Where There’s Trump, There’s Fire
Fool us once, shame on Trump. What was alleged to be mere "locker room talk," appears to have manifested outside the locker room on several occasions. According to a growing number of women, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump either harassed or sexually assaulted them.
Wednesday afternoon the New York Times reported the assaults of two victims, Jessica Leeds and Rachel Crooks. Leeds described on video with the Times, how Trump lifted an armrest before groping her on an airplane. Later, People writer Natasha Stoynoff, wrote in detail of an experience she had with Trump back in 2005. Stoynoff recounts how Trump pushed her against a wall and forced his tongue ‘down her throat.’ People sent Stoynoff to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to interview Trump and his wife Melania for a feature story on the couple’s first anniversary.
The Trump campaign has staunchly denied every accusation made against him. According to Trump his accusers are “horrible, horrible liars.” Campaign spokeswoman for the Trump campaign Katrina Pierson, dismissed the accusations saying, ‘they want 15 minutes of fame.’ This reaction from Pierson is a reversal from her previous demands that ‘all victims of sexual assault be heard and believed.’
With a responsibility to craft the campaign’s public message, Pierson’s words were disgraceful. Campaign spokespeople ought not have their name connected with the shaming of sexual assault victims, especially when the client of the spokesperson attacked those victims. The defamation of accusers by Trump’s campaign exacerbates the unwillingness of assault victims to expose their attackers and perpetuates the rape culture facilitating our epidemic of sexual assault.
Trump would have us believe that several women are exposing themselves to undue public scrutiny just for the purpose of damaging his political aspirations. If the allegations are true, it is important to note that Trump lied during the second presidential debate. Co-moderator of the Washington University debate in St. Louis, Missouri Anderson Cooper of CNN asked Trump directly, whether he participated in the activities that he bragged about on the Access Hollywood tapes. Trump denied committing the acts described, claiming the taped conversation amounted to mere locker room talk. With the number of Trump’s accusers growing by the hour, his Cosby-like past appears to finally be catching up with him.
Thumbnail image credit: Reuters
