state of the union

President Trump Now Says That Wasn’t Him on Access Hollywood Tape

Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

A New York Times piece published on Saturday delves into President Trump’s un-shocking decision to endorse U.S. Senate candidate and alleged sexual predator Roy Moore over the fierce objections of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — whose brilliant plan was to subvert democracy by getting Governor Kay Ivey to delay the election.

Like Moore, Trump has been accused of sexual assault by several women, and like Moore, he has refused to budge an inch on the question of his innocence. As the Times reveals, though, Trump has gone way beyond mere denials. He has taken to contesting objective reality itself:

But something deeper has been consuming Mr. Trump. He sees the calls for Mr. Moore to step aside as a version of the response to the now-famous “Access Hollywood” tape, in which he boasted about grabbing women’s genitalia, and the flood of groping accusations against him that followed soon after. He suggested to a senator earlier this year that it was not authentic, and repeated that claim to an adviser more recently. (In the hours after it was revealed in October 2016, Mr. Trump acknowledged that the voice was his, and he apologized.)

So now, Trump not only is insisting that the lies he spouts all day are true, but also has created a new set of facts that contradicts the ones he has already acknowledged. But, hey, who are you going to believe, President Trump or your lying ears? The fact that for about 38 percent of the country the answer is “President Trump” is almost as disturbing as the possibility that the president may be more mentally unfit for office than most people acknowledge.

Trump Now Says That Wasn’t Him on Access Hollywood Tape