The United States of America no longer has a president. We no longer have a calm voice of reason who works on behalf of the people to represent them as best he can with empathy or any sense of personal responsibility for their well-being. Instead, we have a Twitter troll who delights in taunting anyone who disagrees with him, even if the people he’s taunting are survivors of sexual assault begging just to be heard.
The confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh inflamed the passions of survivors who have fought to make the sexual assaults that are perpetrated in this country every 98 seconds less accepted and the perpetrators held accountable. The result of all of that effort ended up being more of the same: a woman who came forward to accuse a powerful man was ignored, accused of lying, threatened with violence, and treated as if she were the criminal for daring to speak up.
The president, with 17 accusers of his own that he’s taunted and insisted were too unattractive to assault, has mocked her at campaign rallies. Instead of calling for Americans to temper their response and allow her to be heard, he riled up his supporters to torture and berate her even more.
None of this is normal. None of this is acceptable. Until the day Donald Trump leaves the White House, no woman reporting sexual assault is safe. Trump has taught every misogynist in this country that it’s still business as usual, and #MeToo be damned.
Twitter was not impressed by Trump’s rant, either. See some of their comments below:
Featured image via Flickr by Gage Skidmore under a Creative Commons license
