Trump’s Snowball of Abuse and Cruelty

Several of Donald Trump’s cabinet nominations have been accused of sexual assault of one kind or another, and another has been accused of enabling sexual exploitation of children.

Matt Gaetz is the most obvious one, and he has, as you know, already withdrawn from being the nominee for Attorney General.

RFK Jr., (HHS) and Pete Hegseth (Defense) have been accused of sexual assault. Linda McMahon (Education) has been accused of enabling sexual exploitation of children. Not a Cabinet nominee but DJT’s right-hand man since before the election and chosen to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk, has also been accused of sexual assault. (It is noted that all deny the allegations, although money has been paid to the accusers in some cases.)

And Donald Trump himself has openly boasted of his penchant to assault women – “when you’re a star they let you do it” - and in 2023 was found liable by a jury for the assault of a woman and ordered to pay $83 million in damages.

Aside from the issue of why so many people in Trump’s orbit have this issue on their resume, the result of these choices is to “normalize” the behavior.

“So many have done it.” It becomes so commonplace in the public square that it is not even an issue for discussion let alone a reason to disqualify someone.

The same is true for the cruelty. The new administration promises mass deportations and hopes to strike fear into the hearts of (undocumented) immigrants. Women will be kept from combat roles and transgenders will be thrown out of the armed services. The DOGE will be ruthless in cutting government waste, including jobs. Blanket trade and tariff threats are announced, to be used as weapons to bend others to do our will.

There is no sense of understanding or compassion for who will be affected, no glimmer of understanding of how we got into the circumstances in which we find ourselves. The only tool they have is a hammer, so every problem (and person) is a nail. And the hammer is swung with perverse glee.

Donald Trump has normalized the macho, misogynistic, entitled male. He has normalized cruelty. It is like a snowball growing as it rolls down the hill. It becomes unstoppable as it endangers women in particular and degrades our society in general.