Donald Trump’s five words, “It doesn’t matter. We won,” say all we need to know about his character. In an interview with Lesley Stahl on 60 minutes, Stahl asked him if he felt he was respecting Christine Blasey Ford when he mocked her during a recent rally in Mississippi. “It doesn’t matter. We won,” said Trump.
At the rally, Trump imitated Christine Blasey Ford’s retelling of her alleged sexual assault, decades before, by Brett Kavanaugh. As the crowd responded with enthusiastic gladiator-like cheering and laughter, Trump mocked Ford, saying “I don’t remember,” and “I don’t know,” and “But I had one beer, that’s the only thing I remember.” Some members of the crowd shouted, “Lock her up,” presumably referring to Ford.
Trump in fact told Stahl that if he hadn’t made that speech (which Trump referred to as “the famous Mississippi speech”), his Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, “would not have been confirmed.”
There is a lot to examine in Donald Trump’s statement on 60 Minutes and the event that led up to it. We could address the bloated perception he has of his own power when he claims that his speech was what got Kavanaugh nominated. We could look at the response of the crowd at the rally in Mississippi where he made the speech We could examine (perhaps in shocked disbelief) the words Trump said at the rally, as he mimicked Christine Blasey Ford.
But let’s consider Trump’s unapologetic summing up of the entire event with “It doesn’t matter. We won.”
Once upon a time, at least some of the people who now support Donald Trump would have been appalled had, say, the school bully, said those words if asked if he felt any remorse about having made fun of a traumatized child. There was a time when those who now support Trump, many of whom consider themselves guardians of morality and uprightness, might have held up Trump and his words as a symbol of who not to be.
Though many people are still inclined to ask, “Is Trump really the example you’d want your child to emulate?” in this brave new world, a Trump supporter’s response might actually be, “Yes.” Donald Trump’s supporters have been willing to compromise and overlook a growing list of standards of decency and character in support of Donald Trump. It seems that Donald Trump himself summarized their rationale when he said, “It doesn’t matter. We won.”
‘I don’t know’: laughter as Trump mocks Ford’s sexual assault testimony | Guardian News [2018-10-02]
Trump on his treatment of Christine Blasey Ford at rally: “It doesn’t matter. We won.” | 60 Minutes [2018-10-14]
