Do we really need an invincible president?

While the fires raged last week in Wine Country and beyond, creating unimaginable devastation and suffering, another story shared the headlines that created a different kind of unimaginable scenario.

Harvey Weinstein, the rich and powerful film mogul, was accused by numerous women, including several prominent actresses, of being a sexual predator. He immediately was fired from the firm he co-founded, and was declared a national disgrace by practically everyone.

He joined comedian Bill Cosby, Fox News founder Roger Ailes, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly and real estate developer and reality TV host Donald Trump in the category of famous men who lost their jobs and their dignity as the result of unwanted sexual advances on women over the years. All of them vehemently denied culpability, but the evidence was overwhelming. Hence, their lives were ruined.

Oh, wait. My mistake. Donald Trump was elected president of the United States.

Unimaginable. I’m not talking about politics, or issues. Those subjects are for another day. I’m talking about how some people can be rightfully outraged by Weinstein’s behavior and yet can conveniently forget or ignore that the occupant of the Oval Office is accused of similar behavior.

At least 15 women have publicly come forward and claimed Trump engaged in nonconsensual kissing and/or groping of breasts, buttocks and genitalia. Much like Cosby, Weinstein, Ailes and O’Reilly, intimate detail of the incidents was given. Trump called them all “liars” and threatened to sue, which he never did.

And then there was the tape. I was driving on the freeway on Oct. 7, 2016, when I heard the recorded conversation of Trump telling Billy Bush (who lost his job and reputation for participating) that a celebrity like himself can “just start kissing them ... I don’t even wait, can grab ’em by the p—.” I was absolutely convinced that was the end of his campaign. No one could survive such vulgar behavior, especially on the national stage.

After listening to that tape, does anyone believe Trump did not engage in the acts he is accused of by 15 independent women who came forward with intimate details of their encounters with the future president of the United States? Does anyone believe that 15 women, including mothers, businesswomen, journalists, authors and Miss USA contestants, ALL blatantly lied through their teeth? I hope not.

It’s no wonder Trump has an ego the size of Montana. The man thinks he’s invincible, and he has every reason to think so. While Cosby, Ailes, O’Reilly and Weinstein slinked away in disgrace and have been vilified by the public and the press, Trump skates free. That’s the unimaginable scenario I’m talking about.

Trump believes he can say or do anything his heart desires, and he’ll get away with it. He can call the leader of North Korea “Little Rocket Man,” and get away with it. He can challenge his secretary of state to an IQ test and get away with it. He can lie about Mexico paying for his wall and get away with it.

Do we want a president who thinks he’s invincible? I find that concept very frightening. A commander-in-chief who believes he can do no wrong, who believes every decision he makes is the correct one, who believes he is the master of the universe — his comeuppance is inevitably right around the corner. When that tape was released, and when those 15 women stepped forward, Trump should have been relegated to the same misfortune that befell Cosby, Ailes, O’Reilly and Weinstein. Instead, he miraculously weathered the storm and got elected president. Unimaginable.

I understand the politics. I understand the hatred of Hillary Clinton, the need of some people for change. What I don’t understand is how anyone could have voted for someone who so blatantly and wrongfully called 15 strongwilled women “liars.”

I realize this is old news. Maybe it’s the sadness of the wildfires that got me all worked up. More likely, it was the public’s and the media’s hysteria of Weinstein’s exploits that brought back the memories of Trump surviving what no one should survive.

Now we’ve got a president who understandably thinks he’s invincible. There’s no doubt he will take it a step further and convince himself the United States is invincible. Perhaps he’ll be eager to show North Korea or Iran that both he and our country can survive anything.

How scary is that?

Perhaps he’ll be eager to show North Korea or Iran that both he and our country can survive anything. How scary is that?