This column may contain strong language, sexual content, adult humor, and other themes that may not be suitable for minors. Parental guidance is strongly advised.
We all know Donald Trump is a douchebag of the highest order—a pussy grabber, a shameless liar, a stalking bully, a racist, sexist, misogynistic and narcissistic jerk who takes to Twitter in hysterical rants whenever he feels wronged. And that’s barely scratching the surface of his never-bottoming-out well of douchebaggery.
It is becoming more and more evident that the only office Donald Trump is qualified for is that of Predator-in-Chief.
And yet, despite Donald Trump gleefully sharing with Billy Bush his nonconsensual tactics for getting it on with women who clearly do not want nor welcome his sexual advances, ascribing his privilege and imagined success rate to his “star” status, despite him creepily referring to his own daughter Ivanka as “a piece of ass,” despite him hitting on a 10-year-old girl in a mall, saying that in 10 years he would be dating her, despite him nodding his head and agreeing, on the Howard Stern show that he was indeed a predator, his surrogates and supporters have rushed to his defense. Like him, they say it’s just “locker room talk” and that “boys will be boys.” Like him, they deflect the issue at hand and say Bill Clinton is worse, and by extension, so is Hillary.
Those from the Republican Party who denounced Trump’s revelations and sought to distance themselves from him, brought out the oft-parroted line about this being about their mothers, their sisters, their daughters needing to be protected. As Paul Ryan belatedly said through a spokesman, some five hours after The Washington Post published the 2005 recording with Billy Bush, “I am sickened by what I heard today. Women are to be championed and revered, not objectified. I hope Mr. Trump treats this situation with the seriousness it deserves and works to demonstrate to the country that he has greater respect for women than this clip suggests.”
His choice of words belies Ryan’s—and the Republican Party’s—true understanding of women as PEOPLE. He talks about championing women, yet his party has consistently sought to limit women’s reproductive rights. He chooses to use the word “revered” instead of “respected,” which in itself is a kind of objectification: to be revered, as some Christians do the saints, implies an accepted standard of behavior deserving of reverence. It means putting women on a pedestal that rewards her virtue, i.e., her choice to play the Madonna and not the whore. However, this mentality further marginalizes women and dehumanizes those who do not follow the good wife or good daughter or good girl script. Which, I suppose, in the warped and repressed Republican (or ultra-hypocritical Christian) mind, justifies seeking illicit sexual pleasure from prostitutes and “loose” women who will suck their dicks when their wives won’t. And let’s not even start with the adamantly homophobic men who oppose equal rights for the LGBT community yet hide in bathroom stalls only to ram their closeted cocks into another man’s ass.
As for that weasely excuse about his bragging being nothing more than locker room banter—not to mention his outright denial during the second presidential debate that he had ever committed sexual assault—it’s astounding that so much time has been wasted by Trump’s surrogates on what constitutes locker room banter, and why Fifty Shades of Gray features even more vulgar language, and, well, Hillary likes Beyoncé, have you heard the lyrics of her songs?
That idiot Republican wannabe presidential candidate Ben Carson and now Trump ass-licker actually told a CNN reporter that her problem was that she had not heard enough locker room banter in her youth. WTF?
Thankfully many athletes have largely disabused the public of the notion that grabbing a woman’s pussy and hitting on a married woman constitutes normal conversation in the locker room.
In the meantime, a number of women have spoken up, victims of sexual assault at the (miniscule) hands of Trump. The pattern of alleged assault has become frightfully predictable. As one such woman, Kristin Anderson, said, recalling how in the early 1990s, according to The Washington Post, “his fingers slid under her miniskirt, moved up her inner thigh, and touched her vagina through her underwear.”
What makes the encounter more chilling is that, Anderson said, “It wasn’t a sexual come-on. I don’t know why he did it. It was like just to prove that he could do it, and nothing would happen. There was zero conversation. We didn’t even really look at each other. It was very random, very nonchalant on his part.”
Of course conspiracy theorists, including Donald Trump himself, were quick to dismiss all these new accusations of unwanted sexual advances as all too conveniently timed, and, naturally, all false.
Why now, some of them asked. In his manic, watch-me-I’m imploding speech in Florida the other day, Trump questioned the timing, and the real intentions of the women who have come forward, as well as the motives of the New York Times in publishing their accounts. One of his supporters said, “Look, he’s a billionaire. If he had groped so many women over such a long period of time, don’t you think they would have sued him instantaneously? That didn’t happen.”
Well, Seth Myers shut him down. “When people ask why women wait to report sexual assault, that’s why. Because instead of believing them, you question their motives. Stop pretending there’s an optimal time for women to go public with these kinds of allegations. It’s not like, if you do it within the first 24 hours, you get a parade and an iTunes gift card!”
In the end, it was that Dynamic Duo, Michelle and Barack Obama, who confronted the issue in the most heartfelt and human way. While Republicans frothed at the mouth at how Donald Trump was being maligned, Michelle talked about what it was like to be a woman and live with the reality of sexually predatory behavior from men, day in and day out. Not once did she mention Trump’s name, but she called out his words and actions for what they truly were, an affront to decency.
“The shameful comments about our bodies. The disrespect of our ambitions and intellect. The belief that you can do anything you want to a woman. It is cruel. It’s frightening. And the truth is, it hurts.”
She delved into the experience of what it is like to be a woman throughout history:
“It reminds us of stories we heard from our mothers and grandmothers about how, back in their day, the boss could say and do whatever he pleased to the women in the office, and even though they worked so hard, jumped over every hurdle to prove themselves, it was never enough, We thought all of that was ancient history, didn’t we… but here we are, in 2016, and we’re hearing these exact same things every day on the campaign trail.”
The next day, in Ohio, Obama delivered another coup de grace. He said of Republicans, “You claim the mantle of the party of family values, and this is the guy you nominate.”
And how does Trump react? He knows Michelle is sacred, and he knows Obama throws better shade than he does on any given day. So he attacks Hillary Clinton’s looks, dismissing her as being not very impressive.
Guess what, Donald? Girlfriend gives zero f*cks. And she’s gonna beat your ass in November.
B. Wiser is the author of Making Love in Spanish, a novel published earlier this year by Anvil Publishing and available in National Book Store and Powerbooks, as well as online. When not assuming her Sasha Fierce alter-ego, she takes on the role of serious journalist and media consultant.
For comments and questions, e-mail b.wiser.ph@gmail.com.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of the author in her private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of Preen.ph, or any other entity of the Inquirer Group of Companies.
Art by Dorothy Guya
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