Trump Shows Sympathy for Alleged Domestic Abuser Rob Porter, Says It's 'a Very Tough Time for Him' 

How many ways can the president show that he hates women? An infinite number of ways, it seems. Today, in his first remarks since former aide Rob Porter resigned amid multiple reports of domestic abuse, Trump called Porter’s resignation “very sad.” He did not reference Porter’s alleged victims, but did indicate that he wishes they had not put Porter through such difficulties.

“I found out about it recently and I was surprised by it,” Trump said. “We certainly wish him well. It’s obviously a very tough time for him. He did a very good job while he was in the White House.”

He repeated this again: “He did a very good job when he was at the White House.”

Before changing his tune, White House chief of staff John Kelly appeared to share this view, initially calling the allegations “slanderous and simply false,” and referring to Porter as “a man of true integrity and honor.” The White House had known about the allegations for months.

In his remarks on Friday, Trump also said that “we hope that he will have a wonderful career,” and remarked that “it was very sad when we heard about it.” Evidently, when principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah said on Thursday that Trump was “saddened” by the revelations, what he really meant was that Trump was bummed to watch a man in his circle go down for allegations uncomfortably similar to those once lodged against him.

The kicker?

“He says he’s innocent, and I think you have to remember that,” Trump said on Friday. “He said very strongly yesterday that he’s innocent, but you’ll have to talk to him about that.”

If there is a single consistent theory floating around in this old man’s head, it is almost certainly what Traister describes in the above tweet—the belief that what white men say about themselves should be taken at face value, and that those narratives should supersede all others. To Trump, multiple credible domestic violence allegations are simply—as Porter phrased it—“vile claims” against a man who, above all, had been doing a very good job.