Is an alleged harasser better than a Democrat?
I suppose this shouldn’t surprise us.
I really wish that it did. I wish that we would be shocked, shocked that President Donald Trump would prefer an accused sexual harasser and pedophile to a Democrat in the U.S. Senate race in Alabama.
But, no.
We are not shocked at all. We expected it, actually.
“We don’t need a liberal person in there, a Democrat,” Trump said on Tuesday.
Because, I guess, a person’s actual character means nothing. Only what political party he or she happens to belong to.
In his clumsy, left-handed way, Trump indicated his support for Roy Moore in the U.S. Senate race in Alabama.
New accusers of Moore seem to surface each day, many of them with stories of being sexually harassed or abused as teenage girls.
“Roy Moore denies it,” Trump said. “That’s all I can say.” Actually, no.
That’s not ALL he can say. That’s simply all he chooses to say, making excuses for a Republican in a way that he never would for a Democrat. Like, for instance, Al Franken, whom Trump has gone out of his way to condemn.
It’s a little surprising that Trump would get into this discussion at all. He has any room to talk. Sexual abuse and harassment accusations have been made against Trump by 16 women.
Their stories surfaced during the campaign, many of them just as creepy as the stories about Moore. Trump swore that he would sue each and every one of the women. He hasn’t sued one.
And they haven’t retracted their stories, with some trying to get their day in court.
The most unusual aspects of the national firestorm over sexual harassment is how it has seems to have impacted wealthy, powerful, famous men in just about every aspect of American society.
Except one.
A Hollywood mogul and a movie star. Done. Big time journalists. Finished. Big business executives. Sports figures. State legislators. Federal lawmakers. I’ve even seen stories about Uber drivers and chefs.
No accused sexual harasser is out of reach.
Except one.
Our accused harasser-in-chief. The strategy for Trump is, simply, denial. Even though denial seem ludicrous for a man who has admitted what he does. A Miss USA contestant says he walked in to the dressing room to ogle naked young woman. Trump admitted doing as much on
the Howard Stern radio show. He described in the Access Hollywood tape what amounts to sexual assault. Grab them by the you-know-what.
And even with his own admissions his denials seem to satisfy his supporters. Most of whom aren’t satisfied by anyone else’s denials. Except perhaps Roy Moore’s. Because, for now, it’s more important to the president to try to protect the slim majority Republicans have in the U.S. Senate, rather than protect America from a creep like Moore.