A young E. Jean Carroll, Columnist - BillBoggs.com
E. Jean Carroll won her civil lawsuit against Donald Trump for $5 million. She charged Trump with sexual battery and defaming her when he denied the charge. This lawsuit was not the first time victims of Trump’s despicable behavior have held him accountable in civil courts. Trump was successfully sued for $25 million by former students of his seminar program, Trump University. The court agreed with the students that the real estate seminars were so worthless that they constituted fraud. Trump also paid $2 million to settle a case brought by the New York Attorney General for misusing funds raised by his foundation. Trump admitted to using foundation funds to promote his presidential run and pay for some of his real estate business expenses. In December 2022, the Manhattan District Attorney brought a case against Trump’s real estate company, the Trump Organization, for 17 tax-related fraud counts. The jury found Trump’s company guilty and fined it a maximum of $1.6 million.
Despite Trump’s liability in these prior cases, Carroll’s victory was incredibly gratifying for those observers who wanted Trump held accountable for his deplorable and corrupt actions. This suit was against him as an individual with no corporate fig leaf. Carroll and the other 20 women who accused Trump of sexual assault were validated. In the other cases in which Trump has been found liable, the punishment he received for his actions seemed distant from the pain that he caused. Through her courage and persistence, Carroll ensured Trump’s punishment was as personal as the pain he caused.
The pain Trump causes is usually impersonal. Some of Trump’s sexual assaults seemed impersonal to him, even though they were horrendous for the women he targeted. When Trump, laughing and joking, lured Carroll into a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room to sexually assault her, she represented a symbol through which he could prove his power. Trump’s defense was that he did not know that woman; she was not his type. An incident with Kristin Anderson, a woman Trump did not know, occurred in a nightclub. Sitting beside her, Trump touched her vagina through her underwear without speaking. In another instance, Trump sexually assaulted a woman he did not know on an airplane. Jessica Leeds testified in the Carroll trial that when she was seated next to him, Trump kissed her, groped her breast, and tried to put his hand up her skirt. These acts were not to provide him with sexual gratification. They were to increase his sense of power.
Despite Trump’s liability in these prior cases, Carroll’s victory was incredibly gratifying for those observers who wanted Trump held accountable for his deplorable and corrupt actions. This suit was against him as an individual with no corporate fig leaf. Carroll and the other 20 women who accused Trump of sexual assault were validated. In the other cases in which Trump has been found liable, the punishment he received for his actions seemed distant from the pain that he caused. Through her courage and persistence, Carroll ensured Trump’s punishment was as personal as the pain he caused.
The pain Trump causes is usually impersonal. Some of Trump’s sexual assaults seemed impersonal to him, even though they were horrendous for the women he targeted. When Trump, laughing and joking, lured Carroll into a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room to sexually assault her, she represented a symbol through which he could prove his power. Trump’s defense was that he did not know that woman; she was not his type. An incident with Kristin Anderson, a woman Trump did not know, occurred in a nightclub. Sitting beside her, Trump touched her vagina through her underwear without speaking. In another instance, Trump sexually assaulted a woman he did not know on an airplane. Jessica Leeds testified in the Carroll trial that when she was seated next to him, Trump kissed her, groped her breast, and tried to put his hand up her skirt. These acts were not to provide him with sexual gratification. They were to increase his sense of power.