CHANGE OF HEART
For Idaho Sen. MIKE CRAPO, it seemed like a good idea at the time. The leaked tape featuring DONALD TRUMP bragging about sexually assaulting women caused plenty of Republicans to unendorse the GOP presidential nominee. Some even called for Trump to step aside.
Crapo joined in.
"I can no longer endorse Donald Trump. This not a decision that I have reached lightly, but his pattern of behavior has left me no choice," he stated in a Facebook post on Oct. 8. "I urge Donald Trump to step aside and allow the Republican Party to put forward a conservative candidate like Mike Pence that can defeat HILLARY CLINTON."
But Crapo never said who he did endorse for president. He didn't know who to vote for, but surely, it wouldn't be Clinton.
Nearly a dozen women would come forward over the next two weeks to say that Trump did to them exactly what he had bragged about doing in the tape leaked on Oct. 7. Trump, of course, wouldn't step aside. So what would Crapo do? Who can he possibly vote for now?
"The choice we have is between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton," Crapo reminded everyone in a statement this week. "Given that choice, I will vote for the Republican ticket, Trump and Pence." (WILSON CRISCIONE)
TRUMPED OUT
Win or lose, DONALD TRUMP will take a lot with him after this election. In the 16 months since Trump announced his candidacy, he's taken a huge chunk out of the Republican Party, and may have destroyed the confidence in the election process for some. Along with stripping away female and minority votes from the GOP, he may also have snatched a word away from the card-playing lexicon.
To celebrate the life and death of the beloved verb "to trump," the Atlantic put together a brief history of the word in the English language. At first it meant to blow a horn and was often associated with triumph and celebration, as in "to trumpet."
Around the mid-1500s, its definition expanded beyond the brass section. One Oxford English Dictionary definition reads: "to give forth a trumpet-like sound; to break wind audibly." "Trump" also appeared as a synonym for the word "crepo," which according to the OED meant "let a crackke, or fart."
The modern use of the word, familiar to players of the card games bridge and spades, refers to a chosen suit that ranks higher than the other three in a standard deck. The word is not likely to fall out of its current use, though it now elicits an image of a man full of hot air. In fact, some Hillary Clinton supporters have already turned the traditional verb into a call against the Republican presidential nominee, wielding signs reading "Love trumps hate." (MITCH RYALS)
