As Trump’s Accusers Step up, Democrats Call on him to Resign
As sexual harassment #MeToo scandals seemingly land by the day (today celebrity chef Mario Batalli!), it seems like one person in particular is not being held to account.
That would be Donald Trump, our president, who was accused by more than a dozen women during last year’s presidential campaign of groping, grabbing and other unwanted sexual contact.
This morning, three of the women who accused Trump of unwanted advances stepped forward to remind us that they are still here. The three women appeared with Megyn Kelly on the “Today” show and then held a news conference, to tell us once again that Trump harassed them and that their charges should be taken as seriously as those against other prominent politicians.
The women called for a congressional probe and hearings into their allegations against Trump. “They’ve investigated other Congress members, so I think it only stands fair that he be investigated as well,” said Samantha Holvey, a former Miss USA contestant who says Trump would walk into the dressing room at the pageant.
Meanwhile, Rachel Crooks, who says Trump forcibly kissed her, told Kelly that the president should be subject to some kind of process or investigation. “They were more than willing to do that for Senator Franken,” Crooks said, speaking about the Senate. “Why is the president immune to that?”
The White House returned fire, releasing a statement Monday calling the women’s allegations politically motivated “false claims.” The statement did not address the fact that U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, a Trump appointee, has now said that women with allegations against Trump “should be heard.”
Let’s wish them luck with that. They – and we – are going to need it.
A bifurcation of both reaction and good faith is developing between the Democratic and Republican parties over politicians ensnared in the #MeToo movement. The left is increasingly likely to take allegations seriously and call for action, even when those charges are made against powerful progressive figures such as Franken. (If anything, the Democratic Party could be accused of acting too quickly, tossing alleged malefactors such as Franken overboard before proper congressional hearings can be held to determine the seriousness of the charges.)
At the same time, Democrats have returned to last year’s allegations against Trump, with Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Jeff Merkley and Cory Booker and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders separately calling over the past several days for Trump to quit the presidency or at least give it serious consideration because of the sexual harassment allegations.
“Here you have a president who has been accused by many women of assault, who says on a tape that he assaulted women. He might want to think about doing the same,” Sanders said on “Meet the Press.”
Let’s hear it for the Democratic Party and their pols, who after some fits and starts, seem to be finally reckoning with the fact that the #MeToo moment is lasting a lot longer than 15 minutes and attempting to come up with a way of handling charges against members of both parties going forward.
Democrats, for the most part, believe the women, or at least they believe in creating a process in which they can be heard – so much so that an increasing number are also willing to say that the women who alleged former president Bill Clinton harassed them (or worse) deserve to be taken seriously too.
It’s true that Republicans often say they believe women, too. But they believe in their agenda of cutting corporate taxes more. When the New York Times reported in late November that Trump was claiming that the video that caught him boasting about forcing himself on women was a fake – after having admitted to it during last year’s campaign – they also tried to get Republican lawmakers to comment. They didn’t want to talk on the record about it – because they did not want “to undermine the party’s fragile negotiations over a much-sought tax overhaul,” as the Times put it.
Or take Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, who is accused of consorting with a 14-year-old and other high school students when he was in his 30s. Yes, some Republicans are walking away – House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, for one. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who previously said he believes the women, is carefully softening his stance and is now suggesting, “the people of Alabama are going to decide.” If you think the Republicans will refuse to seat Moore if Alabama voters elect him to the Senate, I know of a great bridge for sale in Brooklyn.
Meanwhile, many Republican voters are inclined to dismiss the seriousness of the charges or not to believe them at all. This weekend, Vice posted a focus group of Alabama voters who are planning to vote for Moore. When asked about the allegations against him, the answers ranged from claims that they didn’t believe these particular women to suggestions that sex with teenagers was once considered acceptable.
Needless to say, this is not evidence of a party leadership or base that’s prepared to take the continued sexual harassment allegations against Trump as seriously as they should. And all this is why, even as Trump’s accusers continue to speak out, it’s highly unlikely they will get the result they want. Congressional Republicans can safely dismiss the women who continue to demand their #MeToo moment when it comes to Trump because their voters aren’t interested in determining the truth of their charges.
But Democrats in Washington are right to push for Trump’s resignation, as unlikely as it is to happen. Even if it’s almost certain Trump won’t face Congress on this issue, that doesn’t mean Democratic politicians should just move on. After all, they now hold the high moral ground, having pushed out Franken for allegations of groping, something that’s horrid but that pales as an offense in comparison to what Trump is alleged to have done to many women.
What’s more, Democrats owe persistence on the charges against Trump to their voters, who increasingly want to see sexual harassment taken seriously. And they also owe it to Samantha Holvey, Rachel Crooks, Jessica Leeds (who also spoke today) and all the other women who have stepped forward in recent weeks and said Me Too. If you say you believe women, you need to act on it.
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