Welcome to Full Frontal, I'm Samantha Bee.
Thank you for tuning into my show instead of watching the Democratic debate and getting
swept away by John Delaney fever.
Where my Delaniacs at?
Less than one percent represent!
From a looming war with Iran to the ongoing humanitarian crisis at the border,
it has been a week.
Somewhere in the middle of all of that was the teensy bit of news that our president,
who has admitted to sexual assault on tape,
was accused for the 22nd time of sexual misconduct, this time by--
I'm sorry.
Hold on.
I just have to say.
This is the 22nd accusation of sexual misconduct against Donald Trump.
22!
If I had a dollar for every person Trump allegedly sexually harassed or assaulted,
I would be doing better than any of his businesses.
Janet Jackson's career ended because her breast sexually harassed one man's hand.
Trump gets 21 do-overs and counting!
Okay, back to our regular programming.
This 22nd accusation comes from E. Jean Carroll, the famous writer of Elle's advice column
"Ask E. Jean."
Long-time advice columnist E. Jean Carroll is accusing President Trump of sexually assaulting
her back in the 1990s.
In a memoir--excerpted in New York Magazine--she says it
happened in a department store dressing room.
The president denies all of the claims, and he has said today that he has never met Carroll.
So naturally, there's a photo of them together.
Remember if Trump says something isn't...
it definitely is.
If he ever says he's 100% not 7000 racist millipedes in a human suit,
grab a can of raid.
Now, if you missed this story, that's not surprising.
It didn't make the front page of the Saturday New York Times, Wall Street Journal,
L.A. Times, or Chicago Tribune.
But don't worry.
The Wall Street Journal did have the space for the headline:
“Nasa Worries Its Moonrocks Might Moonwalk Away.”
Which I guess I'll give half-credit since it reminds me of this other alleged predator.
Meanwhile the New York Times' coverage was buried in the Books section.
No one goes to the Books section to read breaking news!
The only reason I've ever opened it is so that I can see
if they've finally reviewed my latest dinosaur erotica novel,
"Pegasaurus."
Michiko Kakutani called it “lyrical.”
The New York Times biffed their coverage of Carroll's accusations so badly that
Executive Editor Dean Baquet publicly admitted that they had been
"overly cautious" with reporting the accusation.
And cable news wasn't much better.
In fact, the only cable host to interview her the day the story broke was Lawrence O'Donnell,
a man chiefly known for this:
Stop the hammering!
Stop the hammering out there.
Who's got a hammer? Where is it?
Where's the hammer?
I don't know, it's on a diff-
Is it on the--
Go up on the other floor.
Someone go up there and stop the hammering.
Stop the hammering.
There's the guy you want creating a safe space to talk about your rape.
The interview did confirm one thing, though.
Trump's M.O. remains the same.
I want to offer one more piece of corroboration of what you're talking about, and this is
from the other person who was there when it happened.
Let's listen to Donald Trump.
I'm automatically attracted to beautiful women, I just start kissing them -- it's like a magnet.
And when you're a star, they let you do it.
You can do anything.
Whatever you want.
Grab them by the pussy.
It was exactly what you describe him doing to you, exactly, as the first move.
Yeah.
It's -- yeah.
Uh yeah.
I'm so sick of seeing that fucking Access Hollywood clip.
And I'm so sick of having to watch women watch that clip.
It's relentless.
It just keeps pounding and pounding over and over again.
What is the word that I'm looking for?
Stop the hammering.
Finally, days later, the accusations are being discussed, but it's still being treated as
a small story.
It's not getting the wall-to-wall coverage that, say, Fire and Fury did.
Which is ridiculous because Trump's response alone should be headline news for days.
He denied the accusations by saying "she's not my type."
Don't say you have a "rape type!”
You weren't her type either, which is the whole fuckin' problem.
Every woman has heard a guy say some version of "you're not hot enough for me to rape."
And that's how we know he's probably a rapist.
On the list of dumb lies useless men tell, it's right between
"just the tip" and "I do wash my towels."
And much of the TV coverage left something to be desired.
Noted TV dum dum, Meghan McCain, took a much-needed break from
being Judaism's self-appointed spokesperson
in order to say that maybe Carroll is lying.
I'm gonna say something on this show that is probably unpopular.
I think it's one of the most horrific things you could ever think of happening to a woman.
Do you believe her?
But. Um -- I -- I -- I just
I don't know.
It's like, I was even scared to come out here and say that.
I 100% came out here a--a--assuming I'm going to be raked over the coals but I would rather
be honest with this audience and with all of you than sit here and lie because it's gonna make
my life easier in the media.
Wow, Megan McCain's take is so bad, Joy Behar literally
had to wear sunglasses to hold back her eye lasers.
It's not people who defend accused rapists who put something on the line, it's the women
who decide to speak up who, as Carroll puts it,
receive death threats, are driven from their homes, dismissed, and dragged through the
mud, only to see Trump turn it around, deny, threaten, and attack them.
Which is exactly what he did.
Again.
To subject yourself to that is not a book promotion.
It's courage.
I'm sorry that the media is tired of talking about how the president did sexual assault a bunch.
But imagine how tired women are of having a sexual assaulter for president.
Of course it's impossible to hear accusation after accusation without getting accustomed to it.
That's no one's fault, and I'm not singling anyone out.
But when you let him off with softball questions about where he's going to build his library
without once mentioning his many accusers,
you are dropping the ball, Chuck Todd.
No one should ever sit down with President Predator without asking about these 22 women.
No one should ever write a puff piece about him without titling it something like
"Noted Sexual Assaulter Donald Trump Enjoys Easter Egg Roll."
It matters.
It will never stop mattering.
You wouldn't interview Jeffrey Dahmer and only ask him about spice blends.
If you're not going to hold Trump accountable, you're not a journalist.
Go do Sunday morning segments about fucking lasagna.
Otherwise, do your job, please.