Sexual predators have certain defining characteristics. Often they have economic power over their prey. They isolate their victims when they strike. The scenario too often becomes a "he said, she said" affair. Humiliatingly enough, the victims are often blamed as the instigators, or their stories are simply not believed.
Bill Cosby is on trial now for raping a one-time protege of his. Apparently, his behavior goes back decades, as a string of victims has come forth with eerily identical stories of Cosby's methods of sexual abuse. Trump's methods were caught on tape during his Presidential campaign, as he bragged about his style of victimizing women.
In Cosby's case, the accuser is a woman, and her story is being picked apart by high priced lawyers. The outcome of the case is still to be determined, but Cosby is now and will forever be known as a serial sexual abuser.
Trump's accuser, curiously enough is a man, James Comey, ex-head of the FBI. While not a case of sexual abuse, the methodology is strikingly familiar. In seeking to obstruct an investigation into his one-time National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, Trump sought to isolate and intimidate Comey into doing his bidding.
Comey was savvy enough to document Trump's attempts to thwart justice and being fortunate enough to be a man, his story will carry a great deal more weight than if he were a woman. Such is the sorry state of our culture that a victim's gender would determine how their account of their victimization would be received.
Oddly enough, during testimony from Comey today, Senator Diane Feinstein wondered of Comey, "Why didn't you tell anybody about this?" She sounded just like a male police officer admonishing a female rape victim that her skirt was too short.
I guess you haven't come a long way, baby.
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