Former President Bill Clinton slithered out from under his rock last week for a book tour with James Patterson on the novel they co-wrote. He was shocked – shocked, he said – to find himself questioned about his bad reputation among women in this Me Too, Time’s Up era. He stammered, yammered, drawled and fumed at the softball questions tossed his way. He seemed genuinely offended that his despicable behavior was still being questioned.
To rephrase Buddy Holly: “Please Fade Away.”
But, the aphrodisiac of power and publicity proves too strong for many who would serve everyone better by exiting the public stage. Clinton’s trip around the talk show circuit did serve the useful purpose of reinforcing the hypocrisy of God’s Own Party – so quick to condemn him 20 years ago, so silent now with their own debaucherized presidency.
As I enjoy pointing out, when I called for Clinton’s resignation and ouster for his deplorable behavior and lies all those years ago, the usually-wrong Right-wingers standing with me assured us all that they were motivated by high principles, not party politics. They lied.
Clinton says the Me Too movement is “long overdue.” President Trump glories in the abuse revelations against others. They share the same shameful pose that all of the women are telling the truth about the abuse they’ve been subjected to – except those with uncomfortable truths about their own above-the-law selves.
The View’s Joy Behar – no supporter of Trump – blames Clinton for coarsening society to the point that a demagogue such as Trump could get elected. Lest we forget, the Clintons attended Trump’s last (to date) wedding. Should we doubt Ms. Behar’s observation, we can refer to our pal Tom Paine: “When one villain is suffered to escape, it encourages another to proceed, either from a hope of escaping likewise, or an apprehension that we dare not punish.” And, as if Trump’s ego isn’t big enough, the evangelical Liberty University is co-producing “The Trump Prophecy,” a film claiming Trump’s election was the will of God.
As reported in The Huffington Post, the notion and film are based on the early-morning revelation to a retired New York firefighter that Trump was the man to return America “to the Godly principles we were founded upon” – God evidently unable to find anyone better suited for this mission than a Simon Magus NYC con man.
Hard to argue against a 2 a.m. revelations to a fireman, but Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, stands ready in the light of day to denounce his client’s accusers, particularly Stormy Daniels, the adult film star paid $130,000 by another lawyer for silence about her affair with Trump. Giuliani and Trump are following the Clinton playbook of attacking the victims.
But, Ms. Daniels has a lawyer, too, one Michael Avenatti, eager to point out: “Mr. Trump hasn’t seemed to have a problem over the years having sex with adult film stars. He seems to like them in his bed so, you know, it’s ironic to me that now this man would come out and basically state that because my client is an adult film star that she doesn’t deserve respect and that she’s not credible.”
Sean Colarossi, writing for PoliticusUSA, observes: ”Trump can attack Stormy Daniels all he wants, but he can’t outrun his own slimy history. Remember, this is a man who has allegedly sexually assaulted about a dozen women, cheated on his wives (including the First Lady), paid off porn stars to keep quiet about their sexual relationship with him and appeared in a soft-core porn video for Playboy. Giuliani’s own personal history follows the same course. His first marriage was with his cousin, and now he is divorcing his third wife who he was dating while still married to his second wife (who he announced he was separating with at a press conference).
A quick note to Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani: “If you’re going to assassinate somebody’s character, you should probably make sure you have some of your own.”
Yet, Republican enablers remain silent.
So, don’t expect them to challenge Trump’s embarrassing, infantile performance at the G-7 Summit, his complete capitulation to Vladimir Putin’s plan to undermine our European alliance or his trading benefits to the Chinese government in exchange personal profits for himself and his daughter.
(Gary Edmondson is Stephens County Democratic Party Chair.)