The MSM are lining up behind this accused accomplice to murder.<\/p>\n
When Hillary Clinton told the 84 million people watching the presidential debate how Donald Trump disparaged Alicia Machado\u2019s weight and ethnicity during her tenure as Miss Universe, the former beauty queen, watching at home in Los Angeles, began to cry. <\/p>\n
Then she began to tweet: first a message supporting Clinton, then a pledge to vote, complete with a picture of her smiling with her U.S. passport, bestowed when she became a citizen after leaving her native Venezuela.<\/p>\n
Clinton\u2019s crisp recitation of the insults Trump lobbed at Machado was a breakout moment in Monday\u2019s lively debate. Machado, now an actress at age 39, has since emerged as Clinton\u2019s latest breakout political weapon: a walking embodiment of Trump\u2019s political vulnerabilities. <\/p>\n
His crass nickname for Machado following her weight gain, \u201cMiss Piggy,\u201d got immediate attention as alienating to women. Less noticed, but also potentially toxic, was his other nickname for her: \u201cMiss Housekeeping,\u201d a dig at her ethnicity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a dignified job, but he said it in a way that was meant to insult me,\u201d Machado told The Times on Tuesday. \u201cIt really is a reflection of how he feels about Latinos.\u201d<\/p>\n
By personifying Trump\u2019s crass interactions with Latinos and women, Machado could make an efficient appeal on Clinton\u2019s behalf to key voting groups.<\/p>\n
The Clinton campaign is \u201ctrying to raise the decibel with its own base\u201d of Latinos, said GOP strategist Mike Madrid, as well as \u201ctrying to peel off Republican women.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s no question that this is a two-fer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Machado, who has been campaigning for Clinton since June, said she was surprised to hear the Democratic nominee tell her story Monday night. Her self-professed shock belied the obvious groundwork laid by the Clinton team: a slickly produced campaign video was rolled out online within an hour, a well-timed interview and photo shoot with Cosmopolitan magazine landed by midday Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The attention gave Machado ample chance to rehash her unhappy history with Trump.<\/p>\n
Machado was crowned Miss Universe in 1996, the same year the real estate magnate purchased the pageant organization.<\/p>\n
About eight months into her tenure, she approached Miss Universe officials about seeking help to lose weight. To her surprise, Trump got involved and convened a media scrum to watch Machado, then 20 years old, work out.<\/p>\n
“When you win a beauty pageant,” Trump told People magazine at the time, “people don’t think you’re going to go from 118 to 160 in less than a year, and you really have an obligation to stay in a perfect physical state.”<\/p>\n
Trump was unapologetic Tuesday about his comments on Machado\u2019s weight.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was the worst we ever had, the worst, the absolute worst. She was impossible,\u201d he said in a television interview. \u201cShe was the winner and she gained a massive amount of weight and it was a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the 20 years since her Miss Universe tenure, Machado\u2019s life has at times resembled the telenovelas she starred in. In 1998 she was accused of being an accomplice to an attempted murder. A judge later said there was insufficient evidence to arrest her and ordered only her boyfriend\u2019s arrest. The judge later accused Machado of threatening his life. <\/p>\n
She\u2019s posed twice for Playboy and six years ago launched a foundation that supports single mothers. She\u2019s also become an outspoken advocate to raise awareness of eating disorders, which she herself suffered from.<\/p>\n
Machado moved to Los Angeles six months ago in hopes of jump-starting her English-language acting career.<\/p>\n
Time hasn\u2019t softened her views on Trump. Machado often uses the hashtag #NaziRat to describe Trump on Twitter.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Steve Sailer nails it: <\/p>\n
NEW YORK TIMES Doubles Down Defending the Virtue of Alicia Machado, Conquistador-American Adventuress<\/p>\n
This is now the top news story<\/a> on the New York Times<\/em> home page.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the New York Times Editorial Board<\/a> editorialized:<\/p>\n
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