Today I learned that some stories don't need ledes.
According to Pornhub Insights, "President-elect Donald Trump's current wife, Melania Trump, was searched 1538% more, former wife 'Ivanka Trump' +1169% and daughter 'Tiffany Trump' +2548% more than their average levels" the day after Election Day. "Together, they accounted for nearly 250,000 Pornhub searches on Nov. 9th, and have remained higher than normal in the days that have followed."
To the best of my Google-able knowledge, psychoanalysis offers no diagnosis for when Trump-brand Stockholm syndrome eclipses election fatigue. But there is a historical precedent for tangentially Trump-related Pornhub searches.
After Hillary Clinton brought up Alicia Machado — who, she said, Trump called "Miss Piggy" — during the first presidential debate on Sept. 26, Trump suggested via Twitter that the former Miss Universe featured in a sex tape:
Trump was pointing to false rumors that Machado — who'd posed topless for Playboy — starred in a hardcore porn video.
"On Sept. 28, searches for Alicia Machado skyrocketed by 3029%, making her the most searched for person, and the 5th most popular search term on Pornhub that day," again according to Pornhub Insights.
Vocativ further noted that in the days following the first debate, "Searches for Machado even surpassed those for porn legend Lisa Ann, who usually is the number one most popular porn star on RedTube."
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