ABC News(GREENSBORO – N.C.) — Julie Harrison, 71, has supported Donald Trump for president since the beginning of the race and at a recent rally for the Republican candidate in Greensboro, North Carolina, said that she plans to vote for him still despite the growing number of women accusing him of sexual assault.
Like other female Trump supporters interviewed by ABC News in North Carolina and Florida, Harrison expressed skepticism about why the accusers waited years before going public with their claims of sexual assault by Trump.
“I’m totally aware that a lot of times, women get into more than they can handle,” said Harrison, who said she is a retired train engineer and also used to work in bars. “I’m an instant kind of person — if I got into a situation, I instantly go take care of it. I don’t wait 20 years to 30 years or 10 years before I have to have a crowd around me in order to step up.”
Harrison said she had been hoping to be interviewed about Trump because she has a lot to say.
The women accusing Trump “had no respect for themselves when it happened, then why all of a sudden do they have respect for themselves now?” she said.
Even if the accusations are proven true, Harrison said she would support her candidate.
The country desperately needs Donald Trump, she said.
“He’s got the will and the strength and stand up and say, ‘No more,’” she told ABC News. “I think that’s what middle America is ready for.”
Shawna Chrismon, who sat in the front row at Trump’s rally in Greensboro, said she’s undecided but leaning heavily toward Trump.
Like Harrison, Chrismon wonders why the women accusing Trump waited years before coming forward. She also dismissed the notion that if the allegations are true, they would affect Trump’s ability to be a good president.
Other presidents have had mistresses, for example, the 42-year-old said: “I’m not sure that that affects their ability to run the country.”
Asked if she thinks that American culture promotes skepticism of women’s claims of sexual assault, Chrismon paused before answering. “That’s a tough question,” she said. “I don’t think so. Not in my personal experience.”
Chrismon added, “There are certain things that I feel with my heart and certain things I feel more with my head. I tend to vote more with my head than I do with my heart.”
A day earlier at a Trump rally in West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump attacked the women accusing him of sexual assault, suggesting that the allegations were timed entirely to hurt his election chances.
“These people are horrible people. They’re horrible, horrible liars,” the GOP nominee said. “And interestingly, it happens to appear 26 days before our very important election.”
Pat Mastrogiacomo, a woman in her 70s at the rally with a female friend, was blunt in her assessment of the women accusers: “I don’t believe any of them.”
“Something could’ve happened, but not the way they’re fabricated things to make him look very bad, you know?” Mastrogiacomo said. “It could’ve been anything, but they’re making it look worse than it is. Almost every man talks locker room talk.”
Similar to other female Trump supporters interviewed, she said that even if the allegations are true it would not affect her support for the Republican candidate.
“I still would vote for him,” she said. “It has nothing to do with how the man is going to run the country.”
Mastrogiacomo, like many women Trump backers, also told ABC News that Trump’s alleged behavior pales in comparison with what they called Clinton’s “lies,” including about the Democratic candidate’s health.
“There are signs of Parkinson’s disease, and they’re keeping it quiet,” Mastrogiacomo said. “I don’t think she’s healthy for this country.”
A man nearby chimed in. “I think she’s going to die.”
“I hope she does!” Mastrogiacomo responded. “I hope she goes fast!”
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