- Today 10:43 am
- Politics
The Pain and Paradox of E. Jean Carroll’s Crusade Against TrumpIn her second go-round, seeking damages for his lies about her, the accomplished journalist had to prove she was damaged.
Here is the paradox of E. Jean Carroll’s brave and extraordinary second legal showdown with serial sexual abuser Donald Trump: To convince a jury that he should pay her damages for defamation—denying he even knew her, let alone sexually assaulted her; in effect, saying that she was too unattractive for him to rape—this dignified, accomplished woman has to prove that she was, in fact, damaged.
I found poignancy in what Carroll did on the witness stand Wednesday and Thursday, testifying to her pain, fear, and vulnerability, and the collapse of her stellar journalism career, in the wake of Trump’s false and cruel claims about her. (Remember that in May a jury found him liable for sexually assaulting her almost 20 years ago and also awarded her damages.) She’d spent her life after growing up in Middle America—she was Miss Indiana University in the 1960s—building a successful, even glamorous, social and professional life, an “only in New York” life. And now she had to deconstruct it and show the extent to which she became a victim. First of sexual assault (in Bonwit Teller—“only in New York”), which the last jury believed and found Trump liable for, and, after she went public with the assault, of Trump’s lies, and the resulting violent threats and abuse of his supporters.
On the other hand, we have to remember that Carroll chose to tear down that façade herself, because the pain of pretending Trump’s assault didn’t happen intensified for her over the years. She has spoken about how, as the #MeToo movement exploded, coincidentally or not in the wake of Trump’s election, women began writing in to her hilarious and beloved “Ask E. Jean” advice column in Elle magazine, wondering if they should come forward about the sexual affronts and even abuse they too had suffered. She began to feel like a hypocrite suggesting that other women do the brave thing. So she came forward, and her world came undone.
I heard bits and pieces of Carroll’s testimony on the stand over the last two days, from reporters who were in the courtroom; no cameras were permitted. Predictably, of course, Trump’s histrionics, and not Carroll’s quiet dignity, grabbed the headlines. And I get that. It’s newsworthy. But I think it’s important to listen to what she had to say.
First, here’s just a smidgen of Trump’s trademark narcissism and compulsive outrage. On Wednesday, Judge Lewis Kaplan repeatedly warned him to stop glowering, chuckling, huffing and puffing, banging the table, and whispering loudly about Carroll and her lawyers’ alleged lies. (His equally ridiculous lawyer, Alina Habba, was formally rebuked by Kaplan at least 14 times, according to Business Insider.) This might be the best/most awful Trump-Kaplan clash,