Donald Trump is a bigot.

This is not exactly a secret. He rose to political prominence by claiming the first black president wasn't really American but Kenyan. He launched his presidential campaign by calling Mexican immigrants to the US "rapists," and doubled down when criticized. His most famous proposal is a total moratorium on Muslim entry to the United States.

But a report from the New York Times's Michael Barbaro and Megan Twohey has shone a light on a less examined side of Trump's bigotry: his long, persistent hatred and mistreatment of women. Former New Republic editor Franklin Foer has described misogyny as Trump's "one core belief." He's not wrong.

The accusations in the Times's exposé — some denied by Trump, some not — are damning:

Temple Taggart, a former Miss Utah, said that he kissed her on the lips at the Miss USA pageant, twice, against her will.

An advisor to presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump was greeted with laughter and ridicule on CNN Friday night after stating Hillary Clinton wants to abolish the 2nd Amendment.

Earlier in the day, Trump gave a pandering speech to the NRA by attacking Clinton over guns in return for an endorsement from the organization. During he speech he claimed Clinton would destroy the right to own guns.

Turning to Trump advisor Stephen Miller, host Don Lemon got right to the point.

“I want to talk about the 2nd Amendment,” Lemon began. “Because Donald Trump continues to say that Hillary Clinton wants to abolish the 2nd Amendment. That is false. That is false by every fact-checker, by the campaign, by her, by everyone who is listening but Donald Trump. Why does he continues to say that?”

“Because it’s true, ” Miller began, before pausing as the entire panel, including Lemon, began to laugh uproariously.

Miller asserted that Clinton wants to overturn the Supreme Court’s DC v Heller decision that shot down a law making it a crime to carry an unregistered firearm and prohibiting the registration of handguns, but still allowed for ownership of other types of weapons.

According to Miller, overturning the decision would mean “the 2nd Amendment would no longer exist.”

Guest Sally Kohn pushed back at Miller, pointing out that before the Heller decision, there had always been restrictions on guns. She also noted that even Constitutional originalist Antonin Scalia agreed that there should be some restrictions on guns.

MTP DAILY 5/20/16
Democratic Race Isn't As Close As You Think
The Hillary Clinton vs. Bernie Sanders race really isn't that close – certainly not as close as it was in 2008 between Barack Obama and Clinton. Chuck Todd breaks down the numbers on MTP Daily. Duration: 4:28

Bernie Sanders should have never gotten this far.

For nearly eight months, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders was able to skate by thanks to a willing media in bad need of a horse race on the Democratic side. Sure, it would be a historic first in our country for a woman to be the first ever nominee from a major political party, but that kind of history is so boring. There's no drama in having a clear frontrunner, running a clean campaign, avoiding any major slip ups or scandals all while running against a weak, inept, and single-issue fringe candidate with no real legislative accomplishments to his name. By giving the race the sense of being a "coronation" the networks knew that the majority of viewers wouldn't be tuning it, despite that opportunity to see what the history books will eventually show as being a historical campaign. The media needed drama and the only way to create drama was to create a sense that the race was much more closer than it actually was.

So like the good little Orwellian puppets that they are, our media did everything it could to create a horse race when one never existed. Sanders does well in Iowa and New Hampshire? The media simply ignores the fact that the demographics there play to Sanders' strengths. Sanders gets destroyed in South Carolina? The media simply ignores the fact that it's clear he hasn't won over the increasingly integral African-American voting bloc. Sanders struggles to win over Latinos? The media simply ignores the fact that he is unable to recreate the Obama coalition that was so successful in 2008 and 2012. Sanders wins a handful of states of Super Tuesday? The media simply ignores the fact that Sanders faced an impossible uphill climb to win the nomination from that point forward. Sanders wins 7 out of 8 primaries and caucuses in April? The media simply ignores the fact that Sanders is still down 240 delegates with multiple closed primaries looming. Sanders gets his second upset win in Indiana? The media simply ignores the fact that Hillary Clinton didn't spend any money on ad buys in the state and had already begun to shift her resources for the general election.

Along with simply ignoring basic delegate math, the media also had to bury any stories that made Sanders look bad. Thanks to some clever manipulation by the Sanders campaign themselves, they were able to successfully do this by creating counter narratives to try and justify the campaign's deceitful actions. Bernie Sanders caught stealing information from Hillary Clinton's voter files? Sue the DNC for shutting off the Sanders campaign's own access to their information as a punishment! Bernie Sanders flying to the Vatican to try and pander to New York's Catholic population? Claim it's because you've had a lifelong admiration for the Pope and simply couldn't pass up this opportunity! Bernie Sanders refusing to release more than one year of tax returns? Say that you'll do so when Hillary Clinton releases her full Goldman Sachs speech transcripts! Bernie Sanders' supporters creating a near-riot at the Nevada state convention? Blame the Democratic Party rather than taking responsibility for your supporters and your campaign!

Yet despite the media doing its best to create a sense of suspense, it's now painfully obvious to anyone not stuck in the cult of Bernie that Hillary Clinton will unquestionably be the Democratic nominee for president. Hillary's lead is insurmountable and she has significant leads in both New Jersey and California, the last two major delegates prizes this primary season. Despite being less than a month away from history in having the first ever woman officially clinch the nomination for a major political party in this country, that news is still bad news for the media. That would mean nearly a month and a half of no drama from either Republicans or Democrats which our news media simply cannot have. With Donald Trump now being the unquestioned nominee on the Republican side, it's up to Democrats to create some sort of drama between now and the July convention.

Fortunately for the media, they have a willing stooge in Bernie Sanders to do this.

In the Democratic race, despite a near-tie in the Kentucky primary and a loss in the Oregon primary Tuesday night, Clinton is now only about 92 delegates short of the 2,383 she needs to formally secure the nomination. ...She now has 2,291 delegates.

The former secretary of state is likely to reach her magic number on June 7, when a huge slate of primaries (in California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and the Dakotas) will put up for grabs more than 800 delegates.

Even if Clinton were to lose every remaining contest, she will still get to the mark, because the delegates are all allocated proportionally, based on each election’s results.

In the Republican race, meanwhile, Trump, whose victory in the GOP’s Oregon primary Tuesday awarded him 17 delegates, now has 1,160 total delegates, the AP’s most recent count showed, meaning he is only 77 shy of the 1,237 he needs to formally secure the nomination.

The outspoken mogul will almost definitely reach that milestone on June 7, when GOP voters in California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota head to the polls, putting up for grabs about 300 delegates — most of which Trump is likely to win.

I never was a “true” believer, but that’s a general principle. It leads to rationalizing irrational beliefs and behaviors. But I was a believer. Bernie’s message had been missing from Democratic politics for over a decade. It had been missing from the response to the graft and the greed that crashed the world’s economy. It promised to reverse the abandonment of unions and of the working poor, and it recognized the immorality of embracing Wall Street. It spoke to the base of the old Party, of the Party of people over profits, the Party that stood between us and predatory capitalism. And no part of that message was likely to come from Hillary Clinton. That it has, of late, is a tribute to Bernie’s candidacy.

But make no mistake: that message is restorative, for those too young to know, not revolutionary. I never liked the campaign rhetoric of revolution, and I was blind-sided by the extent to which it was taken seriously despite lacking substance. Nor is any part of the message even conceivable on the strength only of enthusiasm. That belief verges on a personality cult. Neither Hillary nor Bernie will accomplish anything if Democrats cannot take the Senate and cut the Republican margin in the House.

Still, the philosophy was right, and the policies were right. It’s just that, somewhere, the politics turned destructive. When victory, always so improbable, suddenly was both probable and close only to be lost the night New York was lost, and by a crushing margin, I still wanted him to stay in the race. I thought that was the only way to prevent Hillary, and the entire Party for that matter, from sliding back to the right. I did expect him to ease up on the Clinton attacks. That he did not was the first red flag. Since then, there have been ever bigger flags.

His attacks on Clinton sharpened even while Trump began using them himself and advertising himself as the natural destination for Bernie’s supporters. Bernie constantly attacks and condemns the Party even though the success of the Party would determine his success as a candidate let alone as a President. Ironically, he continues to attack the Party that he wants to lead while declaring that its own super-delegates are his somewhat ethereal path to victory. Now, he cannot even call his supporters to order without qualifications and excuses. What I see now is anything but leadership or statesmanship. It is not the behavior I would want in a President.

And the stakes, this year, could not be higher. Donald Trump can win this election. He has been given a gift of unimaginable import: he has won the nomination while we continue to fight. That both bestows an initial credibility while freeing him to work at expanding it. Establishment Republicans already are falling sheepishly in line, and Trump is moving with alarming speed to consolidate them, as with his release of potential Supreme Court nominees (a list that should terrify progressives and anyone not an ultra-conservative, religious zealot). And Trump can do such things 24/7. He has no beliefs, and he doesn’t care about anything. He will say whatever, whenever, and change it all in the afternoon.