Sexual Misconduct as a Job Requirement
Want a high-level position in the next Trump Administration? Unwanted fondling or worse might get you noticed
There’s the boss, of course. Found liable for sexual abuse in a civil jury trial and ordered to pay $5 million.
But lest the President-elect be a lonely abuser at his Cabinet table, at least five of Donald Trump’s picks for high-level jobs have their own histories of allegedly sordid behavior.
Matt Gaetz, the Attorney General nominee who fought to keep a House Ethics Committee report under wraps, withdrew from consideration on Thursday, the day after incoming Vice President JD Vance shepherded him around Capitol Hill trying to drum up support from skeptical senators.
Gaetz was instrumental in ousting former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and seems about as popular among his now ex-colleagues as a trans person in a Republican-controlled bathroom. The Ethics Committee report is said to have centered on whether he engaged in paid sex with a 17-year-old while he was a member of the House.
When it became clear that Gaetz did not have the Senate votes for confirmation, he was quickly replaced by former Florida Attorney General and Trump loyalist Pam Bondi, currently a lobbyist. Bondi is the second Cabinet-level nominee attached to the America First Institute, which has been vying with the Heritage Foundation for most hideous influence on our next government. Linda McMahon is the first.
Fox TV host Pete Hegseth, the onetime National Guard major who could run the 2.9 million-person Defense Dept., reportedly bought off a woman who accused him of sexual assault after a boozy night following a speech he gave to the California Federation of Republican Women at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel in the fall of 2017.
Question for his confirmation hearing (if there is one): If you can’t manage to stay sober and keep your gun in its holster while surrounded by a bevy of MAGA moms, how are you going to manage the largest employer in America?
Robert Kennedy Jr., chosen to run Health & Human Services, was accused of groping the family babysitter in 1999 (he did offer a half-hearted apology). Of course, Kennedy could argue that, like Hank Williams Jr., he’s just carrying on an old family tradition. But if RFKJ does get approved, expect more of the same behavior that he exhibited last summer when the self-described horn-dog is said to have gotten it on online with disgraced former New York magazine writer Olivia Nuzzi.
Question for Kennedy’s confirmation hearing: If there were a vaccine for not getting aroused every time you see a skirt, would you take it?
As reported here weeks ago, Education Secretary-to-be Linda McMahon and her husband, Vince (from whom she is separated, according to The Washington Post), are defendants in a suit brought by former “ring boys” at World Wrestling Entertainment that alleges they turned a blind eye to sexual abuse of teenagers by a former announcer, now deceased.
But that is literally a child’s play suit compared with the one filed against Vince last year by a young woman employee of the WWE. So graphic were the allegations that the Justice Dept. requested that the suit be paused while it looked into whether any federal crimes had been committed.
Now, with Trump controlling the DOJ – and Linda’s $21 million donation to his campaign – that investigation is likely to evaporate. But the civil suit won’t – at least not without a bigger payout than the one Vince McMahon promised to his alleged victim and then allegedly reneged on.
Question for her confirmation hearing: If you’re feeling defensive in the face of all the sleaze at the WWE, is dressing like a wealthy Connecticut matron your suit of armor?
Mega-MAGA-donor Elon Musk may not need to obtain the consent of the Senate before starting as co-head of the to-be-created Department of Government Efficiency.
But if he does, questions might come up about a Business Insider report in 2022 – denied by Musk – that he paid $250,000 to a female crew member on a SpaceX private plane to whom he allegedly exposed himself and offered to gift a horse (she was a rider) for sexual favors.
In an extensive report in June, The Wall Street Journal wrote about the culture of sexual harassment of women Musk has allegedly fostered at SpaceX, largely through his own behavior.
The story examines several instances in which Musk allegedly had dalliances with SpaceX employees, including an intern. The Journal quoted the woman, some 20 years Musk’s junior, as saying: “Nothing that Elon Musk did towards me during either of my periods of employment at SpaceX was predatory or wrongful in any way.” But that’s not what she told friends.
The day after the Journal story ran, eight former SpaceX employees filed suit against Musk and the company, claiming that they were fired for raising concerns in a 2022 open letter about “sexual harassment and discrimination against women,” Axios reported.
Question for Musk’s confirmation hearing (if there is one) as efficiency czar: Is offering your masseuse a horse in exchange for a happy ending the most efficient way to try to have your way?
What’s ahead for what may be the horniest Administration since that of John F. Kennedy, who is said to have shouted at a post-Inauguration party: “Where are the broads?”
How about a Department of the Posterior and a pardon for Harvey Weinstein?
The Awful & The Odious
Musk Ask: As predicted, Trump’s new best bud Elon, who has been haunting Mar-a-Lago, according to The Daily Beast, is already acting like the Veep from South Africa.
A week ago, Musk – who urged Trump to pick Vance and backed the Gaetz nomination – issued an ominous warning on his personal megaphone, X, that sounded a lot like one of Trump’s promises of authoritarian vengeance.
But when will Emperor Donald I notice that his jumping-jack campaign court jester may be getting too big for his motley breeches?
A column before the Election of 2024 was decided suggested that whatever the outcome, one small way to fight back against the obscene political influence of billionaires throwing money at candidates of both parties is to stop buying the goods and services that enrich them.
Now comes the sad news that Jersey Mike’s, the sandwich chain that started with one tiny shop in Point Pleasant, N.J., about 50 years ago is selling a majority interest to Blackstone, the private equity firm controlled by billionaire Steve Schwarzman, for a reported $8 billion. Schwarzman donated more than $400,000 to help elect Trump.
While the sale isn’t sad for owner and CEO Peter Cancro, who started working in the original store at 14, it’s pretty grim for those of us – or maybe just one of us – who will no longer be buying Jersey Mike’s fabulous tuna subs (with the works and extra hot peppers, please).