Some quick references on Trump’s harassment and assault

Yesterday in a discussion, Trump’s assaults on women came up.

I’m already on record as noting that he acted like an abuser at the debates
and whose public sexism are a textbook example of sexism and rape culture, but the person I was talking to claimed that every allegation against Trump had been “proved false” and that Bill Clinton was just as bad.

First things first.  While you can point at this AP article saying there’s “no evidence” Trump sexually assaulted women, that seems to hold a pretty high bar for “evidence”.  For example, it’s conveniently ignoring that the “hot mike” tape has Trump literally bragging that he “doesn’t wait” and just starts kissing women he finds attractive and grabbing their genitals.

But that’s just one instance. There’s, sadly, lots of allegations. Here’s just two lists available in seconds of searching online:

An Exhaustive List of the Allegations Women Have Made Against Donald Trump

Here’s Everything You Need to Know About the Sexual Allegations Against Donald Trump

The second – from Time magazine – also includes the evidence and corroborating testimony that the AP apparently doesn’t think is important.

(Reminder: #IWillBelieveYou exists for a reason.)

Saving this for last, because I’m aware that ThinkProgress has a bit of a bias:

This is everything Trump could come up with to disprove 10 accusations of sexual assault

So, what about Bill?

Aside from the fact that Bill isn’t running for president, this Chicago Tribune article by Heidi Stevens covers that pretty well.

Why did Hillary stay with him? Aside from the fact that there’s sadly a perception of failure and shame for those who are divorced (and overwhelmingly impacting women over men), or the subtle and overt sexism that is directed at women in positions of power (which is a whole thing in and of itself), the fact of the matter is that that it’s a private relationship and not our business

Further, despite my friend’s off-the-cuff allegation that Bill’s still a womanizer, the only thing I could find post-2002 was a single picture of Bill posing with two women at a fundraiser who happen to be sex workers (in Nevada, where it’s legal). There’s no context given, and considering that I found it in this NY Post article “Bill’s libido threatens to derail Hillary — again“, you’d think they’d include it if there was more to it than a photograph.

That’s not to say that Bill’s innocent, or shouldn’t face harsh criticism (or worse) for his actions, even if they are in the past. The Washington Post has this guide to the allegations of Bill Clinton’s womanizing.

The most troubling thing in there is Bill’s past (pre-2002) association with Jeffrey Epstein, who also figures in the Trump allegations.  The Daily Beast has a backgrounder on Epstein and the really awful things he did.

Again, though, this is Bill.  He isn’t running for President. 
 
And why is this all just coming out now?  Here’s a quick, generic, politics-free backgrounder on why women don’t report sexual harassment.