Rape & Pillage: Republican Primary Sources

A look at three of the (alleged) sexual abusers MAGA champions

The testimony of Stormy Daniels has reminded us of what a disgusting misogynistic creep Donald Trump is: unable to control his carnal impulses, eager to exploit his power and influence and wealth to procure sex, devoid of shame or guilt or remorse, incapable of fidelity, focused completely on his own sexual satiety, and totally fine about said sexual satiety being generated by violent means.

The Trump trial in Manhattan concerns “falsifying New York business records in order to conceal damaging information and unlawful activity from American voters before and after the 2016 election.” But whatever felonies may have been committed here, this trial is really about what happened in the bedroom, not the boardroom.

The most generous way to characterize Trump’s behavior in that Lake Tahoe, Nevada hotel room is that he coerced Stephanie Clifford to have sex with him—or, rather, to lie there and allow him to penetrate her without a condom. He lured her back to his hotel room under false pretenses. He told her she reminded him of Ivanka. He stripped down to his skivvies while she was in the bathroom. When she tried to leave, he blocked the door and told her, “This is the only way you’re getting out of the trailer park.” She blacked out during the actual intercourse, and she left the room immediately after, feeling ashamed.

Is this coercion? Sexual assault? Rape? I don’t know, but it’s something ugly. That Clifford is Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress and director often characterized as a “porn star,” does not somehow absolve Trump of his violation. Rape is rape.

Yes, Donald Trump is a cheat. He’s also a serial sexual assailant. This is a pattern with him. How many women have accused him of rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, or sexual misconduct? Two dozen? Three? Twenty-six, according to Business Insider. But those are only the victims we know about.

As a serial sexual assailant, Trump is a fitting choice to lead the MAGA GOP. A quarter of the way through the 21st century, a predilection towards sexual misconduct and misogyny is practically a BFOQ of a Republican politician. The party of trickle-down economics and tax cuts for gazillionaires has long been the party of plunder. As long as Donald Trump is its leader, it will also be the party of rape.

For today, let’s discuss three prominent Republicans accused of various forms of sexual misconduct—and to have that discussion, let us turn to the primary sources. (And here, I should issue a trigger warning for what follows. There are details in these statements that are highly upsetting.) We begin with “America’s Mayor,” the disgraced former federal prosecutor. . .

---

Rudy Giuliani

In late January of 2019, Giuliani hired Noelle Dunphy, a 39-year-old consultant with long experience in business development, associate producing, and communications, to work for him as Director of Business Development. He promised her two things: he would pay her a salary of a million dollars a year plus expenses, and he would act as her attorney pro bono on “an ongoing dispute arising from an abusive ex-partner.”

But there was a catch. Her compensation had to be deferred until after his divorce was finalized, which he said would happen soon. Long story short, he withheld payment to Dunphy, and used this as a “carrot” to keep her in his thrall. What happened next was ugly and awful. As explained in Dunphy’s complaint against Giuliani:

6. Giuliani began abusing Ms. Dunphy almost immediately after she started working for the Defendants. He made clear that satisfying his sexual demands—which came virtually anytime, anywhere—was an absolute requirement of her employment and of his legal representation. Giuliani began requiring Ms. Dunphy to work at his home and out of hotel rooms, so that she would be at his beck and call. He drank morning, noon, and night, and was frequently intoxicated, and therefore his behavior was always unpredictable.

7. Giuliani also took Viagra constantly. While working with Ms. Dunphy, Giuliani would look to Ms. Dunphy, point to his erect penis, and tell her that he could not do any work until “you take care of this.” Thus, Ms. Dunphy worked under the constant threat that Giuliani might demand sex from her at any moment. Even when the Covid-19 pandemic halted Giuliani’s ability to physically assault her, he demanded that she disrobe during their work-related videoconferences.

8. Giuliani also abused his position as Ms. Dunphy’s lawyer to pressure her into sex. In one instance, for example, Giuliani promised Ms. Dunphy that he would give her $300,000 if she would forgo her legal rights in connection with her pending case and “fuck me like crazy.” This statement was recorded.

9. As Ms. Dunphy continued her work for Giuliani and the Giuliani Companies, the work environment became increasingly hostile. In addition to his sexual demands, Giuliani went on alcohol-drenched rants that included sexist, racist, and antisemitic remarks, which made the work environment unbearable. Many of these comments were recorded.

32. Upon information and belief, Giuliani has a history of using his businesses— including, but not limited to the Giuliani Companies—to groom and aggressively pursue women for sexual relationships.

33. For example, upon information and belief, Giuliani repeatedly agreed to give significant job titles and large salaries to women he found attractive, with the intention of having a sexual relationship with them. Upon information and belief, Giuliani achieved this goal in several instances, and engaged in sexual relationships with women he had hired and whose employment he controlled completely.

34. Upon information and belief, Giuliani had an affair with Maria Ryan, who was Giuliani Partners’ interim CEO, although Giuliani claimed in the media that there was “no proof” that the two had sex. In addition, media reports note that Giuliani had an affair with his communications director in the 1990s. Media reports also reflect that Giuliani had an affair with Jennifer LeBlanc, a GOP fundraiser who, upon information and belief, received indirect payments from Giuliani and who, upon information and belief, worked in Gracie Mansion when Giuliani was Mayor. And, upon information and belief, Giuliani also hired 19-year-old Christianne Allen as the Communications Director for the Giuliani Companies because, as he told Ms. Dunphy, he had “a certain sexual attraction to” Ms. Allen. In fact, Giuliani admitted to Ms. Dunphy that he kissed Ms. Allen. These statements were recorded.

35. Ms. Dunphy knew nothing about this predatory history until she became a victim of the same scheme.

69. Under the guise of providing Ms. Dunphy legal advice, Giuliani started asking Ms. Dunphy for extremely personal details relating to her past, including explicit details about prior sexual encounters.

70. Ms. Dunphy was disturbed by these personal questions, but Giuliani claimed that this information was necessary for his “research” in connection with her case.

71. As Ms. Dunphy would soon learn, Giuliani’s probing questions were not designed to help him provide legal advice. Rather, Ms. Dunphy would come to understand that Giuliani was aroused by discussing Ms. Dunphy’s sexual history and violent relationships. Ms. Dunphy did not know it yet, but Giuliani would force her to repeat the cycle of abuse she had suffered.

The next incident allegedly took place on January 25, 2019—just four days after Dunphy’s hire:

84. When Ms. Dunphy got out of the shower, she was startled to see that Giuliani had entered the guest suite, uninvited. She was still intoxicated.

85. Ms. Dunphy was frightened. She said she wanted to get dressed, unpack, and settle in. She asked for privacy. She said she would meet him in the living room when she was ready. But Giuliani would not leave. He sat on the bed and pulled down his pants. The…film Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm depicts Giuliani acting in a similar manner to how he acted with Ms. Dunphy.

86. Giuliani then pulled her head onto his penis, without asking for or obtaining any form of consent. He held her by her hair. It became clear to Ms. Dunphy that there was no way out of giving him oral sex. She did so, against her will.

87. Ms. Dunphy was shocked and saddened by what had happened. She did not want to have any sexual encounter with Giuliani, of any kind. But Ms. Dunphy felt extreme pressure to go along with Giuliani’s demands because she could not lose her promised salary or her legal representation by the uniquely qualified and connected lawyer.

88. After pressuring her into performing oral sex, Giuliani required Ms. Dunphy to accompany him to a late dinner with Giuliani’s friend and business associate Lev Parnas. Ms. Dunphy asked Giuliani for the name of the Human Resources director, because she was considering reporting what had happened. Giuliani said that he did not have a Human Resources department and bragged that no one would ever sue him because he was connected to President Trump, and he had private investigators who would punish anyone who complained.

Dunphy felt trapped in her situation. She was worried that if she left before being paid, she’d never see the money. And Giuliani had taken over as her attorney—another tie that bound her to him. As she came to discover, “upon information and belief,” Rudy was very good at trapping women he desired in this way. As a victim of abuse, she was more vulnerable to his machinations, as explained in this excerpt:

113. Giuliani began to tell Ms. Dunphy that he loved her. Often, this was while he was coercing her into performing oral sex on him. He sometimes also referred to her as a “best friend” and he often told her that he “needed” her. Due to Ms. Dunphy’s vulnerable state, and the power imbalance between them as boss/employee and lawyer/client, she began to believe him. And Giuliani engaged in a pattern of conduct that was designed to make her financially and emotionally dependent on him, and to coerce her to remain as his secret employee.

But she did begin recording their conversations. There’s a lot of audio of Rudy saying horrible things. More excerpts from the complaint:

107. Giuliani preferred working with Ms. Dunphy in his home (and later from hotels) so that he could easily transition from work, to demanding sexual gratification, and back to work. Thus, Ms. Dunphy worked under the virtually constant threat that Giuliani might initiate sexual contact at any moment. Although Ms. Dunphy never knew when Giuliani might force sexual contact on her, upon information and belief, his actions were premeditated because, in many instances, he had taken Viagra or similar medication beforehand in preparation.

108. Giuliani often demanded that she work naked, in a bikini, or in short shorts with an American flag on them that he bought for her. When they were apart, they would often work remotely via videoconference, and during those conferences Giuliani almost always asked her to remove her clothes on camera. He often called from his bed, where he was visibly touching himself under a white sheet.

109. Throughout the employment and attorney-client relationship, Giuliani forced Ms. Dunphy to perform oral sex on him. He often demanded oral sex while he took phone calls on speaker phone from high-profile friends and clients, including then-President Trump. Giuliani told Ms. Dunphy that he enjoyed engaging in this conduct while on the telephone because it made him “feel like Bill Clinton.”

112. During this time, the work environment was regularly affected by Giuliani’s chronic alcoholism. Giuliani was rarely sober around Ms. Dunphy. Since he regularly drank all day and night, it became part of Ms. Dunphy’s responsibilities to fetch his alcohol and make sure that he was a “functioning alcoholic.” She worked hard to ensure that despite Giuliani’s excessive drinking, he did not appear drunk. If Giuliani became too drunk, it was her job to remove him from the situation. Ultimately, the most important and time-consuming aspect of Ms. Dunphy’s job became preventing Giuliani from creating media disasters. During this time, when Ms. Dunphy was not by his side, he appeared with hair dye dripping from his forehead, appeared wearing excessive amounts of self-tanner, and hosted a press conference in the parking lot of Four Seasons Total Landscaping.

121. Starting around February 2019, Giuliani repeatedly demanded assurances from Ms. Dunphy of her loyalty, and began isolating her from others. He forbade her from seeing or talking on the phone with anyone without his approval. 122. During February 2019, Giuliani’s habit of calling her obsessively continued, including approximately 34 calls on February 1, 2019, 19 calls on February 2, 2019, 44 calls on February 5, 2019, 32 calls on February 6, 2019, 28 calls on February 7, 2019, 36 calls on February 11, 2019, 50 calls on February 12, 2019, 53 calls on February 13, 2019, and 10 calls on February 14, 2019.

137. On February 21, 2019, Giuliani and Ms. Dunphy worked together on her domestic violence litigation, while he drank scotch and groped her until he eventually demanded sexual gratification.

138. On February 23, 2019, Giuliani told Ms. Dunphy that he could “get in trouble with underage girls” if they were 16 but looked 20. This conversation was recorded. During the same conversation, Giuliani discussed work-related issues with Ms. Dunphy, including reimbursement of the hotels she booked on February 14, 2019. As his assistant, she arranged for his dry-cleaning orders.

139. On February 25, 2019, Giuliani forced Ms. Dunphy to have sexual intercourse with him for the first time. Before this, Ms. Dunphy had refused and avoided having sex with Giuliani, although he had forced her to engage in other sexual contact. But on February 25, Giuliani told Ms. Dunphy that he would not wait any longer to have sex with her.

140. Ms. Dunphy objected and told Giuliani repeatedly that she did not want to have sex. But Giuliani would not take “no” for an answer. He eventually forced her into having sexual intercourse with him. She never consented to intercourse, but she eventually stopped resisting because it was clear that he would not stop pressuring her.

The (alleged) rape took place just one month after she started working for him. So this all happened very quickly. And it got worse from there:

141. Beginning in March 2019, Giuliani became more abusive toward Ms. Dunphy. He continually pressured her into sex, was unconcerned with obtaining Ms. Dunphy’s consent, disregarded Ms. Dunphy’s boundaries as a survivor of domestic violence and behaved in a hyperaggressive manner during sexual interactions. Giuliani disregarded Ms. Dunphy’s request that his conduct stop and her pleas that physical violence, domineering behavior, and abusive language was triggering and re-traumatizing for her.

142. For example, during sex, he called her a “cunt,” a “bitch,” and “Rudy’s slut”…Indeed, Giuliani was well aware of Ms. Dunphy’s aversion to physical violence or emotionally abusive language of any kind, real or simulated, because of his work as her attorney in connection with her domestic violence case. Nevertheless, he continually talked about…violent sex, and demanded that she engage in such conduct.

144. …Upon information and belief, Giuliani knew that his fixation on BDSM would make Ms. Dunphy uncomfortable because he had witnessed that Ms. Dunphy was unable to watch such scenes or other types of violence or degradation in films and television shows. During such scenes, Giuliani watched Ms. Dunphy shake at the sounds, hide her eyes, and turn her head away. In one incident, Ms. Dunphy refused to watch “The General’s Daughter” with Giuliani, despite his claim that the film’s violent sex that led to a female’s death was “sexy.”

The General’s Daughter is an upsetting film that centers on a violent rape. It is not “sexy.”

145. Giuliani’s actions made Ms. Dunphy extremely uncomfortable, but because she had entrusted him with her case and because he was controlling her deferred pay, she felt she had no choice but to submit to his demands.

There’s a lot more, including details of disgusting, violent, misogynistic comments Rudy made to Dunphy, all of which she recorded (one example: “I think of you as my daughter. Is that weird?”). She worked for him until after the insurrection, for two full years, and he took advantage of her the entire time.

Rudy Giuliani, folks: Trump’s personal attorney, election fraud accomplice, and fellow abuser of women.

The exploitation of superior job status to abet sexually predatory behavior is reminiscent of another extremely powerful Republican—one who voted to take away from women access to abortions, and one who seems very chill with January 6.

I speak, of course, of. . .

---

Clarence Thomas

In 1991, Anita Hill, his direct report at the EEOC, bravely testified about the sexual harassment she suffered while he was her boss. As a refresher, here are the salient paragraphs from Hill’s testimony:

My working relationship became even more strained when Judge Thomas began to use work situations to discuss sex. On these occasions he would call me into his office for reports on education issues and projects or he might suggest that because of time pressures we go to lunch at a government cafeteria. After a brief discussion of work, he would turn the conversation to discussion of sexual matters. His conversations were very vivid. He spoke about acts that he had seen in pornographic films involving such matters as women having sex with animals and films showing group sex or rape scenes. He talked about pornographic materials depicting individuals with large penises or large breasts involved in various sex acts. On several occasions Thomas told me graphically of his own sexual prowess…

For my first months at the EEOC, where I continued as an assistant to Judge Thomas, there were no sexual conversations or overtures. However, during the Fall and Winter of 1982, these began again. The comments were random and ranged from pressing me about why I didn’t go out with him to remarks about my personal appearance. I remember his saying that someday I would have to give him the real reason that I wouldn't go out with him. He began to show real displeasure in his tone of voice, his demeanor and his continued pressure for an explanation. He commented on what I was wearing in terms of whether it made me more or less sexually attractive. The incidents occurred in his inner office at the EEOC.

One of the oddest episodes I remember was an occasion in which Thomas was drinking a Coke in his office. He got up from the table at which we were working, went over to his desk to get the Coke, looked at the can, and said, “Who has put pubic hair on my Coke?” On other occasions he referred to the size of his own penis as being larger than normal and he also spoke on some occasions of the pleasures he had given to women with oral sex.

Thomas was sexually harassing Anita Hill while he was dating a federal prosecutor named Lillian McEwen, who claims in a memoir to have engaged in three-ways with the “extremely seductive and romantic” jurist. She corroborates one of Hill’s assertions—that he dug porn—and generally paints a picture of a guy who would do exactly what Hill accuses him of.

Again: this monster is one of the five hateful men who voted to kill Roe.

And that brings us back to. . .

---

Donald Trump

whose political career should have ended once and for all when the Access Hollywood tape dropped. The notorious lines we all know by heart, alas. But I think it’s instructive, as the GOP prepares to coronate FPOTUS once again, making him its nominee, to read the full transcript of what was said that day, when he brags about his propensity for sexual assault:

Donald J. Trump: You know and ...

Unknown: She used to be great. She’s still very beautiful.

Trump: I moved on her, actually. You know, she was down on Palm Beach. I moved on her, and I failed. I’ll admit it.

Unknown: Whoa.

Trump: I did try and fuck her. She was married.

Unknown: That’s huge news.

Trump: No, no, Nancy. No, this was [unintelligible] — and I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping.

She wanted to get some furniture. I said, “I’ll show you where they have some nice furniture.” I took her out furniture —

I moved on her like a bitch. But I couldn’t get there. And she was married. Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony tits and everything. She’s totally changed her look.

Billy Bush: Sheesh, your girl’s hot as shit. In the purple.

Trump: Whoa! Whoa!

Bush: Yes! The Donald has scored. Whoa, my man!

[Crosstalk]

Trump: Look at you, you are a pussy.

[Crosstalk]

Trump: All right, you and I will walk out.

[Silence]

Trump: Maybe it’s a different one.

Bush: It better not be the publicist. No, it’s, it’s her, it’s —

Trump: Yeah, that’s her. With the gold. I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.

Bush: Whatever you want.

Trump: Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.

Bush: Uh, yeah, those legs, all I can see is the legs.

Trump: Oh, it looks good.

Bush: Come on shorty.

Trump: Ooh, nice legs, huh?

Bush: Oof, get out of the way, honey. Oh, that’s good legs. Go ahead.

Trump: It’s always good if you don’t fall out of the bus. Like Ford, Gerald Ford, remember?

Bush: Down below, pull the handle.

Trump: Hello, how are you? Hi!

Arianne Zucker: Hi, Mr. Trump. How are you? Pleasure to meet you.

Trump: Nice seeing you. Terrific, terrific. You know Billy Bush?

Bush: Hello, nice to see you. How you doing, Arianne?

Zucker: Doing very well, thank you. Are you ready to be a soap star?

Trump: We’re ready, let’s go. Make me a soap star.

Bush: How about a little hug for the Donald? He just got off the bus.

Zucker: Would you like a little hug, darling?

Trump: O.K., absolutely. Melania said this was O.K.

Bush: How about a little hug for the Bushy? I just got off the bus.

Zucker: Bushy, Bushy.

Bush: Here we go. Excellent. Well, you’ve got a nice co-star here.

Zucker: Yes, absolutely.

Trump: Good. After you.

[Break in video]

Trump: Come on, Billy, don’t be shy.

Bush: Soon as a beautiful woman shows up, he just, he takes off. This always happens.

Trump: Get over here, Billy.

Zucker: I’m sorry, come here.

Bush: Let the little guy in here, come on.

Zucker: Yeah, let the little guy in. How you feel now? Better? I should actually be in the middle.

Bush: It’s hard to walk next to a guy like this.

Zucker: Here, wait, hold on.

Bush: Yeah, you get in the middle, there we go.

Trump: Good, that’s better.

Zucker: This is much better. This is —

Trump: That’s better.

Zucker: [Sighs]

Bush: Now, if you had to choose honestly between one of us. Me or the Donald?

Trump: I don’t know, that’s tough competition.

Zucker: That’s some pressure right there.

Bush: Seriously, if you had — if you had to take one of us as a date.

Zucker: I have to take the Fifth on that one.

Bush: Really?

Zucker: Yup — I’ll take both.

Trump: Which way?

Zucker: Make a right. Here we go. [inaudible]

Bush: Here he goes. I’m gonna leave you here.

Trump: O.K.

Bush: Give me my microphone.

Trump: O.K. Oh, you’re finished?

Bush: You’re my man, yeah.

Trump: Oh, good.

Bush: I’m gonna go do our show.

Zucker: Oh, you wanna reset? O.K.

---

Yes, we all “wanna reset.” But that isn’t happening. For as long as Trump remains the head of the GOP, it will be the Party of Rape. A vote for Trump is an endorsement of rape. A vote for any Republican, therefore, is an endorsement of rape.

No more pillage. No more rape. No more Republicans in positions of power.

---

Photo credit: President Donald J. Trump recognizes former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani prior to signing H.R. 1327; an act to permanently authorize the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Monday, July 29, 2019, in the Rose Garden of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)