There has been a lot of imprecision on how many unwelcome sexual advances Donald Trump has made on women. Some commentators say more than a half-dozen, or others say more than a dozen. I can give a more precise number, subject, of course, to future additions.
A publication put together the names, the pictures, and a brief account of how Trump sexually molested them. A few of the women said Trump forcibly kissed them, and the rest described more forcible assaults. One woman said he also forcibly kissed her friend. This listing does not include Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal, or the woman who filed a lawsuit charging that Trump raped her when she was 13 years old. She withdrew the lawsuit after getting death threats. Also not included in the list is the woman who appeared on "The Apprentice" and filed a lawsuit claiming an unwelcome sexual advance. That case is moving through the court system. She is not claiming monetary compensation; she is only asking for an apology. Both Daniels and McDougal are not claiming unwanted sexual aggression, as both claim a consensual relationship. This makes 22 women claiming sexual aggression.
Michael Avanetti, Stormy Daniels's attorney, announced publicly this past week that he now has three more clients who have given him credible information that they were paid "hush" money to conceal a sexual relationship. We don't know if these involved consensual relationships. Avanetti revealed that one of these clients had an AMI arrangement, similar to that of Karen McDougal. AMI is the media conglomerate that has the "National Inquirer" in its stable. The "Inquirer" paid McDougal $150,000 to "bury" her story so that it would not appear in another publication. Notable in this matter is that the reporter who played a key role in breaking the Karen McDougal story, has said in a television interview that there is another woman who had received the McDougal treatment from the "Inquirer." There is also a suggestion in the audio released of a phone call between Trump and Cohen, that hush money may have been paid to more women than the two that are known about.
Trump lied to Melania about Karen McDougal; he lied to McDougal about his intentions; he lied to the public; he lied about his knowledge about the "National Inquirer" story; he had his staff lie about all of the above; and he conspired with Michael Cohen and David Pecker to convince McDougal that her story was being valued.
The conventional wisdom is that more revelations of payment of hush money will not affect Trump's political standing, as these payments are "baked in" as repeats of what he has done before. I would suggest that the sheer volume of these types of actions will prompt some people to say, in effect, "enough is enough."
President Trump seems to have a special penchant to denigrate African American women. He demanded the firing of Jemele Hill, a black ESPN reporter who called Trump a white supremist. He singled out AURN White House correspondent April Ryan as an "enemy" in a campaign ad, and bullied her at a press conference. He waged an all-out campaign against Rep. Fredericka Wilson (D-FL) and disrespected the mother and wife of Sgt. LaDavid Johnson, in a condolence call for his combat death in Africa. Trump claimed that these three women listening in on the call had lied about the tone and substance of the call. Moreover, Trump's chief of staff, John Kelly, had claimed that Wilson had used undue influence to get an FBI building located in her district. Even after learning that Wilson was not even in Congress when the funding for the building was appropriated, Kelly refused to apologize to Wilson, and Trump didn't require Kelly to do so. Trump's latest African American woman target is Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Cal), who has called a person of "low IQ" in tweeters and at campaign rallies. Waters has been highly critical of Trump.
