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Donald Trump: Not guilty of rape by reason of polling better than Jeb Bush?

Donald Trump on the man who reported Ivana Trump’s allegations: “He is a guy that is an unattractive guy.”

People in glass Trump Towers shouldn’t throw stones — or, perhaps, throw around accusations of rape, as one Donald Trump did recently in his now infamous remarks suggesting that Mexican immigrants are a bunch of rapists.

A must-read story yesterday in The Daily Beast points out that Trump is not only a rape accuser of sorts, but someone who was once very publicly accused of rape — by his now-former wife Ivana Trump, who, in a deposition in her divorce case against the Donald in the early 90s, said that she’s been attacked one night by her then husband in a fit of rage, screaming at her and pulling out her hair before ripping off her clothes and raping her. 

The Beast reports that, according to Lost Tycoon, a 1993 book about Trump by journalist Harry Hurt III, Ivana told her closest friends that “he raped me.” Later, though, in a statement she provided through Trump’s lawyers, and that was reprinted in the book as “A Notice to Readers,” Ivana backed away from the R-word, saying that

[a]s a woman, I felt violated, as the love and tenderness, which he normally exhibited towards me, was absent. I referred to this as a ‘rape,’ but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense.

Make of that what you will.

At the time, the Daily Beast notes, Trump declared the account in the book

incorrect and done by a guy without much talent … He is a guy that is an unattractive guy who is a vindictive and jealous person.

Very Trumpian.

But even more remarkable than this bizarre denial was the even Trumpier response that Michael Cohen, one of Trump’s lawyers, gave to the Daily Beast writer who asked him about the allegations:

You’re talking about the front-runner for the GOP, presidential candidate, as well as private individual who never raped anybody. 

Evidently one cannot be a rapist if one is polling better than Jeb Bush.

Cohen continued:

And, of course, understand that by the very definition, you can’t rape your spouse.

As the Beast points out, Cohen is completely wrong here. Not only is marital rape illegal in New York state now; it was illegal in New York state in 1989, the date of the alleged rape.

Perhaps sensing he wasn’t getting anywhere with the “you can’t rape your spouse” angle, “Trump’s lawyer then changed tactics,” the Beast reports,

lobbing insults and threatening a lawsuit if a story was published.

“I will make sure that you and I meet one day while we’re in the courthouse. And I will take you for every penny you still don’t have. And I will come after your Daily Beast and everybody else that you possibly know,” Cohen said. “So I’m warning you, tread very fucking lightly, because what I’m going to do to you is going to be fucking disgusting. You understand me?”

“You write a story that has Mr. Trump’s name in it, with the word ‘rape,’ and I’m going to mess your life up…for as long as you’re on this frickin’ planet…you’re going to have judgments against you, so much money, you’ll never know how to get out from underneath it,” he added.

Someone’s a bit grouchy.

Cohen continued, telling the Beast that

there is nothing reasonable about you wanting to write a story about somebody’s usage of the word ‘rape,’ when she’s talking [about] she didn’t feel emotionally satisfied.”

“Though there’s many literal senses to the word, if you distort it, and you put Mr. Trump’s name there onto it, rest assured, you will suffer the consequences. So you do whatever you want. You want to ruin your life at the age of 20? You do that, and I’ll be happy to serve it right up to you,” he added.

Given that the Beast ran the story, and we’re talking about it now, it kind of, sort of, appears that Cohen’s Trumpian lawyering backfired a little bit. And that’s a very good thing, because this is a story that needs to be re-aired.

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Orion
Orion
9 years ago

Fenris gets increasingly broody over the years. The game timeskips 3 years to act 2 and another 3 years to act 3. Most of the other characters build lives in Kirkwall and/or work on pet projects. Fenris… doesn’t. He chills in that mansion for 6 years, waiting for his enemies to come after him. Doesn’t even clean or repair it (possibly because there’s no budget for another map, but someome, I think Varric, calls him on it). In Act 2, I think, you have a conversation where he talks about his life feeling empty and unsatisfying. You can propose that he try to make kirkwall home, or celebrate how far he’s come, or go back and try to reconnect with his past, but no matter what he shoots you down.

His romance storyline involves him freaking out and breaking up with you for a good chunk of the game, and also pacing in front of a fireplace talking about revenge tasting like ashes. There are also a jillion ways to accidentally end the romance, some of which are very difficult to anticipate. Also, he rips a couple dudes souls out through their chests and throws a wine bottle at a wall.

Also, if you play on Nightmare mode, he’s really weak. Pretty awesome on Normal though. (Isabela is outright terrible on Nightmare; Merrill is only good with another mage. Aveline/Varric/Anders is the power combo, which kinda makes sense I guess. Teamwork-oriented, altruistic people make for better teammates)

Pandapool -- The Species that Endangers YOU (aka Banana Jackie Cake, for those who still want to call me "Banana", "Jackie" or whatever)
Pandapool -- The Species that Endangers YOU (aka Banana Jackie Cake, for those who still want to call me "Banana", "Jackie" or whatever)
9 years ago

Fenris has too cute of a chuckle to turn broody. I just want Hawke to do a bunch of stupid shit and jokes to make him laugh all the time.

Pandapool -- The Species that Endangers YOU (aka Banana Jackie Cake, for those who still want to call me "Banana", "Jackie" or whatever)
Pandapool -- The Species that Endangers YOU (aka Banana Jackie Cake, for those who still want to call me "Banana", "Jackie" or whatever)
9 years ago

And Anders needs a cat. A cat would do Anders good. Nothing’s worse than seeing a cat person with kitten withdrawal. Hell, it sucks to go through. I haven’t had a cat sit on my lap in almost four years and I let one lay on me while I was in an uncomfortable position on the floor for 20 minutes today, It was great. I love animals in general so I can just imagine what it would be like for an actual cat person to not have a cat for, what, several months or so?

Anders should open up a place for wayward kittens that could double as a secret clinic. He could heal people and kittens. That would be great!

DJG
DJG
9 years ago

I just can’t believe they didn’t have the sense to make sure he couldn’t put his own name on Turnberry.

Pandapool -- The Species that Endangers YOU (aka Banana Jackie Cake, for those who still want to call me "Banana", "Jackie" or whatever)
Pandapool -- The Species that Endangers YOU (aka Banana Jackie Cake, for those who still want to call me "Banana", "Jackie" or whatever)
9 years ago

I like Merrill in this. She has the same overly cheerful sarcasm to disguise hopeless despair that I do.

Pandapool -- The Species that Endangers YOU (aka Banana Jackie Cake, for those who still want to call me "Banana", "Jackie" or whatever)
Pandapool -- The Species that Endangers YOU (aka Banana Jackie Cake, for those who still want to call me "Banana", "Jackie" or whatever)
9 years ago

Okay, now, I think the people who call Merrill naive really don’t understand her brand of humor. It’s a very cheery snark that doesn’t differ much from her regular sweetness in tone so it kinda just stumps people in a way that makes them think she’s naive.

She’s me in fucking real life, I swear. I’m not good with people because they don’t know when I’m being sarcastic and joking and I really hate having to make a big show of it to get across that I’m telling a joke.

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