Rob Porter Shows That in Trumpworld, Nothing Is More Convincing Than a Man's Denial
From sexual assault to spousal abuse, if you just insist it didn't happen that's good enough for this White House.
ERIN GLORIA RYAN
02.07.18 5:37 PM ET
“He denied it” is a pretty flimsy defense.
No judge in a criminal court would dismiss a case simply because the accused entered a “not guilty” plea. No suspicious girlfriend would accept a lover’s easy-to-debunk denial of infidelity. No parent would allow his child to avoid punishment by claiming it wasn’t they who put their Furby in the dishwasher and broke it.
And yet, it’s the first line of defense for a White House that can’t seem to stop aligning itself with men credibly accused of sexual misconduct, predatory behavior, and misogynist bullying. When you’re a man in Trump’s orbit, a denial counts as exoneration.
Today, White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter resigned after a pair of stories alleged that he had a history of domestic abuse. The first story ran last night, after two ex-wives came forward to The Daily Mail. Porter’s first wife Colbie Holderness told the British tabloid that Porter “was verbally, emotionally and physically abusive and that is why I left.” Porter’s second wife Jennifer Willhoughby gave the Mail a similar story. Willhoughby filed a temporary protective order against Porter in 2010, when he refused to leave their apartment and punched through a glass door. Porter told the Mail that the allegations were “slanderous and simply false.”
And, at least publicly, that appeared good enough for the White House. Chief of Staff John Kelly called Porter “a man of true integrity and honor.” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Porter was “someone of the highest integrity and exemplary character.”
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https://www.thedailybeast.com/rob-porter-shows-that-in-trumpworld-nothing-is-more-convincing-than-a-mans-denial?ref=home
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