Donald
Trump weighed in on the scandal engulfing movie mogul and Democratic funder
Harvey Weinstein, accused by multiple women of sexual harassment (Weinstein has
been fired from his company). “I’ve known Harvey Weinstein a long time. I’m not at all surprised to see it,” Trump said.
Trump
was subsequently asked by CNN’s Elizabeth’s Landers how Weinstein’s conduct
differed from the conduct Trump bragged about on the “Access Hollywood” tape,
where he said “when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.
Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”
Trump
responded that the tape was just “locker-room talk.”
Rubbish.
It
wasn’t just “locker-room talk.” At least 15 women have publicly accused
Trump of sexual harassment and assault, and People Magazine Natasha
Stoynoff has six independent witnesses to back up her allegation that Trump
“pushed her against a wall, shoved his tongue in her mouth, and told her they
were going to have an affair.”
Trump
is actively assaulting women in other ways.
The Trump administration’s Education Department has moved to make it harder for women at universities to prove sexual harassment.
Trump’s
Health and Human Services Department has made it harder for women to get
contraceptives.
Trump
has nominated 32 men and just one woman to become U.S. Attorneys.
Trump’s
2018 budget calls for a 93 percent cut in funding for federal programs that aid
survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence.
Trump
and Weinstein are both sexual harassers and predators. But Trump is also president
of the United States. That makes him even more dangerous to women.
ROBERT
B. REICH is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of
California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing
Economies. He served as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, for
which Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries
of the twentieth century. He has written fourteen books, including the best
sellers "Aftershock", "The Work of Nations," and "Beyond
Outrage," and, his most recent, "Saving Capitalism." He is also
a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, chairman of Common Cause,
a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and co-creator of the
award-winning documentary, INEQUALITY FOR ALL.
