Congressman Mike Coffman may not know that what Donald Trump has done to women constitutes sexual assault, but we do. Women across Aurora and Colorado do. District attorneys across the country do.
During a televised debate Thursday night on 9News TV, Coffman and his Democratic challenger state Sen. Morgan Carroll were asked whether Trump’s notorious taped comments about doing what he wants to women — and the subsequent flood of women saying he grabbed them, groped them and forced unwanted kisses upon them — constituted sexual assault.
“Well, I don’t know,” Coffman said. He followed the jaw-dropping comment with a political tap dance.
Coffman’s response makes it sound as if the allegations against Trump are so tenuous that they are doubtful. They’re not. The now notorious tape with Trump and TV personality Billy Bush on a television-studio back-lot bus are undeniable. The growing number of consistent and compelling stories about Trump’s behavior are convincing. If Coffman wants to let due process decide the issue, the correct response would have been that “if” charges are substantiated, Trump would be guilty of sexual assault.
Coffman failed to go there, leaving open the question as to whether he thinks acting on some “locker room” talk is a crime. Does Coffman side with Trump supporters making the repugnant argument that these women “let” Trump accost them, making his crimes less criminal? Is it a question of whether this was just bad behavior, not constituting criminal assault? That banal argument fills social media sites backing Trump.
What Trump did was perverse and criminal. It legally constitutes sexual assault, and it’s morally repulsive.
Minimizing his assaults as just a guy thing is an erroneous and dangerous argument, one that truly prevents women from reporting and acting on sexual assaults. As First Lady Michelle Obama said, “It’s cruel.”
If those aren’t Coffman’s gaffes, that leaves just one: political expediency. If that’s the case, bending to political winds over fracking, budget deficits and jobs bills is one thing. But for Coffman to look for political cover from vindictive Trump supporters on the issue of Trump’s ghastly comments and re-victimized accusers is beyond disturbing. The safety of our daughters, sisters, wives, mothers, sisters and friends cannot be quid pro quo for re-election.
Coffman’s political tightrope act has clearly gone too far. He has for months tried to find a way to appeal to a congressional district that mostly finds Trump repugnant, while at the same time trying not to anger a sizable base of misguided Trump supporters.
He can’t have it both ways on this issue. Trump’s blatant misogyny and admitted sexual assaults are not debatable political philosophies, no matter how loudly Trump and his supporters say they are.
Coffman, a career politician, running for his fifth term in Congress, should know better. He made waves in August by saying he didn’t “think very much” of Trump and would stand up to him if he was elected president. Coffman doesn’t have to wait. The time to stand up to Trump, and call out the comments and the accusations against him for what they are, repulsive and illegal sex assaults, is right now.