It’s been three days since journalist and advice columnist E. Jean Carroll published an account alleging Donald Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s, and it still hasn’t been front-page news in the nation’s largest newspapers. With the exception of Joy Reid on MSNBC, it was not a topic on the Sunday-morning talk shows. Why? Carroll joins at least 15 other women who’ve come forward to say Trump either sexually harassed or sexually assaulted them. The accusations span decades, and they show a crystal-clear pattern of Trump forcing himself on women.
So where is the round-the-clock coverage? Why isn’t it a leading story in every newspaper in the nation? As CNN commentator Jess McIntosh noted, The New York Times did cover the story— and buried it in the Books section.
It’s one thing to read the harrowing account by Carroll; it is another thing to hear her describe the attack in her own words. She still vividly recalls the details of the attack: the items he picked up from the department store counter. What he demanded she try on. How he violently attacked her in the dressing room. How she physically fought back. Carroll even kept the coat she was wearing that day, buried in the back of her closet all this time. She was photographed wearing the coat for the New York magazine article in which she details the attack. This is difficult to hear, but it is important. Listen to Carroll’s account and ask yourself if this warrants further coverage and accountability. Is it time to revisit the sixteen credible accusations?
This is an absolute slap in the face to women everywhere. E. Jean Carroll is a successful journalist who ran in the same circles as Donald Trump, and she described an assault that mirrors exactly what Trump was recorded telling Billy Bush he does to women.
Trump: Yeah, that’s her. With the gold. I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.
Bush: Whatever you want.
Trump: Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.
So here we are. How many women need to come forward before our society holds him accountable? How many men would need to come forward alleging Donald Trump violently sexually assaulted or raped them for it to warrant front page news and accountability? My guess is one. One credible accusation is all it would take.
The Columbia Journalism Review, which analyzes criticism of the press, has reviewed the coverage and determined that the story has not gotten the level of coverage warranted for such an accusation. It notes the lack of coverage from nearly every newspaper in the nation and speculates that “fatigue” might be the reason.
Whatever the reason, it’s astonishing that Carroll’s allegation isn’t ubiquitous in our news media this morning. Its relative absence is doubly surprising when you consider that the #MeToo moment—with its brilliant reporting on Harvey Weinstein and so many other abusive men—has arguably been the biggest story of the Trump era not to centrally feature Trump. Somehow, Trump escaped accountability at the height of that moment. It looks like that’s happening again.
Is the reason it isn’t getting more coverage that we’re just numb to all the credible accusations of sexual assault and violent rape at the small hands of Donald Trump that we can just skip coverage altogether? I mean, are you kidding me? The Columbia Journal Review probably hit the nail on the head, but it’s astonishing nonetheless. Would there be such a national collective shrug if, let’s say, similar accusations were made against Barack Obama? Joe Biden? HELL NO. The coverage would be relentless.
E. Jean Carroll deserves better. The other 15 accusers deserve better, as do the women who might be hiding in the shadows with their own accounts of being sexually assaulted by Donald Trump. We all deserve better. What will it take?
