Democrats seize on sex as way to topple Trump
UNITED STATES: Democrats are preparing for an all-out assault on President Donald Trump over his past dealings with women, betting that the wave of national outrage over sexual misconduct will help to eject him from the White House.
Last week’s astonishing setback for Republicans in Alabama, when female voters turned out in droves to defeat a Republican candidate accused of sexual offences against teenagers, has convinced Democrats that the #MeToo movement marks a sea change in American politics.
Some Democrats fear the party will overplay its hand and that pushing for Trump to resign or be impeached is no substitute for an economic message that will woo back voters who defected to the Republicans in 2016.
Others say that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into high-level collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia might not yield any proof and that the president is much more vulnerable on the sexual front in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
After initially standing by Senator Al Franken and Congressman John Conyers - prominent Democrats accused of a string of sexual assaults - party leaders changed tack and forced the two to resign. ‘‘We sacrificed two knights to clear a way through to get the king,’’ explained a senior Democratic strategist.
‘‘With Franken and Conyers out, we can make this about Trump. He survived in 2016 but the environment is different now. Voters won’t tolerate this stuff.’’
In a series of co-ordinated moves, Democrats have ramped up the pressure on Trump, who was accused of sexual impropriety by at least 19 women last year after the release of the infamous Access Hollywood video in which he bragged about sexual assault.
Last Monday three women who had previously accused Trump of sexual offences appeared together on NBC television to request Congress to investigate his behaviour. Eight Democratic senators then called on Trump to resign and more than 100 members of the House of Representatives demanded that its committee on oversight and government reform launch an investigation into the allegations of sexual misconduct.
The Democratic strategist said the party expected other women would come forward: ‘‘The gamechanger will be more accusations, especially if they’re recent. Imagine what would happen if Trump was accused of rape.’’
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, a long-time campaigner on gender issues who is almost certain to run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, is leading the charge. She angered some Democrats recently by saying Bill Clinton should have resigned as president over the Monica Lewinsky scandal two decades ago. But the Democratic strategist said this was a canny move: ‘‘Hillary Clinton lost in 2016. The Clintons are done in politics for now. Disowning Bill is another way of clearing the route to Trump on these issues.’’
Trump himself criticised Gillibrand last week after she called on him to step down. He tweeted: ‘‘Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand ... someone who would come to my office ‘begging’ for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!’’
The ‘‘would do anything’’ jibe was viewed as a sexual slur. It was too much for USA Today, the staid newspaper of middle America, which responded with a blistering editorial: ‘‘With his latest tweet, clearly implying that a United States senator would trade sexual favours for campaign cash, President Trump has shown he is not fit for office.
‘‘A president who would all but call Kirsten Gillibrand a whore is not fit to clean the toilets in the Barack Obama Presidential Library or to shine the shoes of George W Bush.’’
Democrats are emboldened by the defeat of Roy Moore, the controversial Republican candidate, in Alabama, which left his party with 51-49 majority. Trump had won Alabama by 27 points in 2016, but his effusive backing for Moore could not prevent the loss.
The president’s approval rating nationally has slumped to a new low of 32 per cent - and to 24 per cent among women. Recent results in Virginia and New Jersey indicate that swings among suburban voters could lead to a wipeout for Republicans in next November’s mid-term elections.
Some Republicans believe Moore’s defeat in Alabama was a blessing in disguise because it deprived Democrats of a juicy target on Capitol Hill and could marginalise the influence of such figures as Steve Bannon, the Trump confidant who had backed Moore because of his antiestablishment credentials. Sunday Times