Trump
against the world
Under
siege as more female accusers come forward, Trump lashes out at the
‘conspiracy’ out to get him and his supporters.
By BEN SCHRECKINGER
10/13/16, 10:02 PM CET
WEST PALM BEACH,
Fla. — Speaking in messianic terms, Donald Trump painted himself as
the target of a vast “conspiracy” and the last hope for a
civilization at a crossroads at a rally here on Thursday afternoon.
The Republican
nominee, besieged by mounting allegations of sexual misconduct as his
electoral path all but vanishes, is going to new rhetorical extremes
to cast himself as the standard-bearer of an existential struggle
against a corrupt, global elite.
“This is a
conspiracy against you, the American people, and we cannot let this
happen or continue,” he told supporters of alleged efforts to
protect Hillary Clinton from accountability. “This is our moment of
reckoning as a society and as a civilization itself.”
His grandiose call
to arms came as Trump continues to reel from an avalanche of
devastating news reports and a day after he accused House Speaker
Paul Ryan of making a “sinister deal” to undermine him.
Trump’s rally at
the South Florida Fair Expo Center was his first public appearance
since new allegations of sexual assault made by several women were
published on Wednesday evening.
Trump called the
latest round of allegations, which correspond with Trump’s own
description of his behavior toward women in a 2005 recording, a
“concerted, coordinated and vicious attack.”
Citing emails
published by WikiLeaks, Trump charged that, “reporters collaborate
and conspire directly with the Clinton campaign on helping her win
the election all over.”
Trump said the
reports, rather than describing his actual behavior, were part of a
character assassination carried out by agents of a globalist
establishment.
“Anyone who
challenges their control is deemed a sexist, a racist, a xenophobe
and morally deformed,” he said.
“These vicious
claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and
absolutely false,” he said. “And the Clintons know it. And they
know it very well. These claims are all fabricated. They’re pure
fiction and they’re outright lies.”
Trump reiterated his
vow to sue The New York Times for publishing the accounts of two
women who said he sexually assaulted them, and vowed to debunk the
claims. “We already have substantial evidence to dispute these lies
and it will be made public in an appropriate way and at an
appropriate time,” he said. “Very soon.”
Trump used the
timing of another allegation, made by a People Magazine writer who
said Trump assaulted her at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach in
December 2005 as she reported a story on his marriage, by questioning
why the writer would sit on such a hot scoop for so many years.
“I ask a very
simply question. Why wasn’t it a part of the story that appeared 20
or 12 years ago?” he said. “It would’ve been one of the biggest
stories of the year. Think of it!”
Trump said of those
bringing and publicizing the accusations, “These people are
horrible people. They’re horrible, horrible liars.”
But Trump — who
reiterated at the rally his call to jail Clinton — said his
victimization did not bother him.
“I take all of
these slings and arrows gladly for you. I take them for our movement
so that we can have our country back,” he said. “Our great
civilization … has come upon a moment of reckoning. We’ve seen it
in the United Kingdom where they decided to liberate themselves.”
The stakes of the
movement, in Trump’s view, are existential. “This is a struggle
for the survival of our nation,” he said
And he vowed to take
arms against a corrupt establishment whose means and cunning know no
bounds. “Their political resources are unlimited,” he said.
“Their media resources are unmatched and most importantly the
depths of their immorality is absolutely unlimited.”
Authors:
Ben Schreckinger
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