‘This Doesn’t Throw Me’: Trump Backers Unfazed by Claims of Bad Behavior

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/15/us/politics/trump-voters-reaction.html

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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Some supporters of Donald J. Trump saw media collusion. Others said accusations had been embellished. And a few said that no matter how Mr. Trump had behaved, he should get a pass because of all he represents.

In a dozen interviews with Mr. Trump’s supporters before his rally here Thursday, nearly every one dismissed a series of reports about his misbehavior toward women, questioning the motives of the accusers and the timing of the revelations so close to Election Day.

Judy Weimer, 75, of Port St. Lucie, was one of those crying foul. She said that the disclosures were an effort by the Democratic Party to derail Mr. Trump’s candidacy, and that the accusations “don’t worry me a bit.” She said she also believed that Mr. Trump had acted as all rich men did decades ago.

“Something may have happened,” she said of the accusations reported by The New York Times that Mr. Trump had grabbed a woman’s breast and put his hand up her skirt while seated next to her on an airplane. “But when I look at it, I see this woman 30 years ago, I see a tall, nice-looking rich man that’ll go with, you know, they get the women, you know they do,” she said. “The movie stars, the basketball stars, they get them.”

“And in a way, he’s absolutely right that they can do just about anything they want to with them people,” she continued, alluding to a 2005 recording of Mr. Trump boasting about how he had forced himself on women. “I don’t think it’s right, but they can do it. It’s the women. I don’t think groping anybody is right. But they do get away with it.”

Maureen Owens, 64, of West Palm Beach shared a similar skepticism about the origin of the accusations, particularly the episode on the airplane, which the accuser, Jessica Leeds, said happened in the early 1980s.

“I’m skeptical of all media reports,” Ms. Owens said. “Things happened so long ago. He’s a 70-year-old man putting us on the right track. I’m totally, 100 percent behind him.”

She added: “I worked as a flight attendant for 34 years on flights with professional athletes, politicians, movie stars — I’ve seen bad behavior all my life. This doesn’t throw me.”

Dianne DeWolfe, 73, of Palm Beach Gardens said she thought the accusers were “embellishing what might have happened,” and she questioned the timing of the revelations.

“It’s baloney to come out now,” she said. “They’re opportunists. Listen, no man attacks a woman unless she’s looking like she’s asking for it.”

Others felt the accusations merely highlighted flaws that they already knew Mr. Trump had, but ones that they had come to accept, given how he could lead the country.

“When you look at Saul back in the Bible, he was able to redeem himself and become the Apostle Paul,” said Kathy Reece, 50, who lives in nearby Royal Palm Beach. “God uses people, some of the people in the worst circumstances, to do his work for him.

“A lot of what we’re seeing is you have somebody like Trump, and he’s a pig, I mean, I know that,” she continued. “But he’s going to do what’s best for the country, and I think through that, he’s going to redeem himself and he’s going to redeem the country.”

Paul Rogers, 48, of Wellington, said the accusers should be believed but supporters were right to question the timing of the revelations, coming little more than three weeks before the election, and how they all landed at seemingly the same time.

“Everyone should believe all woman by default, period,” Mr. Rogers said. “That said, every single woman’s story comes forward in the same afternoon, after a year and a half of 30 billion of free media?”

There was, however, one Trump supporter who suggested that if “definitive proof” came out, he would be willing to change his mind.

“I’m pretty open-minded, so as long as there’s proof of something like that, things happen and minds are changed,” said Austin Murray, 19, of West Palm Beach. “But until I see solid proof that that actually happened, then my decision is made.”