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Tonight, with the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton just hours away, Donald Trump boasted on Twitter about the “deplorables” who run his campaign. He might want us to think he’s joking, but the people Trump listens to are no laughing matter.
 

 

  • Trump has been unofficially advised, throughout his campaign, by his longtime friend Roger Ailes, the former head of Fox News, who was forced out because of multiple allegations of sexual harassment. More than 20 women have accused Ailes of sexual harassment.

  • Trump appointed Marjorie Dannenfelser, leader of the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List, to be in charge of his new anti-abortion coalition. Dannenfelser is a staunch opponent of Planned Parenthood, has said she wants to “stop all abortion” from the moment of conception, and called allowing rape victims to access abortion “abominable.”

  • Trump has refused to renounce, or condemn, the endorsement of Troy Newman, president of the extremist anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, who has ties to violence and who has called the murder of a doctor who provides abortions “justifiable.” According to Newman, the Trump campaign “welcomed” the endorsement.

  • Donald Trump’s “campaign CEO,” Steve Bannon, has a long record of hateful rhetoric and actions in addition to his work as the head of Breitbart News — a site Bannon described as “the platform for the alt-right.” He was once sued for mistreating and then firing an employee for having a baby, he was accused in a separate lawsuit of sexual harassment, Bannon has used disgusting, homophobic slurs to insult women.

  • Michael Cohen, special counsel to the Trump organization and a Trump campaign surrogate, claimed spousal rape doesn’t exist. He defended Trump against allegations that he had raped his first wife, Ivana, by saying “you cannot rape your spouse.”

  • Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, worked for and defended Todd “Legitimate Rape” Akin during his 2012 Senate race. During a panel on PBS in 2013, Conway suggested that rape would not exist if only women were physically stronger.