For the better part of a week, Donald Trump has rightfully been taken to task for his ugly words that have been explained as “locker-room talk.” But calling what he said “locker room talk” is not only a deflection but a poor explanation. Donald Trump didn’t just say some dirty words, he bragged about sexually assaulting women.
If you need a reminder, here’s exactly what was said:
“I moved on her actually. You know she was down on Palm Beach. I moved on her, and I failed. I’ll admit it. I did try and fuck her, she was married.”
“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.”
That doesn’t even need context to be damning. And yet, some have tried to put this into a vacuum in which a person’s claims of real actions can be explained away as dirty banter. It wasn’t dirty banter, it was a look into the rape culture that produces people like Brock Turner.
