Trump and women: the making of a sexual predator
Based on unpublished interviews, court transcripts and court reports, Barry Levine and Monique El-Faizy have documented at least 67 accusations of inappropriate behavior targeting Donald Trump.
You know, it doesn't really matter what [the media] writes, as long as you have a pretty young ass, ”Donald Trump said in 1991 in an interview with Esquire magazine.
In the early 1990s, backstage at the Oscar de la Renta show in New York, Donald Trump suddenly intruded into the models' dressing room. At the sight of her, all the young models - most of them still teenagers - grab their dresses to cover themselves. "OK, now ladies let them go," said the then best-known real estate developer. Without even realizing the anger of the young girls, Donald Trump goes around the lodge. Behind him, his wife Ivana, then pregnant, does not hide his discontent.
It was the first time NaKina Carr, a 21-year-old model, had met Donald Trump. But this was far from the last. She confided in this subject for the first time in an interview given to the authors of "All the President's Women" (Hachette, release of the French version scheduled for spring 2020) [one of the authors of which is a journalist in France 24].
"While the size of Donald Trump's hands would eventually become a phenomenon of public curiosity, at the time they were infamous for an entirely different reason," the authors write. And to report the words of NaKina Carr: "He was a tamper. He always placed his hands where he shouldn't. When he kissed someone, his hand was on the buttocks or the hips of the person".
While visiting uninvited backstage at a lingerie show, Donald Trump allegedly touched the breast of a model, claiming to inspect the design of her bra, the authors also say.
Our book is available today. You can read all the stories of the brave women who spoke with us. We also look at the women who support Trump and at what his presidency means for women everywhere. pic.twitter.com/JBZfRss0DW
— Monique El-Faizy (@Moniqueelfaizy) October 22, 2019
Sexual predator
Captioned "Donald Trump and the Factory of a Predator", the book was co-authored by two journalists: Barry Levine, former editor of the National Enquirer, and Monique El-Faizy, journalist at France 24 and author of " God and Country: How Evangelicals Have Become America's New Mainstream "(Bloomsbury, untranslated).
It was Barry Levine who proposed this book project to Monique El-Faizy. The reporter admits that her first instinct was to refuse: "I didn't want to spend my time rubbing shoulders with all these disgusting stories of abuse. But I had read African-American author Ta-Nehisi Coates 'book' Between the world and me 'and this book really made me think about the notion of complicity and how, when you don't fight directly and denounce certain things, you are part of it ”.
“If I allow myself to ignore these facts, would that make me an accomplice in the silence imposed on these women and the culture of rape? I realized that I had to overcome my own discomfort to take part in the fight. all these stories made me understand that Donald Trump systematically attacked women. "
Like NaKina Carr, a number of women cited in the book have made public, for the first time, the ordeal that the American president had put them through. Sadly, many say they felt a sense of shame. "Women make them feel guilty and society as a whole makes women feel guilty. They are guilty of not having shouted. They are guilty of having been paralyzed by fear," explains Monique El-Faizy. “I think it's extremely difficult to know what you would do in the same situation. But you realize it has nothing to do with these women as individuals. They just happened to be in the wrong place in the wrong place. moment."
"Donald Trump would have picked on someone that day anyway, and if it hadn't been her, it would have been someone else. The problem is behavior. male predator and not the behavior of these women, "adds the journalist.
The first to count in Donald Trump's life - and to inspire his misogynistic attitude towards women - was his mother, Mary.
Mary suffered complications after the birth of her fifth child, Robert, and had to be hospitalized for quite a long time. His absence came at a crucial time in the development of the small child that was Donald Trump at the time. Upon returning home, Mary became the perfect housewife while her husband tycoon performed her traditional breadwinner role. For her son, "she was the ideal woman".
Never surrender
Never capitulate, always return the blows and then proclaim yourself the winner whatever the reality is the motto of Donald Trump. He's a man who not only treats women like objects and puts them down, but also openly brags about how easily he can sexually assault them.
Humiliation is a central part of his relationship with women. He focuses his predation on women much younger and less powerful than him.
At the 2017 Golden Globes ceremony, actress Meryl Streep spoke of Donald Trump's "instinct for humiliation". "When a public figure behaves like this, it has an effect in everyone's life because it gives others permission to do the same. Disrespect calls for disrespect, the use of violence incites violence. violence. When the powerful use their position to harass others, we are all losers, "she said.
Dodging the Epstein case
In the 1980s, Donald Trump's life revolved around models, the youngest possible. The businessman becomes so obsessed with young models that he ends up launching his own agency: Trump Model Management. From 1996 to 2015, he was also the one who held the Miss Universe contest.
It was in the 1990s that he met Jeffrey Epstein. In the United States, dozens of victims of the American financier claim to have been attacked within a sex trafficking network orchestrated by Epstein. The latter committed suicide in his cell at the beginning of August 20119.
In August, French police opened an investigation into allegations of rape and sexual abuse in charges against Epstein.
Thursday, November 14, Jean-Luc Brunel, a modeling agent suspected of having procured young women for the American billionaire, was formally accused of sexual harassment, French legal sources said.
"I think the death of Jeffrey Epstein allowed a lot of men to avoid being splashed by the affair, and Donal Trump is one of them," says Monique El-Faizy.
To describe his friend, Donald Trump says of Jeffrey Epstein that he is "a great guy". "We have a good time with him. They even say he loves women as much as I do, and a lot of them are younger."
Trump and the Church
“All the President's Women” also examines Donald Trump's relationship with the Church. For a man who adapts so easily to his own morals, Donald Trump clings to religion and shamelessly uses it to control key states. Recently her own personal pastor, Paula White, joined her administration at the White House.
"I do not think he is sincere vis-à-vis religion", considers Monique El-Faizy. “He knows that if he gets the evangelicals vote he can win and it's an audience he can easily rally to his cause. But I think there is cynicism on both sides. The Christian community is showing itself. cowardly in this partnership. It is clear that Trump does not share their values. But many of them say they don't care, that Trump is doing what they need and that is enough for them. "
Regression and progression
More broadly, “All the President'sWomen” examines the effects of the Trump presidency on the United States. It has both advanced and regressed the country, say the authors.
His positions in the abortion debate have prompted many states to reconsider the 1973 Supreme Court ruling which asserts that the right to privacy, under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion. "I think Donald Trump is also harming women globally," said Monique El-Faizy.
But the actions of the American president have also served women. Since her election, feminism has experienced new vitality in the United States. The president also played a role in the emergence of the #MeToo movement. "We have a record number of six women candidates for the presidential election and I do not think it is a coincidence. Donald Trump has encouraged women to stop being complacent and to get into politics," said Monique El- Faizy.
The reporter acknowledges that "All the President's Women" is hard reading, but believes it is imperative that people confront Donald Trump's troubling past.
"He is President of the United States: we cannot ignore his behavior. We have to take a close look at him to know exactly what we are talking about. It is too easy to look away."
