This Country Does Not Care About the Claims of Abused Women, and It Enables the Men Who Have Been Accused

Before Donald Trump even won the presidential election, women had come forward and accused him of various types of sexual misconduct. A recording surfaced in which he bragged about being able to do whatever he wants with women, and in which he said you should just “grab ’em by the pussy.”

No one thought he’d make it off the campaign trail. Surely he would not be allowed to continue running with the allegations that were hanging over his head and his own words corroborating—at least in a sense—what the women who accused him were saying.

But he won. He ascended to the presidency, and he was put into a position to enable others who had committed crimes as egregious as or more egregious than the ones of which he was accused.

Take, for instance, Roy Moore, who recently ran for the U.S. Senate seat in Alabama vacated by Jeff Sessions. Multiple stories surfaced that painted a picture of Moore as a serial pedophile and sexual abuser. People in Alabama were still willing to vote for him, and even the president himself spoke up in defense of Moore, giving the equivalent of a “You gotta hear both sides” defense of the beleaguered candidate.

And now we have former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, who has been accused by two ex-wives and an ex-girlfriend of being both emotionally and physically abusive. Pictures have circulated showing evidence of abuse against at least one of those women, and it has become clear that the FBI and those in power at the White House knew about the accusations but allowed Porter his high-profile job anyway.

Porter has been ousted from his job only because the information has been made public. Had it not been, he would still have his job and he would still be under a cloud of abuse allegations.

Where is the integrity? Where is the empathy? Where is the understanding?

All of this proves that this administration—and this country as a whole—is willing to turn a blind eye to abuse and look the other way rather than confront what is obviously a pervasive issue that needs to be addressed and stopped.

This country doesn’t care about women.

It never has.