The Importance Of Being Earnest

Former President Donald Trump is finally facing a civil trial (the criminal statute of limitations for this case has long expired), over an allegation that he raped advice columnist E Jean Carroll nearly three decades ago.

E Jean Carroll - Not Trumps Type?

Jury selection began on Tuesday the 25th in a New York federal court, after his attempts to get the case thrown out finally failed.

Mr Trump has as would be expected, constantly denied E Jean Carroll's accusation that he attacked her in a Bergdorf Goodman store in Manhattan in late 1995 or early 1996. He has said the alleged rape "never happened" and that she made up the claim for publicity and its a "complete con job". During an October 2022 deposition for the case, Mr Trump repeated his denials, adding that his accuser is "not my type".

What struck me about this last denial that the then willowy blonde (much like his wives pictured below, and Stormy Daniels), Ms Carroll was not his "type," was also that it rang a little like Oscar Wilde's stated reason for not kissing one young man at his trial for sodomy with various young men .... Wilde often used young working class male prostitutes, for sexual services .... he liked a bit of rough, but he only got in trouble for his infatuation with Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas. Like Trump has allegedly done with his various sexual affairs, Wilde tried to cover up the existence of his affair with aristocrat Douglas by buying off the owners of damaging 'love' letters found in one of Douglas's old suits.

Wilde had paid £35 (£5,820.26 in today's money) for return of the compromising letters he sent to would be poet, Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas. Wilde later described the money paid, as a gift to enable blackmailer Alfred Wood to start a new life in America. Two other would-be blackmailers were also given smaller amounts of money after returning the remaining letters.

While being cross examined in court, QC Carson asked Wilde about a young sixteen year old male named Walter Grainger, and asked, did Wilde kiss him? "Oh, dear no!" Wilde replied in shades of Trump, "He was a peculiarly plain boy." i.e. Not his type.

In Wilde's case this was his downfall because Carson followed up by asking was that the reason he didn't kiss him? Why then did he mention his ugliness? "Why, why, why, did you add that?" Carson demanded to know. Wilde had no good answer ... he lost his defamation case against Lord Queensbury (who had called him a 'sodomite', and who was Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas's father!), and Wilde was later arrested and imprisoned for his homosexual activities.

I have no way of knowing if Mr Trump will win or lose this case, but like many I will be following it closely ..... but those words "not my type" may well come back to haunt him. 

Trumps Wives

 Update 05/05/2023:

The Donald, actually thought he was looking at ex-wife Marla Maples (2nd wife and former mistress) when shown a picture of E Jean Carroll in his deposition hearing, until corrected by his lawyers. Thus weakening his 'not my type' claims. She was married to Mr Trump from 1993 until 1999

Trump has not yet attended the civil trial, after his lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, told the judge Mr Trump would not testify in court. The two weeks that the civil case has been going on, is nearly concluded after both sides rested their case on Thursday, and Mr Trump's team called no witnesses in his defence.

Typically Trump has told reporters he might cut his ongoing golf trip to Ireland short to "confront" Ms Carroll in court "I'll be going back early because a woman made a claim that is totally false, it's fake." ... but don't hold your breath.

Update: Well he didn't go back, and he lost his case - the "not my type" comment did come back to haunt him - and a jury found that more likely than not he had sexually assaulted Ms Carroll. He is now convicted of a sex crime (but will not be required to register as a sex offender as it ws a civil case), and defamation. But not of rape, as the jury would have needed to have been convinced that Mr Trump had engaged in non-consensual sexual intercourse with Ms Carroll, and there was no evidence after 20 plus years ... (if only she had saved her dress/underwear as Monica Lewinsky did), and liable to around $5m (£4m) in damages. 

He apparently plans to appeal against the decision .... "I have absolutely no idea who this woman is. This verdict is a disgrace - a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time!" Still has every chance to be next US President and leader of the free world!

Further Update: 

Trump repeated the allegations after he lost the court case on the 9th, when on the 10th of May, during a town hall event broadcast by CNN, Mr Trump repeated his previous defamatory claims that she had "made up" a story about him assaulting her at the Bergdorf Goodman store. He also added that Ms Carroll, was a "whack job" and claimed the trial was "rigged". Ooops, 

Ms Carroll's lawyers promptly applied for further defamation damages in a new legal filing, which seeks to amend an original defamation lawsuit filed in 2019, and now also refers to media posts published by Trump after the verdict on his social network, Truth Social. He is of course said to be appealing the court ruling that he had sexually assaulted Ms Carroll. He is his own worse enemy.