5 times Donald Trump ignored career-ending blunders

From criminal cases to a record two impeachments, former President Donald Trump’s political career has been marked by episodes that might have been career-ending for others.

But the latest New York Times/Siena College poll shows the former president holding a slight lead over his rival — 47 percent to Kamala Harris’ 48 percent — a testament to the resilience of his base.

His remarkable ability to weather scandals has earned him the nickname “the Teflon Don,” and his political endurance raises questions about what American voters really care about, and what they don’t.

Larry Sabato, founder of the Center for Politics and a professor at the University of Virginia, said Trump “has been judged from the beginning by a different standard than ordinary politicians.”

“Despite having spent his pre-presidential life in New York, he enjoys the benefits of ‘Hollywood standards,'” Sabato told Newsweek. “Multiple wives, illicit affairs, an anything-goes ethic. Most people assume this is normal for an ‘Apprentice’ star.”

Borrowing a tactic from his longtime political ally Roger Stone, Trump has chosen to “attack, attack, attack – never defend” when his words or actions have put him in a difficult position.

Last week, U.S. Army officials accused Trump campaign staff of “suddenly” shoving them away during a campaign visit to Arlington National Cemetery, but Trump has denied the incident and called it another “hoax” perpetrated by the Democrats.

“This is classic Trumpism,” Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former White House aide to President Trump, told CNN on Tuesday. “You just have to double down. You can’t admit fault.”

But while none of his scandals have proved fatal, Trump’s behavior has repeatedly put his career in jeopardy.

“Get Them” Tape

In October 2016, just a month before her presidential victory, a tape emerged that many thought could clinch Clinton’s victory in a campaign that was already focused on sex.

In a 2005 recording obtained by The Washington Post, Trump can be heard bragging to “Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush about his success in seducing married women.

After detailing how celebrities can use their status to do almost anything, Trump said she “got over” one guy “like a bitch.”

“When you’re a star, they let you do anything. You can do anything,” Trump said. “Get them. You can do anything.”

The leaked audio prompted condemnations from leading figures in both parties, leading to Trump’s disinvitation from a planned campaign rally in Wisconsin and the Republican National Committee temporarily suspending his “victory” program for the election.

But Trump weathered the controversy and continued his attack by mocking her opponent’s husband: “This is locker room banter, private conversations that took place years ago. Bill Clinton has said much worse things about me on the golf course.”

mocking a journalist with a disability

In November 2015, a few months after his first campaign rally, Trump appeared to mock a reporter’s disability at a rally in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

At a previous rally, Trump claimed he saw “thousands, tens of thousands” of Muslims celebrating in New Jersey after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

To support their contentious claim, the Trump campaign cited a Washington Post article written by Serge Kovaleski and Frederic Kunkle, in which they wrote that “law enforcement authorities detained and questioned several people who were reportedly celebrating the attack with a rooftop tailgate party while watching the carnage across the river.”

Kovaleski later said, “I definitely don’t recall anyone saying that there were thousands or hundreds of people celebrating. That wasn’t the case as far as I can remember.”

At a November rally, Trump sparked a scandal when he tried to imitate Kovaleski by lowering his wrists and raising his arms.

“Look at this guy. ‘Um, I don’t know what I said. Um, I don’t remember,’ and he’s like, ‘I don’t remember. I guess that’s what I said.'”

Kovaleski has arthrogryposis, a congenital condition that causes stiffness in the joints of his right arm and hand. Trump was widely criticized for mocking his condition.

The incident was named the most reprehensible act in an August 2016 Bloomberg poll, but Trump has refused to apologize for his actions.

Instead, he insisted he knew nothing about Kovaleski’s condition, that he was simply imitating the reporter’s “subservient attitude,” and that he would “never” mock someone’s disability.

Megan Kelly’s “Blood” comment

One of the most memorable controversies surrounding Trump came after the first Republican primary debate in 2015.

“You call women you don’t like ‘fat pigs’ ‘dogs’ ‘sluts’ and ‘disgusting animals,'” Fox News’ Megyn Kelly told Trump, ahead of a question about his questionable approval rating with female voters.

While his response “only Rosie O’Donnell” was widely circulated, the real scandal emerged from what he said after the debate.

“She got out of her car and started asking me all kinds of stupid questions,” Trump told CNN. “I could see blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her everywhere. In my opinion, she was way off the mark.”

Trump later claimed he was referring to Kelly’s nose, and not suggesting her harsh questioning was due to hormones from the menstrual cycle, but the comment was criticised, with BBC News reporter Anthony Zurcher asking “is this the moment Donald Trump has finally gone too far?”

As a result of his comments, Trump was disinvited from a conference in Atlanta hosted by the conservative political forum Red State.

During the meeting, Red State host Erik Erickson said, “My wife is here, my daughter is here, 800 of my friends are here. This is a family program. If he’s not going to make it clear that this is not what he intended, I don’t want him at my event.”

Insulting Gold Star Families

After becoming the Republican nominee in the 2016 election, Trump appeared to break a political taboo by criticizing Gold Star families.

Khizr Khan and Ghazala Khan were two guests of honour at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Ghazala Khan’s son, Humayun Khan, was killed in a car bomb attack while serving in Iraq as a US Army officer in 2004.

In his speech, Khizr criticized Trump’s call to ban Muslim immigration to the United States.

“Hillary Clinton was right when she called my son the best man in America,” Khan said. “If it had been up to Donald Trump, my son would never have been in America.”

In response, Trump turned his attention to Khizr’s wife, who stood silently beside her husband as she accused the Republican of “consistently denigrating the character of Muslims.”

“You look at his wife, she was standing there, she had nothing to say,” Trump said in an interview with ABC after the convention. “Maybe she wasn’t allowed to say anything. What would you say to me?”

Democrats and Republicans alike criticized Trump’s remarks, with Ohio Governor John Kasich tweeting that “the only way to speak about Gold Star guardians is with honor and respect.”

“Donald Trump recently disrespected the parents of a fallen soldier. He suggested that people like their sons should never be allowed into the United States, much less serve in the military. I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump’s comments,” Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said in a lengthy statement after the incident.

“I hope the American people understand that these comments do not represent the views of the Republican Party or its officials or candidates.”

They say you can shoot someone and not get punished.

In an apparent allusion to an ability not to be bothered by the indiscretions that have characterized his political career from the start, Trump joked that his loyal supporters would be on his side even if he committed murder on a crowded street.

“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and not lose any voters, OK?” Trump said at a campaign rally in January 2016. “It’s unbelievable.”

The comments came at a time when Trump was holding a commanding lead over other candidates in the Republican primary.

As if to back up his point, the remarks were followed by laughter among the Iowa audience, with one audience member loudly declaring his love for Trump.

“We love you too,” Trump said.

Is there anything that could derail Teflon Don?

“It could be a mass murder. It’s hard to imagine anything else,” Sabato told Newsweek when asked what would make Trump’s supporters abandon him. “Even if Trump had a smoking AR-15, all he’d have to do is deny it or come up with any excuse, however baseless, and his supporters would take to social media and accuse this whole thing of being staged.”

Newsweek has reached out to the Trump-Vance campaign for comment on the former president’s enduring appeal to American voters.

Sabato believes President Trump’s more than eight years of being embroiled in scandal and ultimately overcoming it has shifted the paradigm of what is expected of presidential candidates and American politicians in general.

The change is so significant, he believes, that Donald Trump’s impact will be felt long after he leaves office.

“There are a number of potential replacements for Trump in the wings, including his family and J.D. Vance,” he said. “They will ask for and likely get the same leniency as Trump.”

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