While most Americans were watching the first 2020 Democratic primary debate—and most late-night hosts were preparing to cover it live—Samantha Bee was speaking her piece on the latest sexual assault allegation against President Donald Trump.
“Thank you for tuning in to my show instead of watching the Democratic debate and getting swept away by John Delaney fever,” the Full Frontal host joked. “Now, with a looming war with Iran to the ongoing humanitarian crisis at the border, it has been a week. Somewhere in the middle of all that was the teensy bit of news that our president, who has admitted to sexual assault on tape, was accused for the 22nd time of sexual misconduct.”
“I’m sorry, hold on,” she said, “I just have to say: This is the 22nd accusation of sexual misconduct against Donald Trump. 22. If I had a dollar for every person Trump allegedly sexually harassed or assaulted, I would be doing better than any of his businesses.”
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“If you missed this story, that’s not surprising,” Bee added, noting that it “didn’t make the front page” of most major newspapers over the weekend. “Days later, the accusations are being discussed but it’s still being treated as a small story. It’s not getting the wall-to-wall coverage that, say, Fire and Fury did, which is ridiculous, because Trump’s response alone should be headline news for days.”
Bee was referring to Trump’s comment that E. Jean Carroll is not his “type,” to which the host shot back, “Don’t say you have a rape type. You aren’t her type either, which is the whole fucking problem. Every woman has heard a guy say some version of ‘you’re not hot enough for me to rape’ and that is how we know he’s probably a rapist.”
“And much of the TV coverage left something to be desired,” Bee added. “Noted TV dum-dum Meghan McCain took a much-needed break from being Judaism’s self-appointed spokesperson to say that maybe Carroll is lying.”
On The View this week, McCain predicted that she would be “raked over the coals” before throwing doubt on Carroll’s story.
“Wow, Meghan McCain’s take is so bad, Joy Behar literally had to wear sunglasses to hold back her eye lasers,” Bee joked. “It’s not people who defend accused rapists who put something on the line; it’s the women who decide to speak up who, as Carroll puts it, receive death threats, are driven from their home, dismissed and dragged through the mud, only to see Trump turn it around, deny, threaten and attack them, which is exactly what he did again.”
“I’m sorry that the media is tired of talking about how the president did sexual assault a bunch but imagine how tired women are of having a sexual assaulter as president,” she added. “Of course it’s impossible to hear accusation after accusation without getting accustomed to it. That’s no one’s fault and I’m not singling anyone out, but when you let him off with softball questions about where he’s going to build his library without once mentioning his many accusers, you are dropping the ball, Chuck Todd. No one should ever sit down with President Predator without asking about these 22 women.”
“It matters. It will never stop mattering,” Bee said. “You wouldn’t interview Jeffrey Dahmer and only ask him about spice blends. If you’re not going to hold Trump accountable, you are not a journalist. Go do Sunday morning segments about fucking lasagna. Otherwise, do your job, please.”
For more, listen to Samantha Bee on The Last Laugh podcast below.
