In his own words: 50 reasons not to vote for Donald Trump

By Las Vegas Sun Staff (contact)

Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016 | 2 a.m.

The Sun has been saying for months that Donald Trump is grossly unfit and unqualified to serve as president. Today, we're going to let the nominee's own words do the talking about why he shouldn't be elected. Warning: The following editorial contains language that is not suitable for all ages.

1. “You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. … Grab them by the p---y. You can do anything.” Trump caught on a hot microphone on the TV show “Access Hollywood.”

2. “His wife, if you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably — maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say." Comment made July 29 after Gold Star parent Khizr Khan challenged Trump during his speech at the Democratic National Convention.

3. "By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people — maybe there is, I don't know.” Statement at a rally in August 2016 about Hillary Clinton.

4. "I would like to promise and pledge to all of my voters and supporters and to all of the people of the United States that I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election — if I win." Statement at a rally after the third and final presidential debate, in which Trump refused to say whether he would accept the results of the election if he lost.

5. "The man has very strong control over a country. It's a very different system and I don't happen to like the system, but certainly, in that system, he's been a leader, far more than our president has been a leader." Comment about Russian President Vladimir Putin during the NBC Commander in Chief Forum in September 2016.

6. "His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald's being, you know, shot. Nobody even brings it up, I mean they don't even talk about that. That was reported and nobody talks about it." Unsubstantiated claim about Sen. Ted Cruz’s father — reported in the National Enquirer — that Trump repeated on Fox News in May 2016.

7. "She's playing that card like I've never seen anyone play it before. All I'm doing is bringing out the obvious, that without the woman card, Hillary would not even be a viable person to even run for a city council position." Comment about Hillary Clinton on the "Today Show" in April 2016.

8. “This was locker-room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course — not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended.” Statement by Trump after the “Access Hollywood” recording came to light.

9. “I would bring back waterboarding and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding." Comment during the Republican debate in February 2016.

10. "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot people and I wouldn't lose voters." Comment during a January 2016 rally in Iowa. Trump pointed his finger as if shooting a handgun.

11. "Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on.” Written statement in December 2015.

12. "I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down. And I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering." Comment made during a rally in November 2015. The claim has been debunked.

13. "You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her, wherever." Comment made on CNN about Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly in August 2015, after Kelly pointedly questioned Trump about disparaging comments he’d made about women.

14. “'Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?! I mean, she's a woman, and I'm not supposed to say bad things, but really folks, come on. Are we serious?” Comment made to Rolling Stone about former Republican candidate Carly Fiorina in August 2015.

15. “Nobody has more respect for women than me. Nobody. And frankly, those stories have largely been debunked.” Comment during the third presidential debate regarding allegations of sexual misconduct lodged against Trump by several women. Politifact gave a “false” rating — one step above “pants on fire” — to Trump’s claim that the stories had been largely debunked.

16. "He's not a war hero. He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured." Comment about Sen. John McCain, a Vietnam prisoner of war, during the Family Leadership Summit in July 2015.

17. "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're not sending you, they're not sending you … They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people." Comment made as Trump announced his candidacy in June 2015.

18. “Uh, I don’t know what I said! Uh, I don’t remember! He’s going, ‘I don’t remember!’” Comment made by Trump while mocking a disabled reporter in November 2015.

19. “Let me just tell you, I have had horrible rulings. I’ve been treated very unfairly by this judge. Now, this judge is of Mexican heritage.” Comment made in June 2016 about U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, with Trump suggesting Curiel was biased against him because of his heritage. Curiel was born in Indiana to Mexican immigrant parents.

20. “I just don’t believe she has a presidential look, and you need a presidential look.” Comment during an interview with ABC News in September 2016.

21. “That makes me smart.” Comment during the first presidential debate after Clinton said Trump’s financial statements suggested he hadn’t paid federal taxes for several years.

22. "ISIS is honoring President Obama. He is the founder of ISIS. He is the founder of ISIS, OK? He is the founder. He founded ISIS. And I would say the co-founder would be crooked Hillary Clinton." Comment during a rally in August 2016.

23. "No, I meant he’s the founder of ISIS. I do. He was the most valuable player. I give him the most valuable player award. I give her, too, by the way, Hillary Clinton." Comment the day after the rally, when a Republican radio host asked if the earlier comment should be interpreted to say that Obama and Clinton “created the vacuum” in the Middle East that led the rise of ISIS.

24. "Oh, look at my African-American over here. Look at him.” Comment during a rally in June 2016.

25. “We won with highly educated. We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated.” Comment after winning the Nevada caucus in February 2016.

26. “I know more about ISIS than the generals do. Believe me.” Comment in November 2015.

27. “I am your voice. I alone can fix it.” Excerpt from Trump’s speech at the Republican National Convention. The line came after Trump described the U.S. as a nation in crisis — best by “poverty and violence at home” and “war and destruction abroad.”

28. “We have a situation where we have our inner cities, African-Americans, Hispanics, are living in hell, because it's so dangerous. You walk down the street, you get shot.” Comment during the first presidential debate.

29. "And you can tell them to go f**k themselves.” Comment made during a rally in February. Trump was referring to companies that have relocated overseas.

30. "Whoever the hell brought this mic system, don’t pay the son of a bitch who brought it in. … When somebody does a bad job, like this mic, you shouldn’t pay the bastard.” Comment made during a rally in January 2016.

31. “If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. Just knock the hell … I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees.” Comment made during a rally in February.

32. “We’re not allowed to punch back anymore. I love the old days. You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They’d be carried out on a stretcher, folks. I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell you.” Comment about a protester during a February 2016 rally in Las Vegas.

33. “Try not to hurt him. If you do, I’ll defend you in court, don’t worry about it.” Comment about a protester during a March 2016 rally.

34. “In the good old days this didn’t used to happen, because they used to treat them very, very rough. And when they protested once, they would not do it again so easily.” Comment about a protester during a March 2016 rally.

35. “Well, I certainly don’t incite violence. I don’t condone violence. And I don’t talk about violence.” Comment made during an interview when asked whether he had incited violence on the campaign trail.

36. “Wow, Crooked Hillary was duped and used by my worst Miss U. Hillary floated her as an ‘angel’ without checking her past, which is terrible!” “Using Alicia M in the debate as a paragon of virtue just shows that Crooked Hillary suffers from BAD JUDGEMENT! Hillary was set up by a con.” “Did Crooked Hillary help disgusting (check out sex tape and past) Alicia M become a U.S. citizen so she could use her in the debate?” Late-night Twitter flurry after Clinton, during the first presidential debate, noted that Trump had referred to former Miss Universe Alicia Machado as “Miss Piggy,” a reference to her supposed weight gain as Miss Universe, and “Miss Housekeeping,” because of her Hispanic heritage.

37. “For those few people knocking me for tweeting at three o’clock in the morning, at least you know I will be there, awake, to answer the call!” Tweet made in response to critics of his Twitter messages about Machado.

38. “It wasn’t ‘check out a sex tape.’” Comment during the second presidential debate. (Please see No. 36.)

39. “Of course, there is a large-scale voter fraud happening on and before Election Day.” Comment made in October 2016. There is no evidence of widescale fraud.

40. "President Obama pushed for changes to sentencing laws that released thousands of dangerous drug trafficking felons and gang members who prey on civilians. This is Hillary Clinton’s agenda too: to release the violent criminals from jail. She wants them all released.” Comment during the National Rifle Association’s convention in May 2016. Clinton supports sentence reform but has never called for all violent offenders to be released.

41. "Look at those hands, are they small hands? And, he (Marco Rubio) referred to my hands — 'If they're small, something else must be small.' I guarantee you there's no problem. I guarantee." Statement during a Republican debate in March 2016.

42. "I did not, I did not. I do not say that." Interjection during the first presidential debate as Clinton contended that Trump had called global warming a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese.

43. “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive." Tweet in November 2012.

44. “Snowing in Texas and Louisiana, record setting freezing temperatures throughout the country and beyond. Global warming is an expensive hoax!” Tweet in January 2014.

45. “There is no drought.” Comment during a May 2016 rally in Fresno, Calif. Trump went on to accuse state officials of denying water to Central Valley farmers so they could send it out to sea "to protect a certain kind of three-inch fish."

46. “Our great African American President hasn’t exactly had a positive impact on the thugs who are so happily and openly destroying Baltimore!” Tweet in May 2015.

47. “I never said that.” Interjection after Clinton, in one of the presidential debates, said Trump had called pregnancy an inconvenience to employers.

48. “Pregnancy is never … it’s a wonderful thing for the woman, it’s a wonderful thing for the husband. It’s certainly an inconvenience for a business.” Statement during a 2004 interview with NBC’s Dateline

49. "I don’t care.” Response to “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl in July when asked how he felt about running mate Mike Pence’s vote to authorize use of force in Iraq during 2002 as a House member. Trump, who had repeatedly criticized Clinton for voting the same way, said Pence was “entitled to make a mistake every once in a while."

50. “But she’s not. No, she’s not.” Response to Stahl’s follow-up question in reference to Clinton, “But she’s not?”