Gilead
Donald Trump
Hush money
Fig. 1. Cartoon by Jesse Duquette, undated, via “Minneapple23” [pseud.] on Imgur, April 1, 2023, fair use.
Finally – finally – this oft-accused predator [Donald Trump] would be held accountable for at least some fraction of his misdeeds.
Not for rape, which is what [E. Jean] Carroll testified happened in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room 27 years ago, but for sexual assault and for defamation – and for $5m.
No, it’s not enough. Not enough for wrecking this particular woman’s ability to live a trauma-free life. Not enough for causing immeasurable harm to so many others.
But enough so that Trump can be portrayed as a sexual abuser.[1]
Larry Neumeister, Jennifer Peltz, and Michael R. Sisak, “Jury finds Trump liable for sexual abuse, awards accuser $5 million,” Los Angeles Times, May 9, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-05-09/trump-rape-lawsuit-trial-jury
Margaret Sullivan, “E Jean Carroll won. And Trump can be now portrayed as a sexual abuser,” Guardian, May 10, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/10/e-jean-carroll-lawsuit-trump-sexual-abuser
Right-wing militias
Police White supremacist gangs
Fig. 2. Photograph by Lorie Shaull, April 1, 2021, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
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We still[2] don’t know what prompted the raid on the Ligonier Valley Police.[3]
Hannah Allam, “A police chief got rid of a neo-Nazi. Then came the hard part,” Washington Post, May 8, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/05/08/police-white-supremacist-springfield-illinois/
Renatta Signorini, “Ligonier Valley Police Commission fires chief after last week’s raid at the police station,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, May 9, 2023, https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/ligonier-valley-police-commission-fires-chief-after-last-weeks-raid-at-the-police-station/
White Christian nationalism
Fig. 3. In terms of geographic area, Pennsylvania is very much a white Christian nationalist kind of place. Photograph by author, January 5, 2023.
Eric Levenson, Lucy Kafanov, and Nouran Salahieh, “Army sergeant who killed a Black Lives Matter protester in Texas sentenced to 25 years in prison,” CNN, May 10, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/10/us/daniel-perry-texas-sentencing-wednesday/index.html
Gun nuttery
Fig. 4. “Rally Against Gun Control ‘Come and Take it’ flag at the Minnesota State Capitol,” photograph by Fibonacci Blue [pseud.], April 28, 2018, via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Eric Levenson, Lucy Kafanov, and Nouran Salahieh, “Army sergeant who killed a Black Lives Matter protester in Texas sentenced to 25 years in prison,” CNN, May 10, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/10/us/daniel-perry-texas-sentencing-wednesday/index.html
- [1]Margaret Sullivan, “E Jean Carroll won. And Trump can be now portrayed as a sexual abuser,” Guardian, May 10, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/10/e-jean-carroll-lawsuit-trump-sexual-abuser↩
- [2]Renatta Signorini, “Ligonier Valley Police Commission fires chief after last week’s raid at the police station,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, May 9, 2023, https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/ligonier-valley-police-commission-fires-chief-after-last-weeks-raid-at-the-police-station/↩
- [3]Joe Napsha, “Federal agents raid Ligonier Valley Police Department, officials say,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, May 5, 2023, https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/federal-agents-raid-ligonier-valley-police-department-officials-say/↩