Kevin Drum, It's not that people don't believe the rape allegations...

[edhopper]

https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2019/06/donald-trump-is-an-alleged-serial-sexual-assaulter/

This episode hasn’t gotten an awful lot of attention. This is the first I’ve written about it, for example. Why? I don’t think it has anything to do with media outlets not taking rape allegations seriously. The real answer is almost worse: (a) everybody just assumes the story is true and (b) everybody knows that it will have no effect on either Trump’s fans or his Republican Party colleagues. Trump will issue a pro forma denial; nobody will take it seriously; and that will be that. Just like the other 15 times.

I think this is true, it is also horrifying and terrible sad.

[triron]

1. This is what our media has become along with almost all Republicans and some Democrats.

[maxsolomon]

22. I don't understand.

What have "some" Democrats become?

Cynical?

[PatrickforO]

37. Maybe part of it is that our values and sense of common decency is being

attacked on a hundred different fronts every day.

I think there are a couple of purposes for this:

1. To make us so fatigued that we become like the proverbial frog in the pot - by the time we notice the water has gotten too hot, it will be impossible for us to get out.

2. To create a distraction for things the Trump administration has quietly put in place that serve to rip our social, political, economic and environmental framework apart - and there's a ton of them. Just plain horrible policies that are cruel and hurt people.

I cannot speak for the poster you're challenging, but I will say that many people who are Democrats or left-leaning Independents have become numb to it.

I mean, think about what we all go through every single day since this piece of human excrement has been elected to office. There's a constant worry the minute you wake up. What will happen next? And you hope and hope that nothing does but that hope is dashed if you even listen to the news on a reputable station or get it from a reputable site.

You might also get a disheartening email from a right-wing member of your family who has you on 'his list,' and you get to shake your head at the utter stupidity.

There just isn't anything good about this administration. Yes, we can be thankful for the House, but...

So we have to be very careful not to let this shit become 'normal.' Problem is, our righteous indignation sense is spread all over the place - and that is quite by design. That is what they want.

For myself, I get on here every day, but not as long, and I don't watch cable news at all. I hop on CNN, Huffpo and The Hill once a day for maybe ten minutes each, and then I just live my life. Throw myself into work, be with the wife, kids and grandkids. Exercise regularly. Try to eat right. Go about life. Pay the bills. And we got two kittens! They are very cute and real cuddlers.

But inside, the fires of rage are burning hotter with each day of this shitheel's rule. Kids in cages. Gross ineptitude in foreign policy. Stupid, cruel policies. Constant lies.

It will NEVER be normal to me, and after we take power back I will be quite uncomfortably vocal about bringing these criminals to account. In terms of the history of white supremacy, I fall firmly in the NEVER AGAIN camp.

So every day we must all fight the good fight, bank the fires of our rage, and do everything we can to sweep the 2020 elections - get rid of Trump, McConnell, Graham and the rest of the traitors. Then trials. After what we've gone through, and what the Trump administration has imposed on those innocent children, there WILL be trials.

[RVN VET71]

43. Excellent recap of our combat fatigue

We try to get on with our lives but, like you, we really never get away from the ugly truths.

I try not to watch cable news -- although Chris, Rachel, Lawrence, and several others on MSNBC seem to be spokespeople for the truth -- but find it hard to look away. Impossible, really. Because the fact of the "Great Again" America is always there.

The new media outlets have given voice -- and power -- to the truly despicable elements of America, the Nazis, the bully-boy white supremacists, the down-home racists and bigots, the heartless people who can hear about the concentration camps in which we are dumping children -- children! -- and allowing them to wither away and die of disease, starvation, exposure, loneliness, and quibble ignorantly about AOC's very correct and informed characterization of them.

It's mostly Fox, of course -- Laura Ingraham advocates racism and xenophobia, Tucker Carlson, the same, Sean Hannity even more so. But let's not forget the Chuck Todds of the rest of the media, smug, arrogant, and as supportive of the American Reich as any of Fox's propagandists, but more subtle in their approach.

I want every spokesman for the evil that is Trump, every enabler, every sycophantic GOP politician, to be punished. I find myself wishing, fervently, that there were a hell for them. I want every white nationalist voter and supporter of this orange topped lump of evil to suffer the realization of the evil they are supporting, the scope and cruelty of it, to be forced to see themselves, their souls, in the mirror and recoil in perpetual horror at its ugliness.

And I especially do not want to be told that these people in their red MAGA hats and these politicians who are their enablers are people we can negotiate and work with. I want them all to be marginalized, to be reduced to whispering in alley-ways and hiding their inhumanity and treason in closets.

And yet, there's life to be attended to. My car is running low on fuel. My wife is away, and there's housework and food shopping. My hair has grown shaggy and needs trimming, my beard needs -- desperately -- a shaving. My baseball team lost another extra inning game they should have won. All of these and more need attention -- but through it all, there's the presence of this shadow of evil, and I cannot get completely out from under it.

[Danascot]

44. Exactly

We have outrage fatigue from the multiple assaults that come at us daily. And we're the tiny minority that pays attention. Most Americans have their own problems and just want to live their lives. Compounding the problem, as pointed out, the media does a terrible job of informing the public what's going on. I hope we make it out of this awful time intact but for now, the jury it still out.

[maxsolomon]

48. i agree with you, but i'd sure like that poster to clarify

I've become cynical, so maybe I'm "Some Democrats"? That doesn't mean I don't want President Sociopathic Rapist held to account.

I am just realistic about where the GOP is. They have no honor left; all that matters is power (and the impeachment of Clinton was power feigning honor), which the constant barrage of outrages enables them to exercise.

[pandr32]

49. That second paragraph is right on the money

"They have no honor left; all that matters is power(and the impeachment of Clinton was power feining honor..." TRUTH!

[DENVERPOPS]

26. Mainstream? media

I've heard that 80% of the MSM is owned by Republicans.......what do you expect from them..........

[True Blue American]

39. This is why you hear the same drivel

Show after show, day after day.

[NewJeffCT]

2. and, what will also be sad

is that there will be more of these allegations coming out over the next 15-16 months as well. Maybe not rape, but more sexual misconduct allegations.

the media will react the same way, and it will be forgotten about by next week as new waves of Trump scandals on other issues drown out the allegations.


But, if Biden wins the nomination, him rubbing a woman's shoulders or hugging somebody will be giving equal weight to the numerous rape and other sexual misconduct allegations in the media. And, if somebody else wins the nomination, heavens forbid that they gave a person too friendly of a hug or handshake. That one allegation will get more media coverage than the next 10 allegations against Trump.

[Cosmocat]

10. YEEP

nm

[stopdiggin]

19. media sells .. what sells

You're undoubtedly right about the double standard. But I'm not sure if we can blame the media (although I'm sure plenty of us will). There's that "man bites dog" element here. If it's not news, then it's not news. The media keeps throwing up Joe Biden "issues" because .. Dems keep obliging by getting in a big fat tizzy over it! (and let's be honest, a lot of it originates with the Dems!) Whereas with the president .. Meh. As the OP squarely lays out, it's not a matter of most people not believing this latest allegation against Trump. They do! But it's like, "It's Tues. .. another woman is claiming the president raped her .. and in the midwest ..."

[robbob]

31. And yet somehow Democratic Party scandals are always newsworthy...

And Republican Party scandals never are. I have trouble believing that is mere coincidence.

[stopdiggin]

38. it's that damned "librul" media, always attacking us

You see a pervasive conservative bias. And of course you're aware that the right has been bleating about the "liberal media" for a half century. My own concerns concentrate more toward the fact that one of our major political parties has morphed from being anti-intellectual into being actually anti-science. Welcome Taliban!

[maxsolomon]

23. We hold our candidates to a higher standard.

And the GOP weaponizes that against us.

[BigmanPigman]

25. Ditto!

[dawg day]

28. Too true. Just as a Democrat saying something "mean but true,"

like "You can't believe a word Trump says," will be treated like they spit in the face of a nun... while Trump can say that Democrats "want to destroy you!" and the press is "the enemy of the people."

[Act_of_Reparation]

3. Absolutely correct.

The Republicans are never going to offer more than a token repudiation of his character. Expecting them to get on board for meaningful corrective action is going to be a long wait for a train that don't come.

[unblock]

4. this is spot on and "explains" why the media doesn't care.

it may be news, it may be factual, it may be important,...

... but it won't generate drama because it doesn't change the political dynamic.


the exact same story could completely destroy a democrat's career, and the media would be all over that.

but a republican? especially one who's been accused so many times already?

meh. where's the drama in that?

big deal, our president is a serial rapist.

yawn.

[lunatica]

13. Or he denies it which is ample truth that it just didn't happen.

Those accusers are just nasty women.

[stopdiggin]

20. nailed it nt

[ProudLib72]

5. This is the sad, disgusting truth

Republican rape culture: men can get away with anything and it's not worth talking about (much less stopping.)

The metoo movement is like hurling a tomato against a brick wall. It makes a mess, but the brick wall still stands defiant. Nothing changes.

[greatbaldeagle]

17. Partially correct

More like: white republican males

If you don't fall in that category specifically, simply your "perceived" bad deeds will be punished based on a hierarchy similar to this:

other white males
white females
non-black minorities
black females
black males

If you are "fortunate" enough to belong to the group on the bottom, you can be subject to a public execution for selling a loose cigarette or being a child and playing with a toy gun in a park. If you belong to the group on the top, you can rape women, molest children, and even commit treason and still become President, a Supreme Court Justice, or a US Senator (if not for the 2 groups on the bottom voting). But why on earth would those 2 groups not want to stand proudly during "our" national anthem with the country showing just how welcome they are as equal citizens? Quite puzzling...

[KPN]

29. Unless the offender is a Democrat or

liberal.

[ProudLib72]

30. That's why I said "Republican rape culture"

IOKIYAR, but Dems have a conscience.

[0rganism]

6. but if you're a Democrat, don't you dare touch a member of the opposite sex in a photo shoot

IOKIYAR

[global1]

7. Where Are All Those Dems That Came Out Hard Against Sen. Franken?.....

They as well as all Dems should bring up Trump's sexual assaults and rapes as much as possible. They should condemn them and call for Trump's resignation - even though it looks like Trump will slide by again - by his denials.

The MeToo movement needs to make noise about this too.

If no one is willing to speak up about this - it will allow Trump to slide by once again. But - even if he is allowed to ultimately slide by on this - if the Dems and the MeToo movement remains vocal - it puts Trump on the defensive and he'll probably wind up shooting himself in the foot by something he says. At the minimum - it might change some Trump votes to the Dem candidate in Nov. 2020.

But just to ignore this and let it slip by the media is the wrong thing to do.

[OMGWTF]

9. Excellent point! Your ball Sen Gillibrand. Unfortunately IOKIYAR or a Christofascist in 'murika.

[CTyankee]

11. what can we or MeToo do about him?

According to Pelosi there will be no remedy of impeachment. You are right. We must remain vocal and organize in those states that he won in 2016. Call it the Now We Know movement (altho many knew but more do now). Beat the drum against this rapist and child abuser.

[global1]

12. Like I Said - Call For His Resignation - Put Him On The Defensive.....

point out other politicians that resigned or were drummed out of office by similar incidents or lesser incidents.

Keep the heat on him. Don't let up. Don't let him or the MSM sweep this under the rug.

At best - it keeps him from talking about other things if he has to focus on defending himself.

The people that put the heat on him - will know what to say and how to get under his skin.

By saying or doing nothing - he just skates by again. We can't let him do that. This has happened one too many times. He's a serial sexual assaulter. This is not befitting of a person that calls himself a president.

[Mr.Bill]

8. It's not so much the Trump fans that ignore this worry me.

What worries me is the ones who cheer for it.

[catbyte]

14. He raped his wife and nobody cared. He bragged about sexually assaulting women and nobody cared.

MAGAt women even thought it was "cute" and wanted him to do it to them. It's just so disgusting. It's just so goddamned depressing.

[Still In Wisconsin]

18. Ewwwwwwww..... n/t

[customerserviceguy]

15. Well stated

I think a lot of folks out there are just numb to whatever comes out about Trump. There's some new outrage every day, yet the world just keeps on turning, and we're going into an election year that will require every ounce of our strength to win.

[duforsure]

16. Could he be a serial rapist ?

We already know he's a serial liar.

[happyaccident]

21. If trump could get away with it when he was young

Why would he stop? The hardest thing for me to understand is the person with no morals. What takes their place? Greed, fear, anger, numbness? How do people get that broken? The emptiness of their lives terrifies me.

[maxsolomon]

24. There's little doubt he used that M.O. more than once.

He's been a self-proclaimed lothario in NYC since the 70s. This was his hulking rich-boy method.

He bragged about it to Billy Bush. We all heard it, and Republics dismissed it. Her emails, you know.

If only every woman he's assaulted would come forward. But, like E Jean Carroll, they've kept their mouths shut because of the consequences (or been paid to do so).

[Funtatlaguy]

27. But if a Dem is in any way sexually inappropriate

They should be shot at sunrise or at a minimum give up their Senate seat.

[Ferrets are Cool]

32. But...Al Franken

[pansypoo53219]

33. BLUE DRESS BLUE DRESS BLUE DRESS

[Shoonra]

34. Have we gone 'nose-blind' to the Trump stench?

Trump has denied Jean Carroll's accusation on two grounds, neither of which would persuade a jury in a conventional criminal trial for rape:

(1) Trump claims he never met Carroll .... this has been refuted with a photo dating from 1987, about six years before the rape; and

(2) Trump says that Carroll "is not my type". In decades of reading news stories of rape trials I have never once heard this assertion lead to an acquittal. On the contrary, it implies that Trump might commit rape if a woman were "his type". Perhaps now, a quarter century after the event, Carroll, who by her account has been seriously traumatized ever since, is not so photogenic as she was back then, but she once was Miss Indiana, so you can be sure that in her younger days she was very attractive. Not that attractive young women are the only victims of rapists.

Trump might have better credibility if he had a cleaner track record. By his own account, in The Art of the Deal, he brags about the number of women he's had carnal relations with - even mentioning that several of them were married at the time. He pays for sex with Stormy Daniels, he brags about his sexual athletics, and it's just possible that in his mind no woman can say No to him.

I would have expected a wider reaction to Carroll's accusation, at least from the people who drove Al Franken out of the Senate.

[Demovictory9]

35. when porn star payoff story broke. MAGA woman said "Trump is such a gentleman"

to pay for sex while wife was pregnant

[orleans]

36. 22 or 23 times n/t

[YOHABLO]

40. I think for a lot of straight men it's just another day at the office.

Locker room talk here> ''because you know she want it''. Our new Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh comes to mind and that 'Epstein crowd' that Trump denies he use to hang with, are of the same ilk. Disgusting dogs.

[anarch]

41. in my opinion, a supreme court justice should be held to an even stricter accountability

and should be of unimpeachable moral standing, even more so than the office of president, given the profound power the supreme court has to shape our nation's legal landscape for generations at a time with their rulings...and these fuckers are totally fine having a rapist on the supreme court; why should they bat an eye about a rapist president? Hell, Thomas Jefferson raped his slaves on a regular basis, and we have him on money--Andrew Jackson was a horrible murderous racist fuck, and we have him on money of even greater value. Besides, I'm pretty sure the "conservative" types mostly see women as second-class humans at best; generally they think of them more along the lines of property. They'd be pissed if their own daughters were raped, but if it was Fuckface or one of his scions that did it, they'd probably find a way to just let it go.

[onetexan]

42. Where is the outrage of the MeToo movement

[edhopper]

45. I don't give a rat's ass

about the 30% to 35% of Americans that will always support him, they are irredeemable.

But why the other 65% to 70 % of citizens aren't disgusted and up in arms is beyond me.

[marlakay]

46. WTF. What have we become?

A nation like a combined abused wife afraid of the next slap across the face.

[Initech]

47. And to think that Republicans impeached Clinton over a blow job.

We have a serial rapist in the White House and they don't care. Way to go, guys. The bar has been lowered past the point of the deep end of the Marianas Trench.