It’s not easy being a woman in Donald Trump’s America. We have a serial abuser in office who surrounds himself with the worst kind of people – and this week we found out just how bad some of them are. It’s not just that the White House would keep on a man they knew was accused of domestic violence by two women – it’s that they stood by him, even as the news broke to the rest of us. They’re not even pretending to care anymore. And, as if we needed a reminder of how bad things are, another aide left his White House job amid allegations of domestic abuse just days after Porter’s departure.
Something important has been lost in this conversation about Rob Porter and David Sorensen, though. The media that’s been covering it, the politicians who have responded to it – everyone agrees that it’s awful. But the issue is being framed as a horrifying personal trait when really it’s something much more. Domestic violence is illegal. The White House protected and covered for an alleged criminal. When we talk about abuse as a relationship problem, we diminish how insidious and serious domestic violence is. Just as important – we diminish the seriousness of this administration’s response.
Maybe we’ve become used to the idea of the White House covering for criminals, but I think it bears a bit more repeating.
Glass half-full
On the upside, the world’s best podcast - 2 Dope Queens - is now a HBO special.
What I’m RTing
Last week one of my art teachers suggested I 'dial down the feminism.' Today I showed him my newest piece: pic.twitter.com/VrnB4oJ8Cz
— AlexBertulisFernande (@alexbertanades) February 7, 2018
I’m so tired. https://t.co/BMOlzOp7V5
— Amanda Hess (@amandahess) February 8, 2018
Ivanka Trump wants to team up with Marco Rubio to make people who take paid family leave delay their retirements to make up for it. What fucking ghouls. https://t.co/ZmDHD6dyl2
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) February 5, 2018
This first episode, via @AnnaHolmes, of the new video series about The Loving Generation is so, so good. And it includes @nhannahjones, @MHarrisPerry, @AdamSerwer, @rebel19 & more. Really, watch it: https://t.co/ydObxss36S
— Rebecca Traister (@rtraister) February 6, 2018
Who I’m reading
Dahlia Lithwick on why no one at the White House cared about Rob Porter’s abuse; the science writer Ed Yong on trying to fix the gender imbalance in his reporting; and Leni Zumas on the issue with calling motherhood “natural”.
What I’m writing
Why domestic abusers thrive in Trump’s White House.
How outraged I am
On a scale from one to 10, I’m at a full 10 on behalf of the women in Arizona prisons. Inmates are only given twelve pads a month, but if they bleed through their clothes the resulting dress code violation prevents them from ... buying more pads.
How I’m making it through this week
A corgi was sneaking out of his house to ride a pony and that’s all the goodness I need.
- Jessica Valenti is a Guardian columnist
