How’s that for clickbait?
On June 21, writer E. Jean Carroll publicized her new book on the website of New York magazine, saying that of all the “hideous” men who have mistreated her in life, Donald Trump was the worst, because “in the fall of 1995 or the spring of 1996″ they had a playful encounter in the Bergdorf’s department store that led to a fitting room where Trump forced himself on her, ” (thrusting) his penis halfway — or completely, I’m not certain — inside me.” So a career writer in a major metropolitan magazine has just accused the President of the United States of rape. Or as we call it these days, “Friday.”
You notice I did not use the term “alleged rape.” Frankly, the fact behind the rumor is irrelevant.
I am frankly not sure that Carroll is credible. Her prose is flippant even now and very much so in describing the event. There are always certain questions that, rightly or wrongly, come up when a rape accusation is made many years after the fact, namely: Why now? Why did you wait so long? Carroll answers for herself: “Because I am a coward.” But also: ” I run the risk of making him more popular by revealing what he did.”
Over the course of the last week, a whole bunch of media types have been taking their own profession to task about how little attention they are allegedly giving this alleged event. The thread of discussion underlies that the subject is not really being neglected at all. The fact of the matter is that an accusation is simply an accusation without proof, and there is none. And if this were any other President with the likely exception of Bill Clinton, the accusation would provoke horror, or at the other extreme, laughter. The fact that this accusation is treated by many as no big deal is the real verdict: it IS no big deal. The fact of whether Donald Trump raped somebody is irrelevant to the point that most of us consider it likely that he could.
In common-law countries, an accused is always legally innocent until proven guilty. In the social arena, this is normally also the case. But that depends on the individual’s reputation, or social capital, which is earned or squandered by one’s deeds. And when the accused lies literally every day, has been under investigation or lawsuit for most of his life for his crooked business deals, is currently being investigated by Congress, has been married three times, was proven to have paid off two women in the 2016 campaign to not tell stories about their affairs with him, and actively cultivates the image of being a disgusting pig, we cannot be surprised that any charge against him, no matter how horrible, is believable. Especially since, as with the Daniels and McDougal affairs, the rumors usually turn out to be true.
It also doesn’t help that the accused reacted the way he did. Speaking to reporters, Trump prefaced his remarks with “I’ll say it with great respect” – like how he said “some” Mexicans are good people – ” Number one, she’s not my type.” The implication of course, being, “Now, if she was my type? Sure, I’d rape her.” This attitude does not exactly reinforce credibility.
Both legally and socially, the burden is on the party making an accusation against a target. If the target’s reputation was previously clean, the social burden may be too much to surmount. But if facts become clear, and they do not favor the accused, then the burden is on the accused, whether he is legally guilty of anything or not.
This is probably what Republicans realize when they defend Trump. He has no credibility, so they have to lend him theirs. The joke of course being that if the respectable cloth-coat Republicans still had credibility with their own base, they wouldn’t have nominated Trump. Such credibility they still have is with the mainstream media who see them as something other than the jeering redcaps at Trump rallies, who actually love him all the more the more transgressive he gets, like G.G. Allin with nuclear weapons. And yet, people are acting like there’s such a thing as shame. Republicans, who have traded in shaming their enemies for so long, refuse to acknowledge it now. All they have to do is deny. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said, “I know the president has said this is not true … yes I believe the president.” Mitt Romney said, “The president indicated that this did not occur and that’s I think his strongest point to make.” Yes. It WOULD be. Normally. Trump is not a rapist. In exactly the same way that O. J. Simpson is not a murderer.
And it is testimony to how broken and scared the Republicans are that they continue on this path, when they ought to know better. Of course, when your leader is accused of something horrible, and there’s no REAL proof of it, you deny it. But as so many people say, this is not normal. Or rather, abnormal is the new normal. And we should quit acting as though normal is normal. Why do Republicans keep going further and further out, putting their own credibility on the line? Of course there’s no evidence that Donald Trump could do such a thing. EXCEPT for everything we’ve found out about him since he ran for president, and everything that New York reporters had found out about him years before, but did not stress until he became a threat to their profession, and incidentally, the nation. But these guys continue to insist there’s no proof of what E. Jean Carroll is saying. Just like there was no proof of what Stormy Daniels was saying. Until there was. Just like there was no proof of the Karen McDougal story. Until there was.
There’s no proof that Trump was involved in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex crimes, either.
Just saying.
A friend of mine posted this liberal article on Facebook: The Trouble With Normal Is It Always Gets Worse. I agree with much of it, but argue with this part of the text, quoting another Lawyers, Guns & Money post:
“Regardless of his supporters we have to keep talking about these rapes over and over and over because otherwise we accept the implicit framing that it’s somehow okay or that there’s some kind of non-legal statute of limitations on holding someone accountable for rape.
In other words we normalize it. We normalize rape. Rape.
That’s not okay. I understand that we live in a rape culture and that rape and sexual assault are to some degree already distressingly normal and normalized, but this is different. This is not hidden or glossed over or anything. It’s an open accusation, both credible and substantiated by what she said at the time, and consistent with over a dozen other accounts.
We need to keep talking about it. A lot. Because if we don’t we give the message that you can get a free pass on rape if you just…do it enough times that people get tired of hearing about it, or stonewall and lie about it no matter how obviously.
If I had a media platform I would consider calling him “Credibly accused rapist and president Donald Trump” on a regular basis.
Like it or not many people, including children, take their cues from ‘leaders.’ What message are we sending if we say “if you’re important enough it doesn’t matter if you rape someone, because holding you accountable is too inconvenient” on such a public scale. I understand that’s a message we send frequently in other situations but it’s one we must resist.
Trump cannot be allowed to get away with the moral equivalent of the Gish gallop. Not on this.”
But he IS getting away with it, because we will not normalize this. We are so desperate to say that things are okay, that we will not admit what’s in front of our eyes. Everyone wants to have it both ways, especially the Good Christians ™ of the Party of Trump, who want the benefits of political dominance without the social consequences that they were all screaming and yelling about when Bill Clinton was in charge.
The only way out is through.
All the professional Christians are going to have to embrace the consequences of their actions and admit that THEY FORCED THIS ON THE COUNTRY, Because Hillary and Because Abortion, and they want to do it again Because Trannies and Because Drag Queen Story Hour.
Everyone is going to have to normalize this. They are going to have to look themselves in the mirror and admit that Donald Trump is a squealing, shit-covered little piglet. That is not a value judgment. It is a fact. The value judgment is what the country is going to DO about it. The value judgment is where you look yourself in the mirror and decide that such a creature should or should not be President of the United States.
And if you’re okay with it, then the problem is not with Donald Trump.
Where is the problem? With the person in the mirror.