Hillary Clinton, during Wednesday’s presidential debate, accused Donald Trump of believing that “belittling women makes him bigger.”
“Donald thinks belittling women makes him bigger,” Clinton said, responding to a question about sexual misconduct allegations against Trump. “He goes after their dignity, their self worth, and I don’t think there is a woman anywhere who doesn’t know what that feels like. So we now know what Donald is and what he said and how he acts toward women. That’s who he is.”
Since the last debate, several women have accused Trump of inappropriately touching or kissing them without consent in incidents spanning decades. The accusations began after the Washington Post published a leaked 2005 conversation in which Trump made lewd comments about women, boasting about groping them. Asked at the second debate whether he had actually ever kissed or groped women without consent, Trump said he had not, dismissing his lewd comments as “locker room talk.” Several of Trump’s accusers said they decided to share their accounts of his sexual misconduct because of his denial during the debate. Trump has vehemently denied the accusations, characterizing them as “outright lies” and attacking the appearance and credibility of his accusers.
During Wednesday’s debate, Trump denied that he had ever criticized his accusers’ appearance, even though he did so at rallies last week.
“When you looked at that horrible woman last night, you said, ‘I don’t think so,'” Trump said about an accuser at recent rally. He added that another accuser “would not be my first choice,” and suggested that his supporters “check out” another’s Facebook page.