‘They told us not to share how we voted with each other, but we did anyway. I was shocked. I didn’t know what had happened. I felt ridiculous.’
One competitor, Adwoa Yamoah, Miss Canada in 2012 said:
‘He made comments about every girl. “I’ve been to that country.” “We’re building a Trump Tower there.” It was clear the countries that he liked did well. He’d whisper to Paula about the girls, and she’d write it down. He basically told us he picked nine of the top fifteen.’
The man who would later become president scheduled Miss Universe pageants in Puerto Rico twice, Las Vegas twice, and Florida twice. He also scheduled them where he could get the biggest bang for his buck, in cities where Miss Universe had high TV ratings. The pageants have not done nearly as well in the U.S. as they did in cities farther to the south, according to The New Yorker:
‘Panama City, Sao Paulo, Quito, and Mexico City.’
Then, Trump took his show on the road to Russia in November, 2013.
Special counsel, Robert Mueller announced his indictment of 13 Russians and three Russian companies. He charged them with conspiring to undermine the 2016 presidential election. Their goal was to hand Trump the election. Was there a link?
The Russians manipulated Americans via the social media using stolen identities. One Instagram read:
‘Particular hype and hatred for Trump is misleading the people and forcing Blacks to vote Killary. Supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump and disparaging Hillary Clinton.’
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that Trump:
‘Is glad to see the Special Counsel’s investigation further indicates—that there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia and that the outcome of the election was not changed or affected.’
Actually, the Russians hired over 80 people and worked on a budget of over $1 million per month. Mueller’s announced indictments did not include anything about Russians hacking the DNC (Democratic National Committee) emails nor Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, John Podesta’s private emails.
Trump bought the Miss Universe pageant in 1996:
‘How could I pass up the opportunity to own the world’s premiere beauty pageant? They had a person who was extremely proud that a number of the women had become doctors. And I wasn’t interested.’
Miss Universe in 1997, Venezuela’s Alicia Machado, gained some weight. Trump took it personally. had cameras follow him into her workout gym. He said:
‘This is somebody that likes to eat.’
During a presidential debate, Hillary Clinton said:
‘He called this woman “Miss Piggy.” Then he called her “Miss Housekeeping,” because she was Latina. Donald, she has a name: Her name is Alicia Machado.’
Trump never quit. He later said:
‘She gained a massive amount of weight, and it was a real problem.’
He also treated the women as if he owned them. He said on live radio:
‘I’ll go backstage before a show and everyone’s getting dressed, and everything else, and you know, no men are anywhere, and I’m allowed to go in because I’m the owner of the pageant and therefore I’m inspecting it. You know, they’re standing there with no clothes.’
In 1987, Trump went to Moscow. He said:
‘I’m talking about building a large luxury hotel, across the street from the Kremlin, in partnership with the Soviet government. They have asked me to go to Moscow in July.’
Since then, he has returned regularly, because, as one of his friends said:
‘There was a lot of money in Moscow.’
Featured image via Getty Images/Rodrigo Varela.
