For Trump appointees, being a predator isn’t a liability — it’s a career booster

Editor's note: The sixth paragraph of this op-ed has been updated to clarify that Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh administered the oath of office to Vice President JD Vance. Hyperlinks were also added in the eighth and penultimate paragraphs.

Before leaving office, President Joe Biden announced that the Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution had been ratified. A few days later, Donald Trump, an adjudicated rapist and convicted felon, took Biden’s place as the president of the United States.

The contrast could not be more stark.

In a Trump administration, rape is a career-booster. And why not? For the narcissist-in-chief, slavish emulation is the sincerest form of flattery. Trump has been accused of rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment by at least 26 women since the 1970s, including his ex-wife Ivana and writer E. Jean Carroll.

Trump confessed to a pattern of sexual assault in the 2005 Access Hollywood tape, in which he confided that he habitually grabbed and kissed women without asking, because "when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. ... Grab 'em by the pussy."

Carroll won a lawsuit against Trump for raping her in the dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s and a defamation lawsuit against him for claiming she made the whole thing up. The jury found that Trump shoved his fingers into Carroll’s vagina against her will. The judge clarified that this was rape as most people understand the term, and therefore that Carroll’s claim that Donald Trump raped her was true – even though New York’s outdated rape statute only covered rapes with penises. The law has since been updated to include all forms of non-consensual penetration.

Trump chose Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh to administer the oath of office to JD Vance. Kavanaugh was confirmed despite compelling testimony that he attempted to rape Christine Blasey Ford. Kavanaugh’s contemptuous denials and self-pitying antics won him the admiration of Trump, who considers such performances as a testament of strength and a badge of honor.

Trump’s first pick for US Attorney General was Matt Gaetz, who resigned from Congress and withdrew from consideration before the House Ethics Committee could reveal substantial evidence that Gaetz violated Florida's statutory rape law.

Prospective Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth paid a $50,000 settlement to a woman who said Hegseth raped her at a Republican convention in 2017. Hegseth blindsided the Trump transition team by not disclosing the California episode, but willingness to furiously deny a rape allegation counts for more than honesty in Trump’s book.

Trump stood by his nominee while his allies waged an unprecedented campaign to intimidate witnesses who might speak to Hegseth’s drinking and his stormy history with women. Republican Senators enabled the deception by refusing to meet with Hegseth’s accuser. During his confirmation hearing, Hegseth refused to say whether rape would be disqualifying for a secretary of defense.

Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. apologized by text to his former babysitter after she alleged that he sexually assaulted her in the 1990s, cornering her in a bedroom and groping her against her will. In public, however, Kennedy was contemptuous of the allegations and hinted there were many more where that came from. “I had a very, very rambunctious youth,” Kennedy said when asked about the allegations, “I said in my announcement speech that I have so many skeletons in my closet that if they could all vote, I could run for king of the world.”

SpaceX paid $250,000 to silence a SpaceX flight attendant who accused Trump’s co-consul Elon Musk of exposing his erect penis to her on a flight, pawing her leg and promising to buy her a horse if she jerked him off. Musk was also sued by eight former employees who claim that Musk personally fired them after they objected to the sexually-charged work environment he created at SpaceX, accusing him of running high-tech empire like the “dark ages,” barraging employees with vile sexual banter, obscene memes and degrading comments, and retaliating against anyone who complained.

There’s not enough space to delve into the allegations against senior Trump’s campaign strategist Corey Lewandowski, senior advisor Jason Miller, former personal lawyer (and former lawyer) Rudy Giuliani, prospective secretary of education Linda McMahon, or future ambassador to the Bahamas, Herschel Walker.