Eric Trump Excuses Donald's Comments About Sexual Assault: It's Just an 'Alpha' Thing

Eric Trump, Donald Trump's son, is now joining his father in bragging about the sexual assault of women, calling it an "alpha personality" trait. Eric Trump, 32, delivered these remarks in Denver on Monday while campaigning for his dad.

The Gazette reports that Trump accused the Clinton camp of releasing tape from 2005 that shows Trump bragging to former Today Show host Billy Bush about how being famous means he can kiss women and grab their genitals without permission. Trump also defended dad by pulling out the "locker room banter" banter line, adding "I think sometimes when guys are together they get carried away, and sometimes that's what happens when alpha personalities are in the same presence. At the same time, I'm not saying it's right. It's not the person that he is."

The "alpha male" trope is one that is often rolled out by the alt-right and 4chan types, the implication in this case being that when "real men" get together, they might chat casually talk about sexual assaulting women repeatedly. Any man who these folks don't like is dubbed a "beta."

The idea of Trump as an "alpha male" has been promoted by his campaign and eaten up by his supporters from the get-go. Trump's base praises him for being tough, outspoken, and shooting from the hip. However, Republican elites were angered en masse upon hearing this toxic masculinity in action when the Washington Post broke the story containing Trump's cavalier comments about sexual assault last week.

Trump issued an apology for the comments he made in the 2005 video Friday, but his camp has seemingly only doubled down on the idea that this type of talk is acceptable. At least the "alpha" ones, anyway.