Its hard to believe that anyone did not know that TSF was a sleaze about sex.

[milestogo]

I'm not from NY. The first time I ever heard of him was when he cheated on Ivana and traded up for a new trophy wife. He wasn't discreet and he didn't try to hide it. He was a real asshole about it.

I remember hearing about him buying beauty pageants and walking in on teenaged girls in various states of undress.

And I remember the "grab 'em by the pussy" remarks which were revealed in 2016.

If a Democrat did any of these things they would never become president. But TSF did all these things and much worse but MAGATs voted for him anyway.

And now they're going to be shocked that he was involved in sex trafficking?

It just doesn't compute.

[walkingman]

1. Dems have different values and priorities than the GOP.

While not a perfect party - we tend to be more ethical and moral.

[Prairie Gates]

2. "Baked in"

The "baked in" argument seems to be one of the main conservative defenses of Trump's sleaziness: Yes, of course everyone knows that Trump is a sleaze, and yet he won two elections and still has massive support, so the understanding was "baked in" and therefore doesn't matter, and "this won't hurt him" etc.

[ificandream]

3. Of course they knew.

But Republicans were so power hungry they ignored it. And in 2016 they had another motivation: Hillary Clinton. Anything to screw the Clintons.

As for 2024, I maintain there was ballot tampering by Trump. I wonder, though, if the media is too scared to say it because Trump is so lawsuit happy.

[ZDU]

4. oh they knew...

They knew, yet this story is as old as time itself. Make no mistake about it.... "Every institution acts to protect itself." How many times do we need to see it? Institutions 'circle the wagons' or say nothing when children are being harmed. Seriously, give it some thought. Every institution acts to protect itself. Even the government, even religious men, even doctors, even universities, even powerful people, even small towns... forever

[KentuckyWoman]

5. Actionable proof vs we all know.

We ALL know the whole lot of them are putrid. We suspect it goes far deeper and wider than can be imagined. We suspect the financial crimes that go along with the abuse are significant.

However, if anything actionable was out there regarding Trump from the 2006 case that got mostly swept under the rug, I expect either the GOP challengers during primaries, or Clinton would have made sure it was busted wide open in 2016. Remember, the Feds had all the evidence and Obama was president. I cannot in my wildest imagination picture them not using it to push Trump out of the running before the R's even got serious.