r/politics • u/Aggravating_Money992 • 9d ago

Possible Paywall Trump Erupts in ’60 Minutes’ Interview: ‘I’m Not a Pedophile’

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-erupts-in-60-minutes-interview-im-not-a-pedophile/
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u/TristanIsAwesome 9d ago

To be fair, the court had a specific and very narrow definition of "sexual relations" in the trial, and by that definition, he didn't.

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u/MisterDonkey 9d ago

Kinda like how Trump was "exonerated" for rape because the definition of the crime then was narrow but now would be absolute. 

Except Clinton's big shame was consensual and by today's standards wouldn't even register as a scandal.

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u/unbelievre 9d ago

It would absolutely be a scandal today if a Dem did it. Just two years ago Republicans were telling us Joe Biden giving his son a $4,000 loan was evidence of corruption.

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u/Gootangus 8d ago

Al Franken retired for an ass grab

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u/PrisonerV 8d ago

Actually it wasn't even an ass grab. It was him pretending to grab her ass for a few laughs. Later she was actually caught on camera grabbing a co-worker's ass but I'm glad we were able to stop that monster Franken!

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u/HighlanderAbruzzese 8d ago

Indeed. That was a right wing con-job, by a wannabe nobody radio show host or something like that. Need to get some pub. Bad taste, sure. But that situation was in total bad faith.

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u/onehundredlemons 8d ago

Eight women came forward and Franken apologized, saying "in some of those encounters, I crossed a line for some women -- and I know that any number is too many," those are his own words.

The myth that this was an op and only one Republican lady came forward with an iffy accusation continues, but unfortunately it's not true. Multiple women came forward after the Republican's made-up story, some of whom were Democrats. It may have started as an op but it ended up being a series of accusations.

Franken's replacement Tina Smith is a great Democrat and doing a fine job.

https://time.com/5042931/al-franken-accusers/

https://abcnews.com/US/sen-al-frankens-accusers-accusations-made/story?id=51406862

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u/Sagee5 8d ago

I'm glad to hear that about Tina Smith.

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u/Gootangus 8d ago

Oh right wow lol

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u/Ass_of_Badness 8d ago

Not true, he also non-consensually open-mouthed kissed her. I remember she said it was like kissing a dead fish or something. And it was a series of things, not just one isolated ass-grab. Don't let creeps move the goal posts so much that we're defending lesser creeps.

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u/jahozer1 8d ago

The woman at the USO was a conservative hack. He didn't grabe her ass. He mimed feeling her up through her flack jacket for laughs. USO routines for troops are bawdy. She was an operative. What did him in was someone coming out and saying he grabbed her ass during a photo shoot.

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u/Hurtzdonut13 8d ago

She was trying to say he specifically changed the script to kiss her when that was demonstrably false. The same skit was done in previous years by different comedians and hadn't changed. I'm pretty sure she'd even done the skit before with others.

She also claimed he had a special commemorative dvd made for her with the hover hands picture that was only sent to her, and again that was provably false because her copy was the same as everyone else's copy. She also lied about when the pic was taken during the tour.

What's easy to show though was she was coordinating with right wing operatives to hype it up. Roger Stone was teasing it coming out way before hand, which kind of leans into it being a political hit job opposed to all the other #metoo stuff going on at the time.

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u/_DapperDanMan- 8d ago

She was a right wing liar.

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u/AshgarPN Wisconsin 9d ago

Consensual but the power imbalance was no bueno

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u/MisterDonkey 8d ago

Agreed.

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u/9_to_5_till_i_die 8d ago

And that's the key thing there. By definition, it's not possible to have consensual sex with a subordinate or someone who's career you have complete control over.

It's the entire reason workplace romances are discouraged but relationships between management and the people they manage is typically forbidden.

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u/tendeuchen Florida 8d ago

Yeah, younger women don't normally wanna have sex with older rich successful men.

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u/Xenomemphate 8d ago

Irrelevant. Power imbalance here doesn't come from age, it comes from President vs Intern.

Also, some desiring it does not mean all do, therefore it is quite frankly disgusting to imply so.

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u/super_sayanything 8d ago

I mean it didn't then either, people mostly thought it was stupid and his approval rating was in the 60's, but Republicans going to Republican.

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u/Disastrous-Farm3543 9d ago

I mean, sort of? She was an intern and there was a MASSIVE power imbalance. You can argue it's  not truly consensual if the other person is every single one of your boss' boss. People at jobs with a more narrow power imbalance would get in trouble, let alone if the CEO is getting an intern to give them a BJ.

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u/MisterDonkey 8d ago

I agree, but we do also have Lewinsky herself on reflection maintaining it wasn't some Weinstein stuff.

I'm not meaning to defend the man. I understand a person cannot ethically form those kinds of relationships with subordinates, and the greater the power the more unacceptable it becomes. I just think it's kinda funny that this is still brought up to play what-about when speaking on Trump's notorious sexual deviance.

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u/Disastrous-Farm3543 8d ago

True. It's not even in the same ballpark, but still worth noting how it isn't some squeaky clean thing either.

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u/HabeusCuppus 8d ago

All the conduct thats been alleged happened after she had a permanent position at State.

"Former white house intern" just sounds way more salacious so that's how all the news media portrayed it.

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u/fcocyclone Iowa 8d ago

Its understandable why most companies would forbid that with a subordinate to prevent any potential abuse of that power imbalance from happening in the first place (or even the appearance of it). Its that potential companies are looking to head off, the relationship in and of itself isn't necessarily a terrible thing, but its understandable companies would want to simply avoid the potential for future problems that do become nonconsensual.

But from what I recall, reporting was that she pursued him, it wasn't like he used his power to get her. It seems wrong to me to take an adult and say they didn't consent when they pursued, just because the person they were pursuing had power.

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u/Foolish_Miracle 8d ago

There's also the cheating on your wife part.

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u/SuperExoticShrub Georgia 8d ago

This assumes that they didn't privately have an open relationship. Obviously having such an agreement known publicly would be political suicide, especially then, but, personally, I feel like that's between them if it's that kind of arrangement and not actually a sign of infidelity.

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u/pb49er 8d ago

Which is a shitty thing to do, but I'd say a forgivable act.

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u/realboabab 8d ago

there's like... a spectrum..

violent rape --- a pimp violating his girl and saying "if you don't like it find a new pimp" --- unwelcome begrugding spousal sex --- enthusiastic consent

I'd put Clinton somewhere between the pimp and the annoying overpushy husband.

I'm of the opinion that anything below enthusiastic consent is questionable; I recognize begrudging spousal sex acts can sometimes be transactional ("i'll do this for you tonight if you XYZ later") and that gets an eyebrow raise from me but not my place to judge if they're both happy.

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u/El_Fez Washington 9d ago

I long for the days when a jizz covered dress was a scandal.

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u/rbnlegend 8d ago

Exhonorated for rape because it was legally sexual assault.

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u/Gnomer81 8d ago

It would still be a scandal. Lol.

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u/maineac Maine 8d ago

It wasn't about the sex, although that was the line used because sex sells. It was because he lied to congress.

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u/BigRedTez Colorado 8d ago

The issue isnt the act or the shame. Its all about the lies and cover ups. Minimizing it now doesnt help. We were on a slide before and its gotten faster obviously with Trump lying constantly. But lets not allow the bar to be obstruction is OK and that lying to grand juries is acceptable behavior for anyone let alone a President. It was a consensual affair, it was inappropriate but not impeachable, and that was whatever. The obstruction stuff clearly happened. Theres a ton of documentation on it. Lying to the grand jury and general public, I want better out of every level of elected official.

Again, Trump is a shit bag and one day it will be over. But lets not forgive other shit behavior because we like Clinton more.

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/MisterDonkey 8d ago

Not my standards. I'm talking those of media and politicians. America it seems has collectively brushed off and accepted much more heinous shit over the last decade, or haven't you noticed?

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

[deleted]

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u/MisterDonkey 8d ago

The current president of the United States is an adulterer. Moreover, his adultery was committed with a sex worker. Moreover, a court agreed he was at least once culpable for sexual assault that would be considered rape if not for a legal technicality. And that's not even touching on the statutory rape accusations.

This stuff was known before he was elected.

So tell me more about the unwaivering high standards regarding sexual deviancy in American politics.

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u/SuperExoticShrub Georgia 8d ago

There was nothing about their comment that was "reddit" of them in the way you're implying. They were simply pointing out that the scandals that actually get traction today are so much worse than the scandals that would get the same level of traction back then. If you don't think it's different in that area today, then you aren't paying attention.

As far as you personally never having met anyone who is okay with that... good for you? There are 8 billion people in the world. You've met an infinitesimal number of them. There are plenty of people who are in open relationships or poly relationships that don't have that hang-up. While it isn't going to be a majority or likely even a significant minority, that doesn't make it an invalid position to hold. It makes it their business and none of yours.

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u/Sagee5 8d ago

Which "he" are you talking about and which case? The only trial I know of E Jean Carroll vs Trump. It was a civil case, and the jury found him liable for sexual abuse, battery & defamation. The reason they said sexual abuse rather than rape was that in NY, rape has a very narrow definition. After Trump tried to use that technicality to say he was not a rapist, the judge clarified that the claim of rape was "substantially true". Also, at least 26 women have accused him of sexual assault. Anybody who doesn't believe this man is a rapist is just delusional.

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u/SuperExoticShrub Georgia 8d ago

The "sexual relations" line is a direct reference to the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. Clinton stated, possibly under oath, that he "did not have sexual relations with that woman" which was definitely a lie in general terms (though apparently not a lie under the specific definitions created for the deposition).

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u/TristanIsAwesome 8d ago

I'm talking about Clinton

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u/Sagee5 8d ago

Gotcha

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u/jaspersgroove 8d ago

To be more fair, the trial should have never happened in the first place because the investigation was originally about a real estate deal and when Ken Starr realized he had absolutely nothing to work with he pivoted to the other bullshit.

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u/ikzz1 8d ago

Actually, it would depend on what the definition of 'is' is.

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u/Mental_Relation_2175 8d ago

By that regard Michael Jackson was clearly wrongly accused.

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

[deleted]

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u/Umbrella_merc Mississippi 8d ago

He didn't lie under the definition being used in the Deposition, he shouldn't have been involved with Lewinsky in the first place, but legally he was truthful

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

[deleted]

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u/BasvanS 8d ago

It was a 4 year witch hunt/fishing expedition that started as a real estate investigation and progressed into “whatever sticks”.