Sexual Misconduct and the Presidency: Reality Bites for Trump

Even as photographic evidence continues to mount that President Trump did, in fact, at least encounter the nearly 20 women who have accused him thus far of sexual misconduct, the party line continues to be that everyone else is lying but him.

Trump has claimed that he did not and does not know any of the women who have accused him of either sexual harassment or of sexual assault. These accusations have dogged a good chunk of his campaign and continue to follow him like a bad smell, and yet, he is still hanging on to the fake hope that if he continues to say that everyone else is lying about his knowledge of these accusers, he will come out on top.

The truth is not something malleable that you can make work for your convenience, and it's something that we don't always have to like. Holding up a mirror to the reality of what happens in your world is sometimes an uncomfortable prospect, particularly when you're not the one in control of the mirror. Think of the numbers of times that things have gone awry in your world because you have said something or done something that you have later gone, "That was not my best move." It happens to all of us, and even though we don't like to acknowledge our missteps in character or judgment, it's a necessary part of our development as human beings.

Trump has steadfastly said that he does not know any of the women who have accused him of either sexual harassment or sexual assault. Several pictures have now surfaced that prove, at the very least, that he came into contact with several of them in spite of his claims to the contrary. He continues to tweet voraciously that he does not know any of these women and that what's surfacing about him is, once again, "fake news."

The truth is, Trump has at the very least come into contact with a good many of these women; there are several photos where he is posing either individually with them or with his entourage and the woman in question. His press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is even going to bat for him and if she's not offering further clarification of his often-bizarre, angry tweets, she's effectively making up another story to go along with the tweet.

On Dec. 12, for instance, she said that Trump's insistence that he'd never met the women who accused him of sexual misconduct was directed specifically to the women who held a press conference Dec. 11 about the sexual misconduct allegations, and in naming those women directly, implied that Trump was not saying he'd never met all the women.

This malleability of the truth that Trump continues to believe in is now reaching epically stupid proportions. The images that have been surfacing prove that Trump has, at the very least, come into contact with his accusers in one respect or another, so how can he continue to claim it's "fake news?"

I question why everyone who's been accused of sexual misconduct over the last several months are being very obviously and publicly shamed, if not investigated or charged, for their behavior and yet, Trump practically admitted to sexual misconduct over a hot mike and people voted him into office. The other party involved in that conversation, if you can call it that, was Billy Bush, and he was very publicly shamed and lost a terrific opportunity at NBC as a result. Trump, on the other hand, won the presidency.

The impeachment process was far faster against Bill Clinton regarding his relations with Monica Lewinsky than it has been against Donald Trump. Reportedly, some 100 Democrats have come forward, wanting a congressional investigation into the allegations against the president, yet nothing appears to have transpired.

The evidence against Donald Trump's claims of never having met these women who have accused him of sexual assault or harassment continues to mount regardless of how much he says that he either never met the women or would not have even considered trying to approach them. He continues to try and make the truth, which is not something that can really be bent to anyone's will, flexible to go along with the lies he continues to lean on. It's impossible to do that and believe that everything will work out in your favor.

The truth in this case will continue to dog Trump regardless of his protestations of not knowing his accusers. Eventually, saying that something is fake news when it's blatant truth and reality will bite him hard, and I can only hope that all of his accusers will finally feel free from their respective traumas from their encounters with Trump when that does happen.