Donald Trump thinks insulting women is 'entertainment'

It's Donald Trump's world and women are just forced to live in it as his favorite punch line.

The Republican presidential candidate, who recently defended his treatment of a former Miss Universe by saying she'd gained a "massive amount of weight," explained on Thursday why so many of his derogatory remarks target women.

"A lot of that was done for the purpose of entertainment," he told Jim Snyder, a reporter for KSNV, the Las Vegas NBC affiliate. "There's nobody — I can tell you this — there is nobody, nobody that has more respect for women than I do."

Snyder touched on several topics during his 10-minute interview, including hotel unions and nuclear waste disposal in Nevada, but also asked about Trump's habit of mocking and belittling women at the 6'30 mark in the video above.

"You have two beautiful daughters who are past their teenage years that, you know, could be awkward and confusing," Snyder said. "Do you understand the concern from parents of younger girls that some of the wording that you've used to talk about attractiveness or unattractiveness might make it more difficult for girls who are struggling with their body image and the pressure to be model-perfect?"

Trump said those comments were made in the context of his appearances on his reality television show The Apprentice.

"You're in the entertainment business, you're doing The Apprentice, you have one of the top shows on television, and you say things differently for a reason," Trump said. "And now it's a much different world."

That version of events is only partially true. While Trump did make degrading comments on camera, an Associated Press investigation published Monday found that he was "lewd" and "sexist" off-camera as well.

After interviewing more than 20 former crew members, editors and contestants, the AP determined that Trump rated female contestants according to their breast size and discussed which ones he'd like to have a sexual relationship with. The Trump campaign denied those and other claims.

Last week, the Los Angeles Times published court records indicating that Trump frequently remarked on the physical traits of female staff members at his golf club in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, and requested that managers fire the less-attractive employees. The golf course settled a lawsuit related to workplace culture in 2013, but admitted no wrongdoing.

Trump also has a long, public history of crudely commenting on women's bodies and insulting women he dislikes by using terms like "fat pig," "dog" and "slob."

During the 2016 campaign alone, he has defended his personal attacks on Rosie O'Donnell, saying she deserved them, retweeted comments calling the Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly a "bimbo" and said Hillary Clinton doesn't have a presidential "look."

It's unclear how any of this behavior amounts to respecting women, though Trump continues to claim he's their great champion. Worse yet, he offers no apology or regret — only the same justification of any schoolyard bully: it was just a joke.

Meanwhile, body-shaming has become such a central theme of this election that the Clinton campaign created an attack based on Trump's previous statements about women.

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And earlier this week a 15-year-old teenager raised the subject in a town hall with Clinton.

When she asked Clinton how she'd reverse the "damage" caused by Trump's comments, Clinton knew exactly what to say.

"We have got to be as clear as possible: You are more than the way you look," Clinton said. 

The next time Trump answers a question about insulting women and their appearance, he might try that answer for a change.