E Minus 24: The issue is Donald Trump. As more women have come forward to say that Trump kissed and groped them against their will, the Republican presidential candidate has continued to claim they are liars and not that good looking. He said about one woman, “Believe me, she would not be my first choice.”

Kristen Anderson, once an aspiring model who is now a photographer in Southern California, said that back in the 1990s Trump reached up her mini-skirt in a Manhattan nightclub and touched her vagina through her underwear. Anderson said she and her friends just thought, “Okay, Donald is gross. We all know he’s gross. Let’s just move on.”

Anderson had to be persuaded by The Washington Post to tell her story. Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in a statement, “Mr. Trump strongly denies this phony allegation by someone looking to get free publicity.”

In Los Angeles, Summer Zervos, a Republican and a former contestant on “The Apprentice,” accused Trump of kissing her, grabbing her breasts and thrusting his pelvis into her at the start of what was supposed to be a business meeting at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2007.  “He asked me to sit next to him,” Zervos said at a press conference. “He grabbed my shoulder and began kissing me aggressively and placed his hand on my breast.”

Trump’s long record of talking about women and sex while recorders are running is killing him. In a just-released tape of Trump talking to shock jock Howard Stern about then 18-year-old actress Lindsay Lohan, Trump says, “She’s probably deeply troubled and therefore great in bed. How come the deeply troubled women, you know, deeply, deeply troubled, they’re always the best in bed?”

Party Unity: One thing about Donald Trump — he’s beginning to unify conservative and liberal newspaper columnists.

Über conservative Charles Krauthammer wrote that Trump’s talk about jailing Hillary Clinton is an assault on democracy. “Such incendiary talk is an affront to elementary democratic decency and a breach of the boundaries of American political discourse.” He said, “The prize for the winner is temporary accession to limited political power, not the satisfaction of vendettas. Vladimir Putin, Hugo Chávez and a cavalcade of two-bit caudillos lock up their opponents. American leaders don’t.”

Timothy Egan, writing for The NY Times, said, “A wounded bear is a dangerous thing. Detested and defeated, Donald Trump is now in a tear-the-country-down rage.”

Egan said Trump has made America “vile” and he’s destroying the Republican Party. “But those who take pleasure in watching Trump destroy the Republican Party are missing the bigger picture. He’s trying to destroy the country, as well. Civility, always a tenuous thing, cannot be quickly restored in a society that has learned to hate in public, at full throttle.”

World: In one stroke, 170 countries agreed today to cut the use of planet-warming hydrofluorocarbons used in airs conditioners. — Thailand’s Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn has delayed ascending to the throne to give himself a period of mourning. The prince is a notorious playboy who’s been married three times and the country has doubts whether he can preserve the monarchy and its $31 billion fortune.

Nation: Three Western Kansas men have been arrested and charged with plotting to bomb an apartment complex occupied Somali immigrants. They’re being charged with domestic terrorism.

Rum and Coca-Cola: As relations with Cuba loosen, the Obama administration has lifted the limits on how much rum and cigars American visitors can bring home. The original limit was $100 worth, but now it’s unlimited so long as everything is for personal use. If you can pack it, you can keep it. We recommend Santiago de Cuba rum.

In return, Cubans will be allowed to buy some US consumer goods online, and Cuban pharmaceutical companies can do business here.

Northern Exposure: Residents of the far northern Alaska town of Barrow have voted narrowly to change the town’s name to a traditional Inupiat Indian name, “Utqiagvik.” It’s pronounced “oot-GHAR-vik,” and there’s some debate about what it means. Some says it means “a place where snow owls are hunted,” while dissenters say it means “a place for gathering potatoes,” although potatoes are not a native plant. The town is also applying to the state to change the word “Stop” on its stop signs to “Nutqagin,” which all agree means “Stop.”

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