(Image source from: patch.com)
The United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday in a rally in Pennsylvania mocked the #MeToo movement yet again, citing the "rules of #MeToo" as the reason he was not "allowed" to use an expression.
When talking about winning the state in the 2016 presidential election Trump said, "Pennsylvania hasn't been won for many years by Republicans, but every Republican thinks they're going to win Pennsylvania. ... I used an expression - you know, there's an expression but under the rules of #MeToo, I'm not allowed to use that expression anymore. I can't do it."
"It's the person that got away," Trump continued. "See, in the old days, it was a little different," the President added, laughing as a rally attendee told him from the crowd to "do it anyway."
"I would do it, except for these people up there," Trump said, pointing at the cameras and press at the rally. "They would say, did you hear what President Trump said?"
He continued, "So there is an expression, but we'll change the expression: Pennsylvania was always the person who got away, that's pretty good, right, the person that got away?"
It is one more round at the movement that commenced following the publication of sexual harassment and assault allegations against American film producer Harvey Weinstein in October 2017. The expose of the allegations against the influential Weinstein inspired numerous women to disclose their own stories of sexual assault, but Trump has lately taken shots at the #MeToo movement by voicing concern for men who are defendant of sexual harassment or assault and saying, "Women are doing great."
"It is a very scary time for young men in America, where you can be guilty of something you may not be guilty of," Trump said to reporters last week. "This is a very, very - this is a very difficult time. What's happening here has much more to do than even the appointment of a Supreme Court justice."
Trump had earlier mocked the #MeToo movement at a rally in July. He did so while concurrently mocking Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and saying that should she win the Democratic nomination in 2020 and they were to debate, he would toss a lineage test to her and challenge her to take it.
"We'll take that little kit and say - we have to do it gently because we are in the #MeToo generation - and we will very gently take that kit, slowly toss it" to her, Trump said, adding that he would offer $1 million to charity if she took the test and it "shows you are an Indian."
More lately, his attacks on California professor Christine Blasey Ford were perceived as a straight pushback against the #MeToo movement. Ford accused at that time-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when the two were in high school. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.
"Guilty until proven innocent," Trump lamented at a Mississippi rally October 2, to booing from the crowd. "That's very dangerous for our country. That's very dangerous for our country. And I have it myself all the time. But for me, it's like a part of the job description."
During the 2016 presidential campaign, no less than 13 women accused Trump of misbehavior ranging from sexual harassment to sexual assault. They came forward in the wake of a 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape that was out in October 2016 in which he is caught saying on a hot mic: "And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. ... Grab them by the p***y. You can do anything."
The President denies all the claims against him.
The White House - through press secretary Sarah Sanders and others - has discharged the allegations against him as old news that was sued during the campaign.
-Sowmya Sangam
