As a result of Trump's de facto endorsement of Roy Moore, more media articles are calling for an examination of the myriad of allegations of sexual misconduct women have made against him over a period of decades. Either he is so out of touch with reality that he believes he is Emperor of the World and immune to the fate that befell such mortals as Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and others in the past six weeks, or he is really stupid for never learning that people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
Back in October, 2016, New York Magazine published this exhaustive list of the sexual harassment and sexual assault accusations against Donald Trump, including one sexual assault claim by a 13 year old who filed three lawsuits (two in federal court and one in state court) alleging he violently raped her at billionaire Jeffrey Epstein's New York mansion. (I wrote about that accusation here.)
The list is quite a potpourri -- in addition to the child sexual assault allegation, there's an unwanted kissing allegation and a grabbing the breasts allegation (on an airplane no less, how ironic that he would criticize Al Franken), allegations of sexual harassment at the Trump Organization -- even groping claims at his Palm Beach resort.
How Trump-like that when a female reporter asked him about the breast-grabbing incident on the plane, his response was to call the reporter "a disgusting human being.”
I am not saying that any of the allegations against him are true. Accusations are not proof. He is entitled to the presumption of innocence in a court of law, as is Roy Moore.
But should he have a desk in the Oval Office? He has repeatedly publicly expressed such disdain for women, I don't think so. Whether the claims of improper touching and assault are ever resolved, there's still his over the top vulgarity with respect to women. Does anyone doubt this allegation?
Sexually Harassing a Woman During the 1993 White House Correspondents’ Dinner
When Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter invited Trump to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in 1993 as a “novelty guest,” he allegedly got more than he bargained for.
Forty-five minutes after Trump sat down next to Swedish model Vendela Kirsebom, Carter claims she came over to his table, almost in tears, begging him to move her. “It seems that Trump had spent his entire time with her assaying the ‘t*ts’ and legs of the other female guests and asking how they measured up to those of other women, including his wife,” Carter wrote. ‘“He is,’ she told me, in words that seemed familiar, ‘the most vulgar man I have ever met.’”
The core of Trump's voter base in 2016 was rural Clinton haters. He was never a Republican, and he has no allegiance to Republicans. Most of the party elders refused to support him. They knew Trump doesn't give one whit about the party -- he only cares about himself and whether he can claim "a win."
As the Clintons fade into private life, their emotional relevance will fade for his rural, under-informed, marginalized and angry voter base. These people will never be content with their lot in life, no matter what Donald Trump does sitting at his desk in the Oval Office. Without the Clintons to kick around anymore, they will need a new Richard Nixon to blame.
If Trump's tax plan fails, his border wall doesn't materialize, he gets into more wars in which their family members in the military are at greater risk, and he keeps making trade deals with foreign governments that mostly benefit the fat cats and not them, they may go from wondering if they've been sold a bill of goods to deserting him.
If the media does its job and investigates and reports on the sexual assault allegations against him, and his accusers who have come forward are willing to be interviewed on TV, at a minimum it will be a distraction to his Administration and at best, it will end with him being the new Richard Nixon.
