Cassandra Nu帽ez and her grandmother cast their first ballots in a U.S. presidential election in 2016. She was a first-year college student; her grandmother, a newly minted citizen. They both hoped to elect the first woman president over a man about grabbing and kissing women at will.
But Donald Trump and it would be nearly seven years before a Trump accuser could press her claims at trial. This week, jurors in a New York civil case that Trump sexually assaulted writer E. Jean Carroll in a dressing room in the 1990s 鈥� making him the first U.S. president found liable by a jury in a sexual battery case. The panel awarded her $5 million in damages.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a victorious moment, but why did the people of the United States let this happen?鈥� said Nu帽ez, now 25, of Los Angeles, noting the number of against Trump during the campaign and since his election. 鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of late.鈥�
The verdict 鈥� a rare moment of accountability for a former president and powerful men like him 鈥� comes as women across the U.S. ponder the cultural landscape amid sweeping threats to their hard-won progress, including Hillary Clinton鈥檚 loss to Trump in 2016, the Supreme Court鈥檚 last year and the uneven success of the .
Juliet Williams, a professor of gender studies at UCLA, called it an ambiguous time for women.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very hard to feel at this moment that the accounting, the reckoning that we need has yet happened,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 feel this is a small step in the right direction.鈥�
Some may find 鈥測et another day contemplating the behavior of just feels like a colossal waste of attention,鈥� Williams said. But she believes it鈥檚 important to address 鈥渢he everyday abuses of power that have real consequences for victims.鈥�
With a swirling around Trump, the sex-abuse case 鈥� a civil verdict, with no criminal prosecution possible 鈥� hit only so hard across a news-weary America. Nu帽ez followed the trial and discussed it with a few colleagues at her public relations job. For others, the news barely hit their radar, if they were aware of the decision at all, even as Trump for the presidency again.
鈥淭谤耻尘辫鈥檚 long list of scandals makes any single moment seem less surprising,鈥� said Kelly Dittmar, a scholar with the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. 鈥淲hat might certainly derail other candidates or elected officials meets an eye roll among many Trump detractors 鈥� and only further mobilizes Trump supporters around the idea that this is a against him.鈥�
Carroll this week savored the outcome of the lawsuit she filed , like some other states, opened a one-year window for adults to file suit over old sexual assault claims. Advocates say it can take years for victims like the 79-year-old advice columnist to move past their sense of shame and go public. But it鈥檚 often too late, as it was for her, to pursue criminal charges.
Trump dismissed the accusation as a way to boost sales of Carroll鈥檚 2019 book, 鈥淲hat Do We Need Men For?鈥�
But Carroll, in the wake of the verdict, said the case was never about money. She said she only hoped to clear her name, one the jury 鈥� in awarding nearly $3 million for defamation 鈥� agreed Trump had sullied.
Trump, in hours of , denied he knew Carroll despite photographic evidence, and he denigrated her as 鈥渘ot my type.鈥� He also mused that celebrities had gotten away with sexually abusing women for centuries, 鈥渦nfortunately, or fortunately.鈥�
Trump doubled down on his insulting, often misogynistic rhetoric about women in a CNN Republican Wednesday evening, mockingly calling Carroll a 鈥渨ack job鈥� in a comment that drew glee from the New Hampshire audience.
The day after his inauguration in January 2017, millions of people around the world took part in a to protest his rise to power. Many sported that were the brainchild of the Pussyhat Project 鈥� a cat-eared design meant as a wry clapback to Trump鈥檚 infamous comments on women鈥檚 genitals.
鈥淭he Women鈥檚 March demonstrated that we are watching,鈥� Williams said. 鈥淏ut in terms of the scope of sexualized violence, a $5 million fine to somebody who commands immense resources and will certainly not show that this does any material harm to him, there鈥檚 a grotesque imbalance with this outcome.鈥�
Los Angeles screenwriter Krista Suh, who helped launch the Pussyhat Project, is not sure Tuesday鈥檚 verdict strikes a death knell for Trump鈥檚 political career.
鈥淗e鈥檚 very good at skirting the truth, and I鈥檓 just not sure this verdict pins him down, but it definitely helps,鈥� the 35-year-old said.
The crowd at the Women鈥檚 March in Washington included an anonymous observer from Toronto: , whose sexual abuse claims against actor would soon go to trial.
In the years that followed, she would see Cosby convicted, sent to prison and then released when his conviction was . Amid that setback, and the inability of victims like Carroll to pursue criminal cases, she believes the civil court process can alone be effective. Constand had received from Cosby in a civil settlement in 2006, long before the criminal case was reopened, and she used the money to rebuild her life and career.
鈥淚f that鈥檚 what it takes to get justice and you have no other option, then it is about the money, because the money helps you heal and move forward and accomplish things that you haven鈥檛 been able to accomplish because you鈥檝e been gripped by your trauma,鈥� she said.
Despite the jury鈥檚 view that Trump is a sexual offender, millions of women would likely still vote for him given the chance to maintain the country鈥檚 social, economic or racial order, Williams said. More than half of white women voted for Trump in 2020.
鈥淭here are people that like Trump鈥檚 brand of masculinity. They like the bravado, they like the confidence, they like a certain type of patriotism, they like the performance of a certain kind of virility,鈥� Williams said. 鈥淪o when these episodes of sexual misconduct come out, I think people are willing to give it a pass.鈥�
For Nu帽ez, Trump鈥檚 victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016 was 鈥渁 double whammy鈥� given his behavior. His presidency, and later the #MeToo , spanned her time in college at Loyola Marymount University. She sees progress in small victories, like when her workplace required sexual misconduct training.
鈥淭hese beginnings give me hope that one day when I have my own children,鈥� she said, 鈥渓eaders will be held accountable for all their actions, and all types of violence against women will not be tolerated.鈥�
鈥擬aryclaire Dale, The Associated Press
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