown him leading — Investor’s Business Daily and Rasmussen — as more reliable.
Trump then turned his fire on Clinton’s use of a personal email server while secretary of state. He said the FBI and Justice Department had inappropriately let her off the hook.
“We have to investigate the investigation, folks,” Trump said.
Trump on Monday also addressed the latest accusations of inappropriate sexual contact made against him, saying of the accuser, an adult film performer, “Oh, I’m sure she’s never been grabbed before.”
Calling into WGIR radio’s “New Hampshire Today,” Trump characterized the allegations against him as “total fiction,” including the behavior alleged by Jessica Drake. On Saturday, she accused Trump of grabbing her and kissing her without permission and offering her money to go up to his hotel room about a decade ago.
“She’s a porn star,” Trump said. “You know, this one that came out recently, ‘he grabbed me and he grabbed me on the arm.’ Oh, I’m sure she’s never been grabbed before.”
Clinton and her backers sought to capitalize on Trump’s declining poll numbers by lifting up candidates lower on the ballot this fall. The appearance with Warren was also designed to promote the candidacy of Hassan, the current governor of New Hampshire who is challenging Sen. Kelly Ayotte.
Warren’s appearance was part of the Clinton campaign’s effort to flood swing states with highprofile endorsers as the campaign comes to a close.
But mostly Warren, whose lines got louder applause than Clinton’s, was there as the best provocateur the Clinton campaign can field against Trump. He has engaged in fierce attacks on Warren, often via Twitter.
“She gets under his thin skin like nobody else,” Clinton said at the start of her remarks.