David French asked a couple of very good questions in his column titled “A Guilty Ex-President” in today’s New York Times. He points out that Republicans will either ignore the jury’s verdict that Donald Trump sexually assaulted and defamed E. Jean Carroll or they’ll claim, without evidence, the jury was biased against Trump. Marco Rubio said, “That jury’s a joke” and Lindsey Graham, questioning the entire process, said, “I think you could convict Donald Trump of kidnapping Lindbergh’s baby.”

French asked: But would a jury so hopelessly biased against Trump jury reject Carroll’s rape claim? Or is that an indication that the jury actually weighed the evidence supporting each charge?

President Biden won Manhattan in 2020, not just by a little, but a lot. He got 84 percent of Manhattan’s votes to Trump’s 14 percent. Remember, Manhattan was Trump’s home and where he built his “empire.” That penthouse he brags about living in is in midtown Manhattan. If there’s a jury to be found of Trump’s peers, it’s in Manhattan. But their rejection of him as president doesn’t mean that a jury of 12 Manhattanites would zealously rule against him and label him a rapist. If anything, Biden’s 84 percent win in the borough proves that Manhattan voters weigh the evidence. In 2020, the preponderance of evidence was that Trump was a horrible and failed president.

In 2020, Donald Trump was a president (sic) who had ignored a pandemic while nearly a million Americans were dying from it. He was a president (sic) who trashed the economy and was the first president (sic) in over 80 years to leave office with net job losses, with over four million. He spent four years in the White House attacking our allies and coddling our enemies. He raised tariffs and never understood that it was American consumers who paid for them. He told over 30,000 lies while in office. He also spent his entire time displaying his misogyny and racism. He attempted to extort an ally by withholding military aid approved by Congress for aiding Ukraine in the off-chance that Russia would ever invade it. By the time the election day arrived, Trump was a twice-impeached president (sic).

Now in 2024, he’s twice impeached, indicted, and found guilty by a jury in a civil case of sexual abuse. He’s still a liar, sexist, and a racist. But legally, you can’t call him a rapist.

The verdict in the E. Jean Carroll case, refusing to find him guilty of rape while believing he sexually abused her, shows that the jury gave an honest ruling. If you were going to find 12 people who’d be willing to believe any claim derogatory about Trump, you would think it’d be in a place where 84 percent voted against him. But court isn’t Facebook where you post a meme without researching the claim (stop doing that, people. It pisses me off).

The case against Trump was a civil trial, not criminal. The threshold of proof is lower in civil than it is in criminal and even in this situation, the jury didn’t believe Carroll proved that Donald Trump raped her, but they did believe her claim that Trump sexually abused her in addition to defaming her. They also awarded her $5 million. If this was criminal, he probably would have to be registered as a sex offender in addition to doing some jail time. This jury was charged with determining whether Carroll proved her claims with a preponderance of the evidence, not beyond a reasonable doubt. 

Legally, I can’t call Donald Trump a rapist. You can’t call someone a murderer, robber, rapist, etc, without a guilty conviction in a criminal court. Everyone’s innocent until proven guilty. Trump had his day in court here, even if he refused to attend. But it’s my opinion that Donald Trump is a sexual abuser and I believe I have always been able to call him that since Donald Trump admitted it in the Hollywood Access tape when he boasted about grabbing women “by the pussy” and “when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.”

The jury in Manhattan ruled that you can’t do anything you want when you’re a star. No one should think of themselves as such a star that they can sexually attack any women they find attractive. And there’s no doubt that Donald Trump found E. Jean Carroll attractive because, in a deposition, he confused her for his ex-wife.

Now, Donald Trump has to pay $5 million. It’s just too bad that the price to pay for attacking a woman isn’t higher, and I don’t mean monetarily.

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