Oct 29, 2016 4 min read

Donald Trump’s comments recorded on the “Access Hollywood” bus in 2005 have put a spotlight on who he is, though the glare has hidden the truly dangerous aspect of Trump’s character, and has clearly demonstrated why he should never be president.

The recording shows Trump to be an insecure, immature braggart who objectifies women and tries to impress others with his sexual exploits. But accurate as that may be, that is just a superficial understanding of what his comments truly reveal – his view of power.

Rape is not primarily a sexual crime, it is about power. And in this case, Trump’s description of his aggressive sexual advances toward a married woman, as well as how he kisses and fondles beautiful women without consent, are different than the common depictions of adolescent males sharing tales of sexual conquests that he tries to use as cover. He is describing acts of sexual assault, the consequences of which are minimized by the “boys will be boys” attitude that rape culture has normalized.

Trump’s enablers argue his comments are not really significant for someone running for the presidency, because there are much more important issues to discuss than decade-old “locker room talk.” I’m not sure what locker rooms Donald Trump inhabits, but I’ve been an athlete and I’ve never heard anyone brag about sexual assault. On a rare occasion, someone might mention sex, or how attractive some woman is, but Trump’s comments were not just bragging about sexual exploits. If that were the case, yes, it might be an offensive distraction, but not enough to dismiss his candidacy.

But Trump’s comments are not really about sex, they are about power. He reveals how he objectifies women, and how he can act, regardless of their wishes, because of his power as a celebrity. This man should be nowhere near real power.

Trump’s initial apology was a classic non-apology; “I apologize if anyone was offended.” This builds on his dismissal of less powerful people who concern themselves with “political correctness” with the implication that it was the offense people took that was causing the problem, not his own actions. He later painfully read a prepared apology in which he did finally say “I was wrong, and I apologize,” although his monotone suggested that his heart was not in it. But he was unable to allow even that weak apology to stand; he had to qualify it by trying to deflect the media focus onto Bill Clinton, claiming he’d done much worse.

Trump did not just mention Bill Clinton’s sexual history; in an attempt to intimidate Hillary Clinton, he called a news conference with Bill Clinton’s accusers just prior to the second presidential debate. He even had them seated in the front row during the debate. Imagine having people with whom your husband allegedly had been unfaithful only a few feet away, watching while you are undergoing one of the most challenging and stressful events of your entire life. If nothing else, Hillary Clinton’s debate performance under such conditions demonstrates she has nerves of steel, and would be able to handle the stresses of the presidency.

Other events over that weekend confirm Trump’s lust for power. His dismissal of the Republican leadership shows how quickly he will turn on erstwhile allies. He cannot admit mistakes, and does not feel the need to be bound by our system of justice. In 1989, after five black and Hispanic youths were arrested for the brutal rape and beating of a white banker who had been jogging in New York’s Central Park, he took out a full page ad in the New York Daily News, demanding authorities bring back the death penalty. Recently, he restated his belief the Central Park Five, who it turned out had been coerced into confessing and were later exonerated when the real perpetrator confessed (confirmed with DNA evidence), were still guilty and should have been punished. This demonstrates not only Trump’s warped view of law and order, but is a classic characteristic of a dictator, an inability to admit error. And during the debate, he showed his preference for another tactic favored by dictators – he asserted that if he were president, Hillary Clinton would be in jail.

If Donald Trump thinks being a celebrity entitles him to sexually assaulting women, just imagine what he plans to do with the power of the presidency.

Kent James is an East Washington resident.