At a rally in Great Falls, Montana, on Thursday the president bounced from a now familiar attack on Senator Elizabeth Warren to a new riff on the #MeToo movement. Trump said if he was going to mock Warren at a debate, “We are going to do it gently because we’re the #MeToo generation, so we have to be very careful.” The implication was that #MeToo, a movement of women and men coming forward with stories of abuse, was making people too sensitive.
The derision at the rally came hot on the heels of the announcement that the White House was hiring Bill Shine, a Fox News executive accused of enabling and covering up the sexual harassment of his boss Roger Ailes.
That same day, Trump also defended Jim Jordan, a Republican congressman accused of willfully ignoring evidence of the sexual abuse of wrestlers he coached at Ohio State University.
“I don’t believe them at all,” The president said. “I believe him. Jim Jordan is one of the most outstanding people I’ve met since I’ve been in Washington. I believe him 100 percent.” To underscore the point, Trump added ”No question in my mind. I believe Jim Jordan 100 percent. He’s an outstanding man.”
Taken together, these three events in one day all form a pattern. Trump, who has been accused of various forms of sexual misconduct by nearly twenty women, has decided that he’s going to fight back against the #MeToo movement.