Summary
At a North Carolina rally, Donald Trump used aggressive language, questioning if he was “allowed to hit” Michelle Obama after her recent criticism of his values and policies.
Though Trump spoke metaphorically, his comments drew backlash, with analysts calling the remark in poor taste. Trump recounted an imaginary conversation with his staff advising him to tone down his rhetoric, prompting cheers from supporters urging him to “hit back.”
The statement, shared widely on social media, has raised concerns about its impact on the gender gap and support among conservative women voters.
Call it a hunch. But I doubt it would be the first time he’s hit a woman.
I mean he’s been found guilty of raping at least one woman… so he’s easily hit one already.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/24/documenting-trumps-abuse-of-women
The part of the book that caused the most controversy concerns Trump’s divorce from his first wife, Ivana. Hurt obtained a copy of her sworn divorce deposition, from 1990, in which she stated that, the previous year, her husband had raped her in a fit of rage. In Hurt’s account, Trump was furious that a “scalp reduction” operation he’d undergone to eliminate a bald spot had been unexpectedly painful. Ivana had recommended the plastic surgeon. In retaliation, Hurt wrote, Trump yanked out a handful of his wife’s hair, and then forced himself on her sexually. Afterward, according to the book, she spent the night locked in a bedroom, crying; in the morning, Trump asked her, “with menacing casualness, ‘Does it hurt?’ ” Trump has denied both the rape allegation and the suggestion that he had a scalp-reduction procedure. Hurt said that the incident, which is detailed in Ivana’s deposition, was confirmed by two of her friends
