Not gonna miss this guy.
He made many appearances as a commentator in the media, but I heard him mostly on NPR’s Here & Now. I wondered why they had him on. It’s a smart show, but he regularly said such ridiculous things that the hosts and the other guests would burst out laughing at him. Eventually I concluded that he was like Allen Colmes on Hannity & Colmes — someone the audience could laugh at to feel better about themselves.
He’s been suspended from his media gigs because something came to light from a few years ago, when he was “involuntarily separated” from his job at Arizona State University’s McCain Institute for International Leadership because of sexual misconduct.
An internal investigation by the university concluded that Paris Dennard, a surrogate during the campaign and now a member of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships, told a recent college graduate who worked for him that he wanted to have sex with her. He “pretended to unzip his pants in her presence, tried to get her to sit on his lap, and made masturbatory gestures,” according to a university report obtained by The Washington Post.
The report cites complaints came from two women who worked with Dennard at the university.
The second woman said Dennard would sometimes throw things at her and that she caught Dennard looking at her breasts. When she tried to adjust her blouse, he said “Don’t worry, I’ve already seen it.” Dennard acknowledged making the comment, or something similar to it, according to the report.
Dennard also admitted to touching the first woman’s “neck with his tongue,” according to the report. In that instance, Dennard “came up behind EMPLOYEE 1 during another [McCain Institute] event and whispered in her ear that he wanted to ‘f---’ her.”
Dennard said he was only joking. The report notes that he and the women sometimes engaged in banter of a “sexual nature,” but added that his behavior occurred at work or at work-related events and was unprofessional. And the women were frightened of him. “We all know what it’s like to be on [Dennard’s] bad side — he will make your life miserable,” one said. “What if he comes back to the office? What if he comes to an event? Does he know where I live?”
I don’t know what effect this will have on his position on the White House commission, but Trump will probably say “Attaboy!” and promote him.
And I had to include this comment from the Washington Post article linked to above:
Did you hear what happened to Trump's minority base?
He just got fired from CNN.