Guess we’ll find out on Tuesday, but: typically you don’t want to brag about getting the endorsement of a convicted rapist whose conviction was in the state that you’re campaigning in. Particularly if you thought that the sentence for the rape was too severe in the first place:
Here’s Trump on the rape Mike Tyson was convicted for in 1992.https://t.co/8ar5joPlh7 pic.twitter.com/f7eFLo4uds
— Katherine Miller (@katherinemiller) April 30, 2016
Look, if your comments go and piss off your own mother, at least think about your stance, OK? It’s your mom. She gets that much consideration, at least.
Item the first:
Tyson got shafted. I’m sorry, but once you take off you clothes, climb into bed, and agree to have sex, you’ve gone pretty far past the point where I can reasonably consider you an innocent. This goes double if you’re jumping in bed with a celebrity worth millions. That you find your judgement lacking and the other person as feral outside the squared circle as inside is neither surprising, nor a crime against your person.
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Item the second:
Mike Tyson is quite possibly the least sympathetic defendant most of us are ever likely to see.
….. Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer ..
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Still, Tyson *isn’t* sympathetic, and Trump shouldn’t have brought it up …
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Mew
I wish that were true, but actual evil seems to be something a significant portion of the population finds compelling or even attractive.
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I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Charles Manson’s face within the last week.
I’d like to forget that Dahmer constructed an altar from the bones and skins of the lovers he murdered.
I know for a fact I saw a Che shirt today…
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But Tyson? He was more pathetic than evil.
(Of course, I’d argue the same could be said of the advice examples as well, but that isn’t what rooted them in the public consciousness.)
Item the third:
Speaking in practical terms, it was probably a mistake for Trump to bring this up in Indiana.
… probably?
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Can you come up with a *good* reason to bring this up *anywhere*?
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Mew
Well, it’s a slap in the face to the myth of “the Noble Savage”. Subverting that particular narrative is nearly always a good thing for society.
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As to any possible benefit to Trump’s campaign, it depends entirely on how much resentment to the current feminist paradigm there is.
There’s been a lot of men=evil/stupid in both politics and popular culture. If playing identity politics is on the table, (and Hillary carrying the banner assures that it will be. What else had she got?) highlighting that things have gotten much, much worse since Tyson was scapegoated could have value. “First they came for Tyson, then they came for college students, you’re next.” is the opposite of inspiring, but it could be effective. Especially when you start throwing the boy scouts and other culture war issues where traditional male roles have been challenged and overturned over the objections of those who actually participate in them into the mix.
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Granted, I wouldn’t have done it.
But I also have a sense of shame and a degree of humility, both of which are disqualifications for public office.
Tyson has always struck me as a man-child…I don’t really have a use for him.