Donald Trump's Sexual Assault Accusers Demand Justice in the #MeToo Era: 'We Were Forgotten'

[TomCADem]

While Republicans and even Democrats are happy to debate whether Bill Clinton should have resigned 20 years ago, everyone is ignoring Trump's accusers.

http://people.com/politics/donald-trump-sexual-assault-accusers-want-justice/

The recent accusations of sexual misconduct against a long list of powerful men in Hollywood and other industries have been widely believed — and led to resignations, loss of careers and other fallout.

Meanwhile, some of the women who accused Donald Trump of sexual harassment or assault during the presidential campaign wonder when the president might finally pay a price for what he allegedly did to them.

“Things just seem to fall off of Trump, I’m extremely disappointed,” says Jessica Leeds, 75, who alleges Trump tried to kiss her, fondle her breasts and put his hand up her skirt while on a flight to New York in the early 1980s.

Their stories — like the harrowing one PEOPLE writer Natasha Stoynoff shared of Trump allegedly attacking her in 2005 by pushing her up against a wall at Mar-a- Lago and shoving his tongue down her throat — are backed up in most cases by co-workers, friends or family members.

[rzemanfl]

1. K&R. n/t

[hlthe2b]

2. this so infuriates me... These women (and all off us) deserve justice

[TomCADem]

4. Roy Moore, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump And Sexual Whataboutism

The reason is that Trump administration and Republicans's talking points are to use whataboutism and to avoid the subject by discussing sexual misconduct of someone other than those who are currently in control and in power. It takes a skilled reporter to get an answer when every response is what about this and what about that?

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/roy-moore-bill-clinton-donald-trump-and-sexual-whataboutism_us_5a0dbeb8e4b023a796fed48b

One might expect that we could reach a national consensus about the disqualifying impact of highly credible allegations of sexual misconduct by Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore. Last I looked, there wasn’t much of a constituency in favor of pedophilia, adult males courting tenth-grade girls, or just plain sexual creepiness.

But while that consensus may hold when applied to some scumbag hanging around the schoolyard in a raincoat, it seems to fall apart when applied to a scumbag politician hanging around the mall.

The primary difference, of course, is the political context. Politics, as practiced in the United States, is tribal. Each side always finds a way to ignore, forgive or excuse conduct by one of their own that they would never tolerate by a member of the enemy tribe.

Even when the conduct is indefensible, critics are attacked by a resort to “Whataboutism.” Whataboutism is nicely defined in Wikipedia as a “logical fallacy that attempts to discredit an opponent’s position by charging them with hypocrisy without directly refuting or disproving their argument.”

[spanone]

3. K&R...

[spanone]

5. They should all come forward again and recount their stories...

[Grammy23]

6. Agreed. And this time remind viewers that lots of people believe Roy Moores accusers.

These women deserve to be heard and not just trotted out for a day or two only to be swatted aside by tRump denials. If the ladies in Alabama are believable, why not the tRump accusers?? In addition, if tRump pulls out the “I will sue them” card, he needs to be asked point blank about his previous threats to sue them. Sara H. Sanders needs to face that question, too, since she speaks daily for him. And none of that “I haven’t spoken to him about that.” If she tries that line, then ask her again the next day and the day after until she gets the message that the question is not going away. Just answer the damn question.

[spanone]

7. I can also understand not wanting to throw my life into that tornado

[Grammy23]

9. Oh, yes! No woman should even THINK about it unless she has come to some kind of peace

About what she knows he did. They didn’t ask for his unwanted assaults. There are no excuses to explain away what he did to them. However, with time and maybe therapy, a person can make peace with it.

If they are up to it and truly want to confront him, then and only then should they enter that maelstrom. It will be brutal.

I really want to see him confronted with undeniable truth. Unfortunately, I don’t imagine there will be a “blue dress” to verify their claims. We will just have to hear their stories AND his to see who is believable. The most telling thing for me will be their (the women) willingness to tell their stories and not be deterred by his loud, brash denials. (If a woman has to back down does not mean she won’t be believed and I could not blame any of them if it is too much stress.) Bullies usually are big cowards inside so if they stand their ground and get backed up by being believed, he will fold like a cheap tent. This I’d pay to see.

[TomCADem]

8. They Have. The Media Just Ignores Them

We owe it to these women, and to all women, to hold President Trump to account.

https://www.thenation.com/article/16-women-or-donald-trump-who-would-you-believe/

Cathy Heller met Trump at a Mother’s Day brunch in 1997. She tells us he forcibly tried to kiss her. “He took my hand, and grabbed me, and went for the lips.”

Jill Harth was getting a tour of Trump’s home in 1993 when, she tells us, he sexually assaulted her in his daughter Ivanka’s bedroom, “pushed me up against the wall, and had his hands all over me and tried to get up my dress again, and I had to physically say: ‘What are you doing? Stop it.’”

Temple Taggart was a 21-year-old competing in the Miss USA pageant in 1997 when she tells us Trump forcibly kissed her. “He kissed me directly on the lips. I thought, ‘Oh my God, gross.’ He was married to Marla Maples at the time. I think there were a few other girls that he kissed on the mouth. I was like ‘Wow, that’s inappropriate.’”

Cassandra Searles, a former Miss Washington, tells us that in 2013 Trump treated the contestants “like cattle” and “continually grabbed my ass and invited me to his hotel room.”

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