As depressingly awful as the many sexual assault allegations against Donald Trump are, their timing with Vice President Joe Biden’s scheduled appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers couldn’t have been more perfect. After all, then-Senator Biden introduced the Violence Against Women Act for consideration back in 1990, and has advocated for women’s rights ever since. So, who better than the man who recently starred in a special episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit to discuss the Republican nominee’s reportedly egregious behavior, past and present?
“First of all, what I’ve found astounding is that he would so publicly — no matter who he was talking to — that he would acknowledge that he engaged in the textbook definition of sexual assault,” Biden exclaims when pressed by Meyers. “I mean, this is absolutely outrageous behavior. I’ve spent most of my career trying to figure out how to begin to change the culture in this country so we treat women with respect and with dignity.”
Among the countless examples of Trump’s lewd behavior to pick from, Biden cited recent stories told by former Miss USA contestants and a related Howard Stern interview from 2005. This sparked cheers from Meyers and the Late Night audience for Biden’s points as they related to his work for the VAWA, but the vice president wasn’t finished:
“My dad used to say, ‘The greatest sin of all is the abuse of power. And the [most] cardinal sin of all is a man raising his hand or taking advantage of a woman.’ And here’s a guy who says, ‘I’m a star.’ Talk about power. ‘I’m a billionaire, I’m a star, I’m a celebrity, so I can intimidate women into allowing me to assault them and assume they’re not going to say anything.’ That is the ultimate abuse of power.”
Please don’t leave, Uncle Joe. We’ll miss you too damn much.
