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Access Hollywood

In 2016, before the election, a recording of Donald Trump bragging about being able to grab women by their crotch ("pussy") because he was a celebrity was leaked. I was naive enough to think that it would sink his bid and clearly I was wrong. It came up in the first debate between him and Clinton, where he discounted it as "just locker room talk".

That has stuck in my craw over the years. What kind of man brags about sexually assaulting women? In my experience people brag about things that they think will make them look better. Does Trump revere men who assault women?

That tape has now been a key part of E. Jean Carroll's civil lawsuit against Trump. The fact that it is a civil and not criminal suit is sad, but Carroll did not report her rape at the time (1996) because she didn't think she would be believed and already at that time Trump had an army of lawyers with a reputation for viciousness.

In any event the NY state legislature passed a one-time waiver for the statute of limitations on civil suits for sexual assault and Carroll pursued it. Trump attacked her on his pet social media (Truth Social, which is neither) throughout the trial and bragged that he was going to challenge her in court,  but he brags a lot about things that he doesn't do and this was one of them. His video deposition from much earlier included a very blase reaction to the Access Hollywood recording which in itself is galling. The man has neither shame nor empathy for victims of sexual violence, but we've known that for many years now.

The case goes to the jury tomorrow; juries are unpredictable, so I'm trying not to get my hopes up. In any event I am glad that more attention is being given to his boast of sexual assaults. In a better world all interviews with Trump would bring it up and ask why he thought it was something worthy of bragging. He would deflect and distract but ideally reporters would persist and not let something so vicious just slide.

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