If Donald Trump becomes the Republican presidential nominee in 2024, he will be the first convicted rapist in US history to be a major party presidential candidate. While the rest of the world is focused on Trump’s various other indictments, nothing more completely illustrates the breakdown of morality and the degradation of women among today’s Republicans than his post conviction Republican presidential frontrunner status .
Republicans try to diminish the verdict
E. Jean Carroll, an advice columnist, wrote in a magazine article that Trump raped her in 1995 or 1996 in a Manhattan Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room. She claimed Trump pushed her against the wall in the store’s dressing room, pulled down her tights and forcibly penetrated her with his fingers and then his penis. Trump claimed (while president) that he never met Carroll and couldn’t have raped her because she wasn’t his type.
In 2019, New York passed the Adult Survivor’s Act which allowed adult survivors of sexual assault to file a civil suit against predators. Carroll was one of over 3,700 women using the law to sue their attackers.
Trump was required to give a sworn deposition before the trial. Shown the above photo of Trump and Carroll, Trump repeatedly argued that Carroll was actually his long-time mistress and second wife Marla Maples. The picture and Trump’s misidentification of Carroll as his former wife destroyed Trump’s defense that he never met Carroll and she wasn’t his type.
At the trial, Carroll described the attack to the jury. Trump’s lawyer spent two days trying to pick apart her testimony about the rape. This was a classic example of rape trials where the victim winds up being put on trial.
Using a tactic in trials of other sexual predators, Carroll’s lawyers had two other women give sworn testimony about also being sexually assaulted by Trump. (There is a support group formed by two dozen women who have been sexually assaulted by Trump.)
Carroll’s lawyers also played the famous Hollywood Access tape Trump, made shortly after marrying Melania Trump. On the recording, about another woman, Trump stated, “I moved on her actually, she was down in Palm Beach and I failed. I’ll admit it. I did try to fuck her, she was married … and I moved on her very heavily,”
Trump seems to have a fetish about sexually assaulting women in stores.
“I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture and I told her ‘I’ll show you where you can get some nice furniture.’ I moved on her like a bitch, and I could not get there, and she was married. And all the sudden I see her and she’s got the big phony tits, she’s totally changed her look.”
Trump continued, “I’m automatically attracted to beautiful women — I just start kissing them, it’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the pussy.”
The nine-person jury of Trump’s peers took less than three hours to unanimously find Trump guilty of sexual abuse, defamation and ordered that he pay her $5 million in damages.
After the verdict, Trump continued defaming Carroll, claiming the jury didn’t find him guilty of rape. US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over the trial, wrote that the trial evidence showed that Trump did rape Carroll, “in the plain sense of the word”.
Trump appealed the jury verdict and the appeal was denied. The judge validated Trump’s conviction and the $5 million in damages. In a trial scheduled to begin on January 15, 2024, the judge will decide additional damages owed Carroll by Trump. These are for multiple defamations before and after those decided in the jury trial.
Trump and Republicans want to blame all of Trump’s legal problems on the “deep state”, the weaponization of the FBI and President Joe Biden. I can guarantee, the FBI didn’t push E. Jean Carroll against a wall in a department store dressing room. And, Joe Biden didn’t guide Trump’s hand and penis into Carroll’s vagina.
Besides the two dozen women who claimed Trump sexually assaulted them, Trump’s late first wife Ivana, also charged him with marital rape along with cruel and inhuman treatment in her divorce filing. (Ivana was the mother of three of Trump’s children.)
A pattern of Republican approval of rape
At Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, a research psychologist at Palo Alto University in northern California told the Senate Judiciary Committee about the terror she felt on a summer day more than 30 years ago, when a drunken young Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed, tried to rip off her clothes and clapped his hand over her mouth to muffle her cries for help.
Kavanaugh’s unhinged, rambling denials didn’t elicit a hint of credibility. All we learned from his crying was that he liked to drink beer. For any reasonably neutral person, it was easy to determine Ford was telling the truth and Kavanaugh was lying.
Republican senators, who controlled the Judiciary Committee, could have sought out the truth by subpoenaing Mark Judge to testify under oath. Judge was the third person in the room during the assault who pulled Kavanaugh off Ford. Unfortunately, Republicans were more interested in getting their prize confirmed than in the truth. Consequently, they chose not to subpoena Judge or to act on Ford’s sworn testimony.
After Kavanaugh’s disjointed testimony, Republicans confirmed his nomination. In a highly unusual procedure, he was sworn in two hours later. This prevented anyone from charging Kavanaugh with perjury due to his testimony.
Like Trump, Kavanaugh’s sexual assaults were not a one-off happening. The New York Times interviewed three other women who credibly accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault or misconduct. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/us/politics/brett-kavanaugh-accusers-women.html#:~:text=Three%20women%20have%20publicly%20accused,before%20the%20Senate%20Judiciary%20Committee.
In addition, the regular FBI tip line recorded over 4,500 reports of sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh. Rather than investigate them, the FBI sent the most relevant tips to White House lawyers, where the list died. This was example of the politicization of the FBI during the Trump Administration. Rather than seeking out the truth about Kavanaugh, the FBI sought to advance the president’s interest (making sure Kavanaugh became a Supreme Court justice).
What I’ve learned…
What struck me as I watched Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony on tv and read the transcripts of E. Jean Carroll’s testimony, both women remembered every detail of the attacks that happened decades earlier. These details were seared into their memories forever. Even worse, they each explained in their testimony how the attacks dramatically affected them for the rest of their lives. No one can reverse or take back the horror of their rapes.
In dramatic contrast, their rapists (Trump and Kavanaugh) simply blew off their attacks. They show absolutely no remorse for their actions. There is no concern for what they put their victims through. All they were focused on was getting their 30 seconds of sexual satisfaction.
Let’s put aside all the Republican holier than thou theatrics and Trump’s Bible waving. It is impossible to comprehend that Trump and Kavanaugh believe in an all-powerful, all-knowing and always present God. And, it is hard to believe they can ever expect God’s limitless mercy unless they admit their rapes and publicly and personally apologize to their victims. They should also apologize to all the people they lied to about their assaults.
Impacts on society…
Our leaders’ values are reflected across society. This is fine when our leaders are George H.W. Bush, Barack Obama or Joe Biden. Unfortunately, this is not so good when young people’s role model is Donald Trump.
For most of us, the idea of Trump as a role model is ridiculous. Yet, in Republican households, Trump is a deity – a living god. In these families, Trump’s sex partners and he and Kavanaugh’s assault victims are liars, whores and worse who just made up lies to discredit their Messiahs. From my experience, Republicans are divided into two groups insofar as Trump and Kavanaugh’s rapes. One group is sure there was no rape, but if there was, it was the woman’s fault. The second group is even worse. These macho Republicans look at these rapes as just evidence that Trump and Kavanaugh know how to handle women.
Imagine being a teen-age girl raised in this environment. These girls are taught that sexual assault doesn’t really happen. If it does, it is their fault. For boys, raping a girl is simply what real men like Trump and Kavanaugh do. If they get caught, they are taught to just deny, deny, deny, no matter the evidence. To say sexual assault is marginalized in these Republican households is an understatement.
One would have to live in a vacuum to believe Trump’s 2017 inauguration and Republican marginalization of Trump’s pussy grabbing tape and rape conviction hasn’t made an impact in our society. A February 2023, CDC survey found an alarming spike in sexual violence toward teenage girls during Trump’s presidency. Nearly 1 in 5 females (18%) experienced sexual violence in the past year, a 20% increase from 2017. More than 1 in 10 teen girls (14%) said they had been forced to have sex (raped). According to the researchers, teenage girls are experiencing record high levels of sexual violence, and nearly 3 in 5 girls report feeling persistently sad or hopeless. Nearly one-third of girls (30%) reported seriously considering suicide, up from 19% in 2011. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/cdc-sexual-attacks-teen-girls-increased-lockdown-rcna70782
Republican diversion
For decades, Republicans have used support for ending abortion as their litmus test for morality (that they claim is based on their Christian faith). Yet, the Bible in is explicit that life begins at first breath.
“Genesis 2:7 is clearest. The first human (Adam) became a ‘living being’ (nefesh hayah, ‘a living breath’) when God blew into its nostrils and he started to breathe. Before taking his first breath, he was just a shell. Human life begins when you start breathing, Biblical writers thought. It ends when you stop. That’s why the Hebrew word often translated ‘spirit’ (ruah) — ‘life force’ might be a better translation — literally means ‘wind’ or ‘breath.”
“Exodus 21:22-25 describes a case where a pregnant woman jumps into a fight between her husband and another man and suffers injuries that cause her to miscarry. Injuries to the woman prompt the normal penalties for harming another human being: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life. Killing the woman is murder, a capital crime. The miscarriage is treated differently, however — as property loss, not murder. The assailant must pay a fine to the husband. The law of a life for a life does not apply. The fetus is important, but it’s not human life in the same way the pregnant woman is.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/abortion-what-the-bible-says-and-doesnt-say_b_1856049
The Bible leaves no ambiguity about rape. “The Bible addresses the issue of rape directly. And, as one would expect, the Bible depicts rape as a gross violation of God’s design (e.g., Genesis 34). The Bible condemns rape whenever it is mentioned.”
“As the people of Israel prepared to enter the Promised Land under Joshua’s leadership, the laws of God were repeated. One of those laws was a clear prohibition against forcing a woman into a sexual encounter against her will, or what we today call rape.“
“The law stipulated that a rapist was to be killed by stoning.” (Deuteronomy 22:25).”
https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-rape.htm
What can be done?
As much as I despise Donald Trump and Brett Kavanaugh, and what they done to women, I’m not advocating stoning them to death. What I wish would happen, is that Republican voters/parents would accept that rape is a terrible crime. Hauling kids to church and making them sit through hours of boring sermons, Sunday school and all the rest isn’t going to make them good people. Far more important is Republican parents need to live and teach that sexual assault is wrong, it is not the victim’s fault and rape should be severely punished, no matter who commits it. A first step for Republicans is acceptance that a civil or criminal rape conviction should be absolutely and immediately disqualifying for the leader of a nation.
While I don’t expect that will happen, what is attainable is to remove the statute of limitations for sexual assault in all states. Delaware already has no statutes of limitations on any sexual assault. Eight other states have no statute of limitations on felony sexual assault and 27 states waive their statute of limitations if new DNA evidence is found.
It is understandable a teenager like Christine Blasey Ford, Kavanaugh’s accuser, would be scared to death to report Kavanaugh’s assault. Years later, after coming to grips with what the assault did to her, she should have the option of bringing Kavanaugh to justice. Likewise, while Trump bragged he could grab women’s pussies and never have to worry because he was famous, years later, his victims might not be so afraid and should have the option of prosecuting him in criminal court. The goal here should be that Trump, Kavanaugh and every other rapist should spend the rest of their lives looking over their shoulder and wondering if this is the day one of their victims is going to have them arrested for a long-ago rape.
What we can do…
Republican voters obviously don’t care if their president is a convicted rapist. That should further incentify the rest of us to vote for Democrats. Frugal Ron lives in Texas and will take the opportunity in 2024 to vote against Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who was instrumental in pushing Kavanaugh’s confirmation through the Senate Judiciary Committee. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska was the only Republican senator to vote against Kavanaugh’s confirmation. All other Republican senators were complicit, or worse.
There is clearly a difference in political parties about morality and sexual assault. North Carolina’s 2020 Democratic Senate candidate, Cal Cunningham, was leading comfortably in the polls. Then it came out that the married Cunningham was sending romantic texts to a female reporter. Democratic voters weren’t forgiving and Cunningham lost. Al Franken Democratic Senator from Minnesota, Democratic Representatives Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, John Conyers of Michigan, Elizabeth Etsy of Connecticut, Ruben Kihuen of Nevada and Katie Hill from California and Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York were all forced to resign over actions not nearly as serious as Trump’s sexual battery/rape conviction. The point is, Democrats are guilty of sexual harassment and assault. The difference between the two parties is that Democratic voters are unforgiving of sexual assault while Republicans condone it in their politicians and jurists.
The message here is simple. Vote for morality, vote for competence and vote for Democrats. Voting is the easy part. What is also important is confronting Republicans and letting them know that rape is wrong; regardless if it is committed by a black man or a white, racist, bigoted Republican former president.
