“We have a POTUS who acknowledged on a tape widely seen all over the country that he’s assaulted women, so I would hope maybe the president of the United States might pay attention of what’s going on and also think about resigning.” — @SenSanders pic.twitter.com/fy4ucYUEkv
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) December 7, 2017
It’s a question plenty of feminists have been asking on Twitter — if powerful men like Kevin Spacey, Al Franken, and Matt Lauer are getting fired over sexual abuse allegations, why isn’t Trump seeing the consequences of that Access Hollywood audio footage? Even Mike Pence reportedly wanted to replace candidate Trump for his comments about grabbing women “by the p*ssy.” Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VA) wants to know what gives, too.
When CBS News asked him about the allegations against Franken and the “far worse” accusations about Moore, Sanders had this to say:
“We have a President of the United States who acknowledged on a tape widely seen all over the country that he’s assaulted women, so I would hope maybe the President of the United States might pay attention of what’s going on and also think about resigning.”
Senator Sanders also had plenty to say about the #MeToo movement, in which women have come forward with sexual assault and harassment allegations against powerful men, and he acknowledged the problem exists in a variety of industries. “What I worry about right now, as we speak, in restaurants and in offices all over this country where you have bosses who are not famous, there is harassment of women and women are being intimidated,” said Sanders.
Indeed, statistics show that as publicized as the problem of harassment and assault has been in Hollywood and on Capitol Hill, there are far greater rates of impropriety in industries where low-pay and gender inequality make women vulnerable, especially manufacturing and the restaurant sector. So what else does Senator Sanders propose?
“We need a cultural revolution in this country,” said Sanders. “And to my mind it has to do with a woman’s right to control her own body, to get equal pay for equal work, to have access to her reproductive rights. We have a lot of work to do to protect women’s equality in this country.” A tall order, but considering that the Silence Breakers just made Time Magazine’s person of the year cover, it might not seem quite as out of reach as it did even a few months ago.
(Via CBS News)