EXTRACT

The New Yorker’s John Cassidy describes Trump’s response to questions from reporters at a UN press conference as “an alarming display of insensitivity, narcissism, and misogyny.”

While members of his own party believe the allegations made by the women should be taken very seriously, Trump has refused to let the FBI look into the allegations against Kavanaugh, saying The Democrats know “it’s a big, fat con job. And they go into a room, and I guarantee you, they laugh like hell on what they pulled off on you and on the public. They laugh like hell. So it wouldn’t have mattered if the FBI came back with the cleanest score…you wouldn’t have gotten one vote.”

Pushed by a reporter on whether he thought the women lied: “These are all false to me. I can only say what they have done to this man is incredible.”

Money! It’s the enemy of truth and honesty. It’s a curse, making those who have it able to threaten, terrorise and torment those who need it. Money! It’s a silencer. It makes us accept uncomfortable things. It makes us eat crow when we should be shouting NO from the battlements. It often makes us pay homage when there should be opprobrium. If truth be told, or at least if truth be examined, nobody, well nobody normal, is prepared to die for truth. Few of us are willing to sacrifice ourselves for principle; to die for it. It’s a radical concept, becoming a martyr. Growing up, I was fed a diet of martyrdom. For a start, we lived with one: my mother, who we often referred to as a living martyr, so much did she reek of piety and the kind of bowed head devotion one associates with the super religious. Then there were the church fed Sunday catechism class versions, where tales of the heroism of men and women who died for their faith and beliefs were told and retold. My Confirmation name i...

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