Photo credit: Michael Vadon (CC-By-SA 4.0)
After last week’s release of 2005 video that caught Donald Trump making some incredibly inappropriate and lewd remarks to Billy Bush things have gone from bad to worse.
I thought as much since the video was released in early October that was a sign more was going to drop. Since then The New York Times released interviews with two women who accuse Trump of touching them inappropriately. This was after Trump told Anderson Cooper during Sunday night’s debate that he had not actually done the things he discussed with Bush.
It’s just “locker room banter” don’t you know. I mean *all* of the guys I know brag about sexual assault when they are just around the guys. *Sigh.* If you really believe that or if that is your experience you seriously need a different group of friends.
That New York Times article appears to just be a warm-up. A People Magazine reporter accused Trump of  assaulting her when she was at his Mar-a-Lago resort in December of 2005.  She recounts:
Our photo team shot the Trumps on the lush grounds of their Florida estate, and I interviewed them about how happy their first year of marriage had been. When we took a break for the then-very-pregnant Melania to go upstairs and change wardrobe for more photos, Donald wanted to show me around the mansion. There was one âtremendousâ room in particular, he said, that I just had to see.
âI just start kissing them,â he said to Bush. âItâs like a magnet. Just kiss. I donât even wait. And when youâre a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.â
We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat.
Now, Iâm a tall, strapping girl who grew up wrestling two giant brothers. I even once sparred with Mike Tyson. It takes a lot to push me. But Trump is much bigger â a looming figure â and he was fast, taking me by surprise and throwing me off balance. I was stunned. And I was grateful when Trumpâs longtime butler burst into the room a minute later, as I tried to unpin myself.
He then asked her later, “You know we are going to have an affair, don’t you?” She at the time was on the “Trump Beat” for People Magazine and asked to be reassigned.
A Florida woman told The Palm Beach Post that Trump groped her 10 years ago. Yet another woman, Kristin Anderson, said that Trump groped her at the China Club in New York City in the early 1990s. Then a former contestant, Summer Zervos, on The Apprentice announced today that Trump had sexually harassed her while she was on the show in 2007.
The Trump campaign, obviously, denies this. The proof offered so far by Trump is that the women in question have not been his type.
“She (speaking of Jessica Leeds who accused Trump of assaulting her on a plane) would not have been my first choice,” Trump said at a rally in Greensboro, NC.
Trump’s running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, said that evidence Trump didn’t do this is hours away. Â We’ll see.
Look, yes the timing is suspect…. Hello this is politics. It is the underbelly of politics that I can’t stand. The video just low and behold appeared a month out from the election when it could have been released during the primaries. He is asked if he ever actually did any of these during Sunday’s debate and bam Monday morning there are two women who said yes he did.
So I totally understand thinking this is being orchestrated by allies of the Clinton campaign. Another thought is that this is just an avalanche. The tape comes out. The debate happens… one woman ticked off about what Trump said calls him out, which empowers another woman to come out and another and another.
Or they could all be full of crap, but I have a hard time believing that.
The problem for Trump in light of his history of extramarital affairs and the tape that was released it all is believable. Many of these instances are “he said, she said” and frankly I don’t know how they are going to be proven or not proven.
Unlike a court of law there is no “innocent until proven guilty” in the court of public opinion, and this past week has likely done irreparable damage. With all due respect to Governor Pence I don’t see what silver bullet proof Trump might offer that will disprove all of these accusations that have been made so far – with an emphasis on “so far” – I suspect more is coming.
I also have a hard time feeling sorry for Trump for getting trumped. He pushed a National Enquirer story about Ted Cruz that was flimsier than the accusations being made against him and Cruz did not have a reputation or history of philandering.
Republicans who support Trump should also be careful about circling the wagon on this, as well as, downplaying the credibility of Trump’s accusers. Isn’t this exactly what we are complaining about Hillary Clinton doing to those who accused President Bill Clinton of inappropriate sexual conduct?
I’m also curious how many defending Trump today pummeled President Clinton when he was accused? So does character only matter when it involves a person in the opposing party? The same can be said about Democrats who have blasted Trump this week and have been mum on the Clintons.
Consistency often gets thrown out the window as far as politics are concerned and that is tragic.