USA TODAY International Edition
D. C. tourists tire of tawdry tales
Enough! WASHINGTON Posing for selfies and group photos outside the north entrance to the White House on a bright, beautiful fall Saturday, visitors from across the country said they’d had their fill and more of the charges and denials of Donald Trump’s sexual misconduct.
“It’s like a big joke,” said Pamela Allen of Memphis. “A bad one.”
Tourists from Florida to California said they wanted the campaign to focus on issues and qualifications, not on boasts of groping or charges and denials of sexual assault.
“We came here this weekend to get away from the B. S.,” said Robert Mills, 48, of San Francisco. Mills laughed at the notion that by visiting Washington weeks before the election he might actually have come to the epicenter of the manure.
But seeing the majesty of the Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial and the White House helped squelch the cacophonous campaign for him.
Mills said he wished that the campaign focused far less on Trump’s sex life, or Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of State.
“I don’t really care about his sex life or her emails,” Mills said. “There are bigger fish to fry, although I do think the leader of the free world should have some sort of moral compass.”
Bill Cole, in Washington for a weekend of sightseeing from Fort Lauderdale, has tired of the accusations against Trump. They have become a sideshow diverting attention from Clinton’s failings, he said.
“It’s not just her emails,” said Cole, 56. “It’s her secretiveness and deceptiveness.”
After a few photos at the White House, Cole was ready to jump on a bus and head to Arlington National Cemetery. “We’ve had our fill,” he said.
Pamela Allen, 36, a middle school counselor from Memphis, saw a “huge double standard” in the controversy surrounding Trump. Similar charges would have sunk the presidency of Barack Obama, she said.
“If there had been pictures of Michelle Obama half- naked, they wouldn’t even be in the White House,” Allen said.
No fan of Trump’s, Allen said the person who occupied the White House, the building gleaming in the sun just beyond the fence where she stood, should have governing experience, unlike Trump. Mills’ companion, Clifford Coley, can’t wait for Nov. 9, the day after the election.
Coley, 40, spoke for many on Saturday. “Just get it over with,” he said.