Infamous ‘Access Hollywood’ Tape: Five Years Ago Tonight, Is When We Can Say ‘Nothing Matters Anymore’
"Never Trumper" sees birth of "Me too" in the fallout from Trump's misogyny and sexual wrongdoing
Thursday marked the fifth anniversary of the surfacing of the infamous tape from Access Hollywood, in which Donald Trump was heard talking about grabbing women by the “p**sy.”
At the time, it appeared as though Trump’s presidential campaign would inevitably crater as even prominent Republicans — many of the same who closely embrace the former president today — distanced themselves from their own candidate, including calls for Trump to leave the ticket so that Mike Pence could finish the race instead.
Of course, that's not what happened and — in another example of Trump defying political gravity — he went on to become president instead of Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Five years later, CNN host chose to mark the occasion on his primetime program, calling it when “nothing matters anymore.”
Trump would be found guilty of multiple transgressions during his term in office, ultimately becoming the first US president to be impeached twice.
However, Republicans continually shielded him and covered for him.
“How’d it work out for him? I mean, this guy is the most judgment-proof — that rebuttal report from the Senate judiciary, the minority members of the Republicans, the [then-] president tempore [of the Senate Sen Chuck] Grassley, who said Trump asked [Vice President Mike] Pence to do things that are unconstitutional, that rebuttal report is one of the most embarrassing documents I’ve ever seen in the public space,” Lemon said during his banter teeing up the story, with fellow host Chris Cuomo. “It is worse than a disservice to justice. It is proof positive of service to the Big Lie and Trump.”
Lemon lamented that it was Billy Bush, the Access Hollywood reporter who interviewed Trump, who really took the fall.
“And a lot of people expected that that moment would cost him the presidency. Look, that’s us on the air in 2016, October 7. All night trying to figure out what happened. And everybody’s face, look how serious everyone was. They thought it was the end of the Trump candidacy,” Lemon remembered. “Well, we all know how that ended up. Billy Bush got fired. America got a president who bragged about sexually assaulting women. … Now, you want to talk about cancel culture? That’s it right there.”
The birth of “#MeToo”
However, “Never Trumper” Republican and TV host Ana Navarro sees some good having come from that mess.
“But I really do think it was a harbinger of things to come. We have seen since five years of hypocrisy from Republicans, willing to justify and defend anything as long as they can stay near power and they can be part of the circle of power,” Navarro said. “So we have seen people who call themselves Christian including people like Mike Pence clutch their pearls when I quote the president of the United States about something and, you know, beat their chest about being faithful Catholics or faithful Christians or faithful whatever, and yet go and defend somebody that’s consistently shown such lack of morality and having absolutely no conscience or principles and certainly no values.”
Specifically, she sees the birth of what would become the “#MeToo” movement, bringing down powerful men for sexual harassment, assault and wrongdoing against women.
“I think Donald Trump’s election was the catalyst to get women to speak up and stand locking arms behind each other, and that has brought accountability to many others,” Navarro said. “Maybe Donald Trump got away with it, or he did, but many others have not because women got pissed and got active because of Donald Trump.”
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