Is it so hard to be on E. Jean Carroll's side?

E. Jean Carroll

Remember when Al Franken came to speak at UMM for graduation? He was at the peak of prestige in his public life. You could tell that he lived for this type of public service. His parents once told him that as a Jew, he always should be a vigorous advocate for civil rights. 

Franken was eventually forced to step down as U.S. Senator because of what, exactly? It wasn't rape, was it? Improper touch - does that describe it? I remember Jonathan Alter coming on TV, probably for the "Morning Joe" program, and saying "it was the seventh complaint that really did him in, and what was that? A women claimed he put his hand on her shoulder." 

The seventh complaint or allegation meant that a certain critical mass was reached. You could claim that Franken didn't get enough support from his own party. This was a millstone around the neck of this comedian turned serious politico. Maybe Franken, because he is human, was looking for a little turn-on in some of his encounters. Inappropriate? Affirmative. A career-ender in politics? Not sure it should have been. 

In order to be just, the determination should have been made by Franken's own Democatic Party of Minnesota. Not Kirsten Gillibrand of New York State. In MN we still have the "DFL."

 

Donald Trump caricature

Looking higher up

The rank of president is arguably higher up when it comes to example-setting, wouldn't you say? I mean, the person's conduct in that role would seem to be more worthy of public review/analysis. He's the head of state. 

If the bar is set for someone like Franken to be kicked out for inappropriate touch, well then surely we can evaluate the president with more exacting criteria. 

And of course Bill Clinton should have resigned. But that has receded in time compared to the individual who ought to be on the hot seat now. How does Franken's behavior compare to the personal background of the U.S. president from 2016 to 2020? 

Oh wait, you're too numbed to be astonished at all by anything you learn in this regard? So it's just a shrug, no matter what comes out? Or maybe you want to help start a bandwagon for that individual to become president again. You maybe want to see him implement his firing squads and the guillotine. To go after whom? 

Well, the second time around he'll be better positioned to get all his own goons into the important positions with Justice. It will be a quasi-mafia arrangement. Just watch these people define "treason" on their own terms. 

 

Makes my head hurt

Franken could not pass muster with the nation's collective sense of values, I guess. How laudable of us all. But what kind of litmus test did we apply for the 45th president, 2016-2020? Surely it would have to be comparable to the Franken episode, right? Because there are some things the American people cannot tolerate in our top elected leaders, right? We must affirm to the whole world our values, one being respect based on gender. 

Franken's inappropriate touch was deemed unforgivable. A hand on a woman's shoulder for the snapping of a photo. By itself the complaint may have gone nowhere. The sad part is that there was an accumulation of such claims. Some might say it was small potatoes. Never mind, Franken's behavior violated the principle of men's proper respect toward women. The inverse would have to be true as well. It's gender equality. 

Some might say Franken's misconduct was tilting toward the benign. We in Minnesota elected him to be our senator. No legal charges were filed against him. We elect human beings with their human failings to be our elected representatives. Clinton was not forced to resign. I wish he had, but what's done is done. Al Gore would have been the successor, not Bob Dole. Why couldn't the Kirsten Gillibrands of this world be more assertive in that case? 

Al Franken

You don't suppose Republicans had partisan motives in coming down on Mr. Franken, do you? Wasn't it Franken who questioned Jeff Sessions in such a way that resulted in Sessions having to "recuse" himself on the Russia matter w/ Trump? And after that, Trump came down like a sledgehammer on Sessions, basically destroying him in Republican ranks, making it impossible for Sessions to even win back his old Senate seat. He lost to the football coach, let's say "Tuberville." How did Tuberville do in his last "Iron Bowl" game? Just asking. 

Is it dangerous to elect football heroes to high government positions, based on the brain damage that may have happened in their background? 

I digress. My point here is that if we are going to set our standards in a certain way with Franken, it's perfectly logical to look at our president the same way, through the same lens of judgment. I mean, n'est-ce pas? Am I pursuing a rational course here? 

So let's look at Donald Trump. I won't even bother assessing the "Access Hollywood" thing. Really I won't. I'm looking instead at the E. Jean Carroll case. Trump denies allegations, of course. If he felt such allegations were not true, he could have made a firm statement and left it at that. This man who was president of the U.S. for four years went afield of that, offering a judgment one might expect from a frat boy with too much alcohol in his system. Oh wait, please don't think I'm talking about Brett Kavanaugh. So I should clarify: none of this is about Kavanaugh. 

It's about Trump who wanted to implore all of us with the statement that E. Jean Carroll was "not my type." So, "not my type" from the standpoint of being a candidate for rape? Well it appears this is exactly what Trump was saying, as if the perspective of a would-be rapist is one we would have to consider credible. "What kind of woman would I rape?" 

Well, I haven't given it a thought. Nor would I call any woman "Horse Face" as Trump did toward Stormy Daniels with whom he surely had a sex-based tryst. How did she bring Trump to ejaculation? Or was Trump able to make it that far? Maybe Stormy has a non-disclosure agreement on that. I wouldn't mind having sex with Stormy Daniels. I'd take it. 

Trump says E. Jean Carroll is "totally lying." 

 

Crude, coarse

Trump's actual words: "Number one, she's not my type. Number two, it never happened, OK?" So this is how Trump ranks his thoughts. 

According to June 2019 coverage on BBC News, "Ms. Carroll is the 16th woman to accuse Mr. Trump of sexual misconduct." That's a number higher than seven, if you're comparing with Franken's backstory. 

The BBC News "analysis" article by Anthony Zurcher gives us this: "At this point it's hard to keep track of the total number of women who have come forward to accuse Donald Trump of sexual improprieties ranging from unwanted touching to assault." 

Juxtapose this with "Access Hollywood." You know, someday we'll see psychologists give us a pile of in-depth books interpreting the rise of Trump in politics, how anomalous it all was. How did he do it? Why did not the outrageousness - so much so, it seemed parody quite often - take him down early-on, put him on the scrap heap of oddball political wannabes? Witness Ross Perot. 

Trump's fall should have been swift. And then this nation could have carried on in our standard fashion, continued our hallowed if imperfect form of government. The sexual improprieties should have been enough to accomplish that, easily. Then we have this little matter of the attempted insurrection. Seems rather like "Alice Through the Looking Glass." Trump would say "Alice? Maybe she's my type." 

 

It's not in the past

The worst part of all this is that we still have to take Trump seriously, early in 2023. He truly hovers. Do we not realize how close we are to the collapse of the American experiment? To firing squads and the guillotine? Do you not realize the consequences when democracy is gone? 

The Republican Party could handle this matter entirely if it wanted to. Psychologists can tell us in their future books why Republicans everywhere became such horrible lapdogs for Trump and his minions. Why the tremendous fear of going on television and saying critical things about Trump? Why are all these people so cowed? It's "Alice Through the Looking Glass" to go through day after day after day of no legal charges, not a single indictment against Trump. 

I'll get nailed by a cop if I'm seen not wearing a seat belt. I'll be humiliated. But Trump calls people and asks them to "manufacture" additional votes for him and it's OK. I mean it has to be OK because there's no indictment. It's just another day of listening to the talking heads on so much TV say it's all outrageous, must be illegal, but nothing happens. 

Would Trump send E. Jean Carroll to the guillotine if he gets his chance? A serious question. How do we define treason? Do we really want Trump's people deciding that? It would go beyond the candy-ass Bill Barr. Think Nazi Germany. 

And Don Lemon is in trouble for what?

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com