By now, everyone has heard the allegations against Donald Trump. Rape, assault, groping and bragging about it to his friends. This is not to say that all of these allegations are true. I would not put it past the Democratic Party to have planted “victims” and created stories. But with the sheer number of women who have come forward, there is no possibility that they are all false. So, chances are, we’ve elected a rapist. Great job, America.
Trump is not the first person accused of rape to sit in the Oval Office. The fact remains that even if Donald Trump hadn’t won the election, there would still have been an accused rapist in the White House. Bill Clinton was impeached due to his sexual misconduct, and through Trump’s smear campaign against the Clintons, 17 women came forward to accuse Bill Clinton of sexual harassment or assault. Like the number of allegations against Trump, it’s likely that not all of them are true, but unlikely that every single one is false. So we’ve had two presidents in the last 20 years accused of sexual assault by multiple women. But America’s history of electing rapists goes way further back than just 20 years.
Grover Cleveland, remembered in history by being the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms, might also be remembered by his “sex scandal." I, personally, do not believe the word “scandal” fully encompasses the violent rape, subsequent pregnancy and involuntary commitment that Maria Halpin endured. It is also accepted as historical fact that Thomas Jefferson spent years raping slaves on his plantation. Any sex with a slave would, by today’s definition, be rape, as they had no bodily autonomy or choice. Most people choose a glossy historic view and accept that it was a different time with different rules and that all the great things he did for America somehow make up for raping women. It’s funny how long that narrative is lasting.
At what point does raping women become bad enough that being a nice, smart or rich guy no longer makes up for it? How long will we continue to excuse rapists, criminals and corrupt politicians? In the recorded conversation Trump had with Billy Bush, he claims that when “you’re a star…you can do anything.” This grossly misogynistic conversation was defended by saying that it was “boy talk.” As if this was permissible simply because all guys do it.
To people who defend Hilary Clinton’s criminal negligence and political corruption by saying that she is only as corrupt as any other politician, she just happened to get caught very publicly. This acknowledges that the entire American political system is by nature corrupt, and that’s apparently just fine with the American people.
In an America in which we continually find it morally permissible to break laws, sell lies and behave like animals, simply because other qualities, like money, fame or good intentions offset the moral balance, rapists and liars and corrupt leaders will continue to run us into the ground. Conservatives enjoy taking the moral high ground, and liberals enjoy speaking out against corruption, but underneath it all it certainly seems as though today’s America, yesterday’s America, the America of Old, is and has always been a bed of corruption masquerading as the holy.
We live in a gilded nation and allow the glimmer of gold and shiny things to blind us from the truth. But don’t worry, it’s OK. Because everyone is doing it. Let’s all keep our eyes closed, ears plugged and thinking of ourselves as righteous.