Staff cartoonist and writer Ashley Lawrence takes on Donald Trump’s degrading action towards women, and the 2005 video leaked by Washington Post on Oct. 7. The leaked video contains graphic language from both Trump and Billy Bush, former co-host of the Today Show and President George Bush’s cousin. Cartoon by Ashley Lawrence.
By ASHLEY LAWRENCE – Staff Cartoonist
A video from 2005 was released on Oct. 7 featured Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump uttering vulgar things about women, which is only the most recent example of Trump’s sexism.
“Don’t tell me about words,” Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said during the second presidential debate on Oct. 9. “I apologize for those words.”
That was Trump’s attempt at dismissing the issue of his vulgar and demeaning talk about women in 2005.
That was his way of sweeping the issue under the rug.
This was his way of instead trying to pin the accusing eyes of America to President Bill Clinton as if this was the 1992 debate rather than that of 2016.
“It was locker room talk,” Trump continued to say in the debate. “I have great respect for women. Nobody has more respect for women than I do.”
It’s too bad those are, to quote Trump, “just words.”
It’s too bad it wasn’t just words when Trump frequently intruded on changing beauty pageant contestants in their dressing rooms.
It’s too bad it wasn’t just words when Trump made beauty pageant contestants parade in front of him so he could separate those he deemed attractive from those he did not.
It’s too bad it wasn’t just words when Trump called them pigs, slobs and dogs.
It’s too bad it wasn’t just words when Trump vulgarly bragged about groping and trying to have sex with married women.
As much as Trump would love to write off everything he has said in that recording as “locker room talk”, the fact remains that no one should talk about women like that, much less a man who was 59-years-old at the time and ought to have known better.
It seems apparent Trump doesn’t realize the weight of his own words.
“I’ve got to use some Tic-Tacs, just in case I start kissing her,” Trump said in the video released on Oct. 7. “And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p—y, you can do anything.”
According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, there are 288,820 victims of sexual assault each year in the United States — and a man who openly brags about sexually assaulting women is running to be president.
Although he clearly doesn’t believe it, women are autonomous beings who are able to decide who can do what to them. So no, they won’t let people do just anything to them just because they’re a “star”.
But those are just words, right?
Does Trump call all of the sexual assault allegations against him “words” too?
The only thing here that’s “just words” is the so called “respect” Trump would like to have people think he had for anyone, let alone women.
So here’s a few more words: how is Trump going to make America safe when no one is safe from him?
