As I read the seemingly unending stream of allegations against Donald Trump, and the attempts to excuse his words (or actions) by bringing up Bill Clinton’s sexual affairs, I am disturbed that there doesn’t seem to be a sufficient distinction being drawn between consensual sexual affairs and sexual assaults, such as Donald Trump bragged about on the Access Hollywood tape, and such as the ones women are alleging.
It has made me recall what I read while in high school, Eldridge Cleaver's book, Soul on Ice. During the time he began writing his essays, he was serving time in prison for rape. He admitted in Soul on Ice that he raped black women "for practice", then began serial rape of white women. (He denounced rape in the book.) The part of it that stuck with me at the time, and stayed with me, was his statement that people misunderstand the motivation for rape. He said rape is not about sex; rape is about power. While he was writing in the context of a black man raping a white woman in the 1960s, I think that probably holds true for most rapes and sexual assaults - even though many of the men may be truly turned on by that power, by the ability to force the victim to do something against his/her will.
Bill Clinton's multiple affairs were not forcing something on a woman against her will - not a demonstration of power over victims. (Not defending the man; I sure wouldn't want him as a husband.) The statements of Donald Trump on the Access Hollywood tape (the graphic language about doing things to women without asking and adding that, as a star, he could get away with it), and the shaming language he used toward the Miss Universe discussed in the first debate (and which he continued after the debate by falsely claiming that she was in a porn movie), were acts of power. If the allegations against him by the many other women are true (and I believe most are based on the things we know are true about him), those were acts of power. He did not necessarily want to have sex with the women. He just wanted to prove that he could treat them any way he wanted and they were powerless to stop him.
His defense that his accusers aren't attractive enough for him to be interested in having sex with ("I mean, just look at her Facebook page" "Did you see her? She sure wouldn't be my first choice.") are a ridiculous defense. By his reasoning, an unattractive (by his standards) woman could never be raped or assaulted. He might not have wanted to show them off as a trophy, but that doesn't go to the issue of Donald Trump needing to demonstrate his power over those women by sexually assaulting them.
Donald Trump’s assaults on women are not comparable to Bill Clinton’s consensual affairs. Trump has demonstrated repeatedly that he wants to feel powerful and in charge. Sexual assaults on women are just another way of asserting his power.