May 18, 2016

Ed Rendell Has Some Thoughts on Why Hillary Clinton Will Defeat Donald Trump

“There are probably more ugly women in America than attractive women.”

Dennis Van Tine/ZUMA

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Ed Rendell, the former governor of Pennsylvania, is not too concerned with the unlikely rise of Donald Trump and the real estate magnate’s chances against Hillary Clinton in November’s presidential election. This is a blasé attitude that many others also share.

But his reasoning, which he recently explained to the Washington Post, appears to rely not so much on Clinton’s political prowess, or the ultimate wisdom of the American electorate, but in the solidarity that exists among the previously underestimated homely women voting bloc. He tried to justify this theory while simultaneously denouncing Trump’s sexist rhetoric:

“Will he have some appeal to working-class Dems in Levittown or Bristol? Sure,” said Ed Rendell. “For every one he’ll lose 1½ , two Republican women. Trump’s comments like “You can’t be a 10 if you’re flat-chested,’ that’ll come back to haunt him. There are probably more ugly women in America than attractive women. People take that stuff personally.”

Clinton’s campaign hasn’t commented on the choice quote, but it’s safe to assume #ImWithHer will stay a safe distance away from Rendell’s analysis of the political choices of the women he has deemed unsightly. He is not running for office during this election cycle.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

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So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

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