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Rahm And Co. Slam Donald In Front Of Trump Tower

By Stephen Gossett in News on Oct 13, 2016 9:57PM

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Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaks at Trump Tower / Photo: Rachel Cromidas
As the election looms and criticism swirls around Donald Trump, any day ending in “y” is a good one for opponents to hammer at the increasingly toxic GOP demagogue. But amid more and more allegations of misconduct, right now feels like a fulcrum. Here in Chicago that’s manifesting right in the Donald’s Midwest backyard: Trump Tower.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel—lately considered rather politically poisonous himself, but downright lemon-fresh compared to Trump—joined some prominent Illinois Dems in front of the riverside tower Thursday afternoon to publicly denounce Trump's recent comments.

"Donald Trump does not have the character or the judgment for the Oval Office," Emanuel said. "Hillary has the experience, the judgement, the background and the ability to make the tough calls. And they don't just happen once, they happen four to five times a day."

Speaking directly about Trump's recent remarks about assaulting women, Emanuel noted that Trump has also made insulting comments about immigrants. He also said he's glad his daughter will have the opportunity to vote for a woman for president as her first time being eligible to vote in a presidential election.

Rahm urged voters to help vote for congressional and state elections so that politicians who share Clinton's political views will also be elected.

"This election is about making the right choice up and down the ticket," he said.

Emanuel took to the mic alongside the likes of Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Kim Foxx, Susana Mendoza and others, right on the heels of a series of bombshell revelations regarding Trump's treatment of women. The campaign stop was part of a "Forward Together" bus tour that will be heading to Milwaukee next.

We're running out digits on which to keep track of them all, but here goes: Trump today threatened legal action against the New York Times after the paper reported two allegations of groping; old audio surfaced of Trump sexualizing a child; a People magazine writer detailed an account of Trump allegedly forcing his tongue down her throat; and on into eternity.

Meanwhile, Chicago's city council is taking a small but symbolic stand against Trump by moving to have his honorary street sign near Trump Tower removed. (The city does not seem to have the legal means of getting Trump's 20-foot monstrosity of a sign taken down, unfortunately). The street sign appears to have been removed this week, but it is unclear who did it.

Rahm denied it when asked by reporters whether it was he who swiped the sign.

"I was in synagogue paying for last year's sins," he said. "I didn't start the year off with a whole new sin. I had a whole host of sins before that I had to deal with."

Rahm has said he supports the removal of the sign but also hopes people who oppose Trump's street sign will also encourage voters to vote in local elections.

"That was the right thing to do," he said. "I understand why [the City Council] wanted to take the sign down, it did speak to the values that the city is expressing. But the best way to make sure it's not a symbolic action but a real action is to make sure you turn out the vote in your respective communities."