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Just a few weeks before the crucial 2016 elections, Donald Trump was accused of sexual assault by two women. New York Times Article. The article described how businesswoman Jessica Leeds was allegedly attacked by Trump during a flight to New York in the late 1970s.

Days after the allegations became known WashingtonPost then received and published a now infamous Access to Hollywood A 2005 recording of Trump saying, “I’m automatically attracted to beautiful people – I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. When you’re a star, they let you do anything. Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”

He did it anyway and became the 45th President of the United States on November 8, 2016.

Then, three years after taking office, the former Elle The magazine’s columnist, E. Jean Carroll, came forward and said Trump raped her in the Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in 1996.

It was not until seven years later, in May 2023, that Trump was found guilty of defamation and sexual abuse against Carroll and ordered to pay her $5 million in damages. But now his lawyers are arguing for a retrial because the evidence used in the case was “highly inadmissible.”

None of this surprises me – not the fact that he was caught attacking Carroll last year, nor that he continues to try to wriggle out of it. But what does “Shocks me” is what Trump has said – and continues to say – about the women he is alleged to have abused.

On Friday, during a press conference in New York, he said of Carroll: “I have never met her. I have never touched her. I would have no interest in meeting her in any way,” before claiming her statement was “a made-up story by someone who just wants to promote a book.”

He even suspected that the photo of the two together could have been created using AI.

Even more disturbing, however, was what he said about Leeds. “Honestly,” he said, “I know you’re going to say this is terrible, but it couldn’t have happened, it didn’t happen, and she wouldn’t have been the chosen one. She wouldn’t have been the chosen one.”

Again, “she wouldn’t have been the chosen one.” For women all over the world, that can only mean one thing: If he was going to attack anyone, it wouldn’t be Leeds – because she was simply “not his type.”

For a man who has said such disgusting and disgraceful things about women in the past, even this reaches dizzying proportions. For any other politician, such sexist comments just weeks before the 2024 presidential election would spark a global backlash and rightly destroy his chances of defeating Kamala Harris.

But for “Teflon Trump,” such basic rules of logic and decency seem to be suspended. When will he finally have to face the consequences of his actions?

Even when he was arrested, charged, impeached and publicly humiliated for his (other) crimes, it had little impact on his reputation and never led to him being put behind bars. Is that why he does it? He knows he can act with impunity – so he does it?

None of this is true, but these recent comments are among his worst yet. For any victim of sexual violence or harassment, these words are not only immensely offensive; they are also extremely triggering. The idea that a woman could not possibly have been attacked because her attacker did not consider her “attractive” is absurd and deeply damaging – I should know.

Coincidentally, when the results of the last election were announced and it was announced that Trump was out and Joe Biden had won, I was sexually harassed on the subway. It was the height of the pandemic and also a particularly cold day in London, so not only was I dressed in multiple layers of clothing, gloves and a beanie hat, but I was also wearing a face mask. Literally the only skin visible was the area between my hat and the mask. Still, that didn’t stop the perpetrator.

Appearance is irrelevant – perpetrators will attack no matter what the woman or girl is wearing, how much makeup they wear, or whether they are blonde or brunette. To say otherwise not only implies that women can prevent such attacks, it is also a lazy and reckless way of undermining the validity of that claim. It is pure victim blaming.

But Trump is about much more than that. It’s not just about how he views women, it’s about the message he sends to others. Such flippant comments, coming from someone with such obscene wealth, power and influence, have a huge impact on how women in such cases (and women in general) are viewed. His nonchalance gives men free reign – it shows them that they can do and say whatever they want; that they are essentially above the law.

I’m willing to bet that this latest misogynistic outburst won’t affect his popularity polls in the slightest. How depressing.

Although many media and citizens condemn his outdated and dangerous views, according to the latest poll by The New York Times and Siena College, they are still neck and neck between him and Harris – the former is only 1 point ahead with 48 percent. Compare that to The Economistfrom last week, where Harris was three points ahead. The situation looks very bleak.

I can’t help feeling that in a week when we’ve seen the most vile and devastating reports of domestic violence and rape coming out of France – and when we’ve witnessed the death of an Olympic athlete who was allegedly doused with petrol and set on fire by her ex-boyfriend in Kenya – violence against women (and violent rhetoric) is reaching a tipping point.

If Trump wins, things will not get better for women. And I fear history will repeat itself. No matter what Trump says or does, he will find a way to recover.

Even more frightening is the idea that Because of what he does and says that he continues to defy all odds because that means people actually agree with what he says. For the sake of women everywhere, I sincerely hope that’s not true. We need to avoid it.