Serially Accused Sexual Predator Says He’s Going to ‘Protect’ Women ‘Whether They Like It or Not’

"Is there any woman in this stadium that wants to be protected by the president?" Donald Trump, who was found civilly liable for sexual abuse in 2023, asked during a Wednesday night rally in Wisconsin.

By Kylie Cheung  |  October 31, 2024 | 12:31pm
Politics
Serially Accused Sexual Predator Says He’s Going to ‘Protect’ Women ‘Whether They Like It or Not’

On Wednesday, a 28th woman—Swiss model Beatrice Keul—publicly accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct, recounting a 1993 incident in which Trump allegedly groped her. Just hours after the Daily Mail published Keul’s allegation, Trump took the stage at a Wisconsin rally, directed his unfocused gaze at the camera, and seemingly addressed American women directly. “I told women I will be their protector,” he said, reiterating what’s inexplicably become his go-to refrain in the final stretch of the campaign trail, as he faces a nagging gender gap among voters.

“‘Sir, please don’t say that,'” Trump recounted his advisers saying. “Well, I’m going to do it whether the women like it or not.”

He ranted for a little while about what he says he’ll protect women from—like “migrants coming in” and “foreign countries that want to hit us with missiles and lots of other things”—then asked the crowd, “Is there any woman in this stadium that wants to be protected by the president?”

Trump, who was found civilly liable for sexual abuse in 2023, declared in September that if elected, he’ll be women’s “protector” and make our lives so “happy, beautiful, and great again” that we’ll soon “no longer think about abortion.”

Of course, it would be incredibly convenient for Trump’s campaign if women “no longer” thought about abortion, because abortion is one of the driving issues of this election. Abortion bans that are endangering our lives, and Trump has repeatedly boasted about being the one to kill Roe v. Wade. The “protector” line seems to be an implicit attempt to convince women that, if elected, Trump won’t enact a national abortion ban. (He will.)

I’m honestly still processing the sound of Trump declaring to women that, whether we “like it or not,” he’s going to “protect” us anyway. It’s classic, conservative strongman bullshit: The only way to support women, in their view, is to dominate, infantilize, and “protect” us.

Meanwhile, a viral TikTok trend features young women filming themselves as they listen to Trump’s comments on the Access Hollywood tape, unearthed in 2016, for the first time. In the tape, Trump boasts that, without even asking, he’ll see women and “grab ’em by the pussy” because “when you’re a star, they let you do it.” Eight years later, hearing the audio for what feels like the billionth time still makes me want to vomit in my mouth.

 
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