jeudi 15 février 2018
The Stormy Daniels Saga, Explained
There are many problematic things about President Donald Trump, and a great deal of them have to do with his relationships with women. In the last couple of years, we've seen Trump crudely describe sexual assault, call women by inappropriate names, and throw support behind sexual and physical abusers - and to date, he's shown no remorse for such sexist bullying.
But while many women have spoken up about their experiences with Trump over the years - and recently, renewed calls for action on his behavior - one woman has taken center stage in a unique and challenging way. And that woman is Stormy Daniels, a pornographic actress, producer, and director who claims to have had an elaborate affair with Trump, the type of infidelity that has ended many political careers.
Daniels's story is years in the making, dating all the way back to 2006. The porn actress - whose real name is Stephanie Gregory Clifford - met Trump in 2006 at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, where she claims to have had a "sexual encounter" with the president that she went on to describe as "textbook generic." The events allegedly took place a little over a year after the Trumps were married and, even more distressingly, only months after Melania Trump gave birth to Barron Trump. The affair was verified by fellow porn actress Alana Evans, whom Daniels called several times to share the affair.
The story initially surfaced in 2011 via an In Touch magazine interview that went unpublished. The story was similarly unpublished in 2016 by Slate, where she revealed Trump had "negotiated to buy her silence" via six figures. Yet another similar story was filed with Fox News in October 2016 but was also shelved, because certain facts were unverified.
In early January, Daniels's account was finally published by The Wall Street Journal. In that story, it was detailed that Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen arranged to pay Daniels $130,000 in October 2016 in exchange for silence. Cohen "vehemently denie[d]" the affair but did not verify the sum Daniels was reportedly paid. The White House echoed this sentiment, saying in an official statement, "These are old, recycled reports, which were published and strongly denied prior to the election."
As to be expected, the story quickly became major news - and developed in multiple directions. Vice President Mike Pence dismissed the story in late January, saying Daniels's account was filled with "baseless allegations." For her part, First Lady Melania Trump canceled travel plans to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, with her husband, instead going into hiding in Florida. She did not appear in public again until the State of the Union, the same day Daniels appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live and began yet another new narrative: denying the affair ever happened.
While the saga seemingly fell to the back burner, in February, it all began anew when Cohen released a statement confirming that he did indeed pay the $130,000 to the porn actress - and it was his own money, which was neither reimbursed nor technically granted permission by Trump. The story has been cross-examined by experts and critics alike, inspiring CNN to note it "doesn't pass the smell test," while New York Magazine observed that the payment may be illegal. Meanwhile, Daniels has embarked on a strip-club tour titled "Make America Horny Again." She will be performing at a strip club miles away from Mar-a-Lago in April.
As of Feb. 14, the truth of Daniels and Trump's alleged affair continues to spiral in various direction, inspiring both confusion as well as interest as competing truths attempt to change the narrative. But regardless of the final outcome of this saga, the whole ordeal serves as a reminder of the president's despicable penchant for degrading women, one that should never, ever be condoned or overlooked - no matter what the details here pan out to be.
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