Dear America: Come on, you can’t be serious.
The ongoing saga over a President, a porn star and a payoff is so lewd and tawdry that it can’t simply be added to the ever-expanding list of horrible misbehaviours of a womanising misogynist.
It’s not even the infidelity that most bothers me. I view that as an issue between spouses and with the other person involved. I contend that we on the outside never really know what understandings may exist in a marriage, unless the two parties within reveal it.
In this case, Melania knew exactly the kind of man she was getting.
When Donald first meets Melania, they are at a New York Fashion Week party to which Donald has been invited by the wealthy Italian businessman who brought Melania to America on a modeling contract and work visa.
According to GQ, sometimes, to promote his models, the businessman “would send a few girls to an event and invite photographers, producers, and rich playboys”.
Trump is on a date with another woman that night. He is also in the process of divorcing Marla Maples, his second wife, with whom he had had an affair while still married to his first wife, Ivana Trump.
According to GQ: “He sent his companion to the bathroom so he could have a few minutes to chat up the model he’d noticed. But Melania knew of Trump’s reputation – which was immediately confirmed by the fact that he had come to the party with a date and was now asking for her number.”
That’s right, Melania knew.
In April 2004, Donald proposes to Melania at the Met Gala.
By the way, just to underscore how vile this man is, in September 2004, Trump goes on Howard Stern, and while discussing with Stern how beautiful they both find Trump’s daughter Ivanka, Stern says: “Can I say this? A piece of ass.” Trump responds: “Yes.”
Donald Trump with Melania, Beth Ostrosky-Stern and Howard Stern in 2005. Photo: Getty
Trump marries Melania in January of 2005. They had signed a prenuptial agreement. Nine months later, in September, Access Hollywood records Trump boasting about sexually assaulting women – kissing and groping them without prior consent – and claiming: “When you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything.”
Six months after the tape is recorded, on March 20, 2006, Mr and Mrs Trump’s son Barron is born. (That means that Melania was pregnant when Trump was making his lewd remarks about assaulting other women.)
Four months after Barron is born, porn star Stephanie Clifford, whose stage name is Stormy Daniels, alleged that she and Trump initiated a consensual, sexual relationship after meeting at a golf tournament.