This is *exactly* who Donald Trump is
A revealing deposition.
Depositions are an interesting window into Donald Trump’s psyche.
Unlike the majority of his time, Trump is compelled to tell the truth — under the penalty of perjury.
That fact brings about this one: A deposition is where you get to know what Donald Trump really thinks. He can’t prevaricate or obfuscate. He has to actually answer questions. Honestly.
Which brings me to the deposition Trump sat for in 2022 as part of the civil rape case brought against him by E. Jean Carroll.
The footage of that interview — which took place last fall — was released late last week and it is a doozy.
At one point, a lawyer brings up Trump’s comments on the famous/infamous “Access Hollywood” tape, which came out in October 2016.
Lawyer: And you say in this video ‘I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ‘em by the pussy, you can do anything.’
Trump: Historically that’s true with stars.
Lawyer: It’s true with stars that they can grab women by the pussy?
Trump: If you look over the last million years, that’s been largely true …not always but largely true…unfortunately or fortunately
Lawyer: And you consider yourself to be a star?
Trump: I think you can say that, yeah.
Whoa boy.
A quick reminder here: When the “Access Hollywood” tape originally came out, Trump was quick to apologize for it.
“I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize,” he told the Washington Post, which broke the story. He then expanded on that point:
“I’ve never said I’m a perfect person, nor pretended to be someone that I’m not. I’ve said and done things I regret, and the words released today on this more than a decade-old video are one of them. Anyone who knows me knows these words don’t reflect who I am.”
Except that we now know that none of that is true.
In fact, what Trump said on that tape is exactly who he is. And he’s not sorry — not one bit! — about it.
What Trump believes — as articulated in the deposition — is that stars (of which he most definitely considers himself one) can do anything that they want in life. That includes grabbing women by the private parts without asking.
And what’s even more remarkable is that Trump isn’t ready to say whether that ability is a good or a bad thing. The end of this quote is, to me, absolutely mind boggling: “If you look over the last million years, that’s been largely true …not always but largely true…unfortunately or fortunately.”
Unfortunately or fortunately!!! As if there is a possible upside societally for stars to be able to flagrantly violate women’s rights! Like that is a debatable point!
This is not an abstract discussion. Trump is the clear frontrunner to be the Republican presidential nominee in 2024; he currently holds a nearly-30 point average lead over the rest of the field.
Which means that one of the two major parties in this country is prepared to nominate a man who holds the view that stars should be allowed to do whatever they want with women because a) it’s always been that way and b) they are stars.
And, not for nothing, Trump quite clearly lied about how he felt about his “Access Hollywood” comments when the Post first reported on them. His issue, as is now readily obvious, wasn’t that he had said it but rather that he had got caught saying it. He believed what he said on that tape — every word! He just didn’t want the public knowing about it, at least in that moment.
What’s perhaps even more remarkable is that there’s roughly a zero percent chance that Trump’s latest comments in the deposition will hurt him in any meaningful way in the race for the Republican nomination.
Which is, again, proof of the truth of Trump’s famous proclamation that "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters.”
He was much mocked when he said it. But, Trump understood the Pied Pier-like appeal that he appears to have over his followers. And the fact that he is judged by an entirely different standard than the people who run against him.
Try this thought experiment: Imagine Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said exactly what Trump said in that deposition.
He would immediately be cast as a misogynist and maybe even a sociopath. His campaign would be entirely derailed as he and his aides tried to explain what he actually meant — and how it was radically different than what he said.
It could well mean the end of his campaign. Or, at minimum, a huge body blow from which I struggle to see how he could recover.
For Trump, it was just another day ending in “y.”
That it won’t change any Republican votes doesn’t mean, however, that Trump won’t be impacted by it.
It’s impossible for me to imagine that the average woman reads that exchange above and thinks “Yeah, Trump seems like my kind of guy.” Maybe some women like that exist in the country but I haven’t met them.
Remember that Trump lost women to Joe Biden by 15 points. (He won men by 8 points.) It’s extremely difficult for Trump to win the White House in 2024 if he can’t do any better with women than a 15 point loss.
What should be very clear now is that Trump meant what he said on the “Access Hollywood” tape. It wasn’t a mistake. Or a slip of the tongue. And, he’s not sorry either. In fact, he’s not even sure if a system that allows stars to grab women by the pussy is a bad thing!
This is who Donald Trump is. Let there be no confusion.
That man is disgusting and if this is what this country wants then there’s really nothing else left to say
The points you make in this essay are exactly what just flabbergast me as a woman. But, as has been said, when someone shows you who they are, believe them. It is true, there are a large percentage of voters who do not think women have the right of autonomy over their bodies. I live in a state that shows this point of view every gosh darn day.