Donald Trump picked the wrong woman if it turns out sexual misconduct allegations involving Canadian journalist Natasha Stoynoff are true.
This is a woman whose sterling character is going to make the usual gutless victim-blaming impossible.
When someone is known to everyone she encounters for her honesty, integrity, work ethic and sincerity, it’s difficult to generate much of a smear campaign.
The Donald wants you to know that all the women who accuse him of being a sexual predator are liars, out for profit, determined to influence the election or otherwise shady.
But Natasha Stoynoff is not so easily dismissed — former colleagues from various media outlets, including People Magazine, are speaking out on her behalf.
Loudly.
Stoynoff says that while working as a reporter for People Magazine, Trump forced himself on her in 2005, when she was interviewing him for a feature on the one-year anniversary of his marriage to Melania Trump. Stoynoff wrote in an article — published on the magazine’s website — that Trump was giving her a tour of his Mar-a-Lago mansion when he said he wanted to show her a special room. He shut the door “and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat.”
Trump has emphatically dismissed allegations of abuse from Stoynoff and other women who have come forward.
Stoynoff said the encounter was interrupted by Trump’s butler. Afterward, she said she told a colleague at People, who encouraged her to disclose the incident to her editor, but she said she didn’t because she feared retaliation.
In denying Stoynoff’s allegations, Trump told a crowd last week: “When you looked at that horrible woman last night, you said, ‘I don’t think so.’”
He also tweeted: “Why didn’t the writer of the twelve year old article in People Magazine mention the ‘incident’ in her story. Because it did not happen!”
Stoynoff worked at the Toronto Sun and the Toronto Star in the 1990s before moving to the U.S. and working for Time and People magazines. She worked in the entertainment department at the Sun, and we had many intense conversations about life, love, work, writing, ethics and all the rest of it.
What my colleagues and I know for certain is that Stoynoff is one of the good guys.
She is sunny and smart and open to the world, and her B.S. level is always set to zero.
In addition to reporting the allegations to a colleague at People Magazine, Stoynoff made sure she was taken off the Trump “beat” so she never had to interview the guy again.
And why didn’t she shout it from the rooftops?
Stoynoff put into words (for People) what so many sexual assault victims struggle to articulate:
“Like many women, I was ashamed and blamed myself for his transgression. I minimized it (“It’s not like he raped me …”); I doubted my recollection and my reaction. I was afraid that a famous, powerful, wealthy man could and would discredit and destroy me, especially if I got his coveted People feature killed.
“I just want to forget it ever happened …”
Got that? Remember those points for future reference: I blamed myself; I doubted my own recollections; I was afraid that powerful guy could wreck my life if I said anything; I just wanted to forget about it.
If we were a betting person, we’d bet that once it is 100% sure that Trump will lose this election, the horror stories are going to come flooding out.
Until then, few are brave enough to report another person’s misdeeds if the villain of the piece is potentially going to become a world leader — and potentially could make your life a living hell.
Most people keep their mouths shut when dealing with someone they believe is an underhanded bully, a cheat at business and marriage, a racist, ageist, misogynistic blowhard, a liar and an alleged sexual predator.
Luckily, Natasha Stoynoff is not most people.
