The Jury Believed Carroll

Last week, a Federal jury (six men and three women) found that the former president sexually molested writer E. Jean Carroll and publicly defamed her when he called her a liar and fabricator when she wrote about an incident. For this behavior, they found him civilly liable for monetary damages that totaled over five million dollars. The jury did not find that he raped her, as she claimed.

During the trial, DJT’s lawyer attacked the claimant, saying she made this encounter up. He said that if it really happened, she would have screamed. She stated she was too shocked and hysterical to scream. Her defense presented two women to whom she reported the behavior within minutes of it happening. One woman told her to go to the police; the other one said to not call them as it would be a “he said, she said” issue and he was famous and had money. The abusive encounter happened in the late 1990s well before the outrages seen in the “Me Too Movement”. DJT’s attorney berated her for not remembering the exact date; neither she nor her friends marked it on their calendar! Ms. Carroll, now 79 years old, has been trying to get her day in court for years. When the former president was in office, she was told that even though he defamed her after her 2017 book came out, she could not sue a sitting president. When he repeated the remarks after he left the White House, she sued again. She also explained that her generation often viewed rape as a failure on the woman’s part. They were the silent generation and just picked themselves up and carried on. Recent changes in New York law allowed her to sue, despite limits on civil suits in place earlier. Other women testified he had molested them in public places; one woman sat next to him on a plane and changed her seat to get away from him.

Under pre-trial deposition, the former president (who did not show up at the trial, even though he said he would do so) claimed to have never met Carroll, and when shown a photo of him with her, identified her as his former wife, Marla. He also said that neither Carroll nor her attorney was his type. He defended his behavior on the infamous Access Hollywood “grabbing” tape, saying that such behavior had endured for centuries, unfortunately, or fortunately.

The day after the jury announced the verdict, CNN held a Town Hall in New Hampshire before a crowd of supposedly undecided voters. That was not true; this was a MAGA crowd. Reporters noted many who had been in crowds elsewhere. The former president was in rare form. He told stolen election lies, made many false claims about the Biden administration, defended the January 6^th insurrectionists, and again called Carroll a whack job, claimed again that he had never met her. He even said that were he to be re-elected, he would pardon many who have been convicted of assaulting officers and damaging the Capitol.

He also said that he had the right to take any documents he wished out of the White House and made false statements about the search at Mar-a-Lago. He did not directly answer the moderator's questions about whether he had shown any of the documents to others. When she asked him questions he did not like, he called her nasty. He said the Republicans should allow the financial default if President Biden would not agree to their demands, even though the debt ceiling had been raised three times when he was president. His administration drove the debt ceiling higher than any modern presidency. He verbally ran over the reporter, shouting her down when she tried to correct his statements or intervene in a monologue.

CNN was highly criticized for this program and its format. Other news people said that there should have been a better-screened audience and the program should have been taped, not live, to allow for fact-checking. CNN gave him an open platform to spew his drivel, basically almost without correction. The viewing audience count for the show was low, so perhaps not much harm was done. Some pundits claimed that his doubling down on election issues, Jan 6^th, and the Secret and Confidential documents, gave the Justice Department more evidence to use against him. One can only hope that this was so!

Most women who are raped or molested do not speak up as E. Jean Carroll has done. But maybe, with this civil suit and other criminal convictions for the “Me Too” complaints, people will start listening more to women. They will not have to blame themselves or give in to the statements saying their dress was too short or too tight as if that permitted the assault. All of us should thank Carroll for her tenacity and her bravery. Since he has said he will appeal, as is his right, I hope she lives long enough to collect her money.

Today, as I write, Mother’s Day is winding down. Mothers across the country have been feted, and gifted with flowers, brunches, or cookouts. As a mother, I have enjoyed this day. In America, this is often the cultural experience. Throughout the world, this day may be very different.

One of my friends posted a video on Facebook that showed Asian mothers working under incredible circumstances, carrying their babies in slings on their bodies, or safely strapping their baby to a pole while working in rice paddies, carrying crops in huge baskets, running machinery, etc. I found it very sad.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/542477014768056/?s=single_unit

I have little doubt that the women in this video have few options; they must work to survive and care for their infants and perhaps others in their households. They may not have a special day where they are celebrated.

So, while I agree it is great to celebrate mothers, I also believe that it is important to allow them to be individuals and not be shoved into the “Mom” stereotype. Many career women today find themselves struggling with the Super Mom stereotype. They could be part of the sandwich generation, carrying for young children, working, and also caring for aged parents.

During the pandemic, when daycare facilities closed, frequently the woman left her job or switched to remote work to care for her children. But, as the video showed, poor women who worked in the fields did not have that option. Service workers whose jobs required that they work in a certain place, providing care or preparing food, did not have this option, either.

So, who cared for their children? Just wondering here. America has little in the way of daycare safety nets. On rare occasions, corporate offices provide daycare on-site, so mothers or fathers can take time from their workday and see their children. Organized licensed daycare is quite expensive, so people who work service jobs have to make do. They may have grandmothers or aunties caring for their children, or they may trade with neighbors or ask boyfriends or the child’s father to provide care. They may do all of this to care for their children. This is not always in the best interest of the child.

So why am I looking at mothers and children? Mothers provide most of the care for children. If a mother decides that she cannot afford to take care of another child, she should have access to adequate healthcare to provide for her needs. She should have access to contraception if that is her choice. She should have access to abortion or sterilization if that is her choice. Society has not done a very good job of convincing men that sterilization and contraception are their shared responsibility. Just this week, there were reports from Texas of a man who killed his girlfriend after she returned from having an out-of-state abortion. This was her right. We must not treat women as objects, baby machines, or property. What if, after she became pregnant, she realized how violent he was and was trying to sever ties; this was her right. What is his right if he was the father? Could a court require her to have a baby that she did not want? Those are sticky questions, not easily answered.

However, in many instances, it is men who are leading the fight to deny abortion services or even contraception as a woman’s choice. By denying bodily choice to women, they are attempting to control them. Denying these rights can keep many women in poverty and deprive many children of adequate food and housing. Too many children divide limited resources more stringently. There are more poor women and poor women of color in the Southern states where abortion is now banned; they will now have to travel long distances to find providers of services for surgical abortions. This is why the struggle for medical abortion medication access is so vital for women living in this area. I hope we can continue this access. Only time and the Supreme Court shall tell.

Happy belated Mother’s Day!

‘Til next week-Peace!