On Monday morning, NBC's Megyn Kelly did what the cultural and political moment demanded: She ceded much of the spotlight on her hour of the Today show to three women who say President Donald Trump once demeaned, groped, or kissed them without consent over the past decades. They are among at least a dozen women who've accused Trump of sexual misconduct.
Kelly may be a complicated woman, who is both revered by some as a pseudo-feminist for her public confrontations with Trump and Bill O'Reilly and loathed by critics who see her Fox News legacy as the work of a "racial demagogue," but her exclusive interview with Trump's accusers should be required viewing for anyone who believes it's too late to make Trump accountable for his behavior -- or doesn't believe we should reckon with it at all.
While the women first went public more than a year ago, the 30-minute interview gives each of them a fresh opportunity to share a detailed account. Jessica Leeds recalls being groped by Trump on a flight 30 years ago. Samantha Holvey, a former beauty pageant contestant, talks about how Trump appraised Miss USA participants like "a piece of meat" and invaded their dressing room to ogle them. Rachel Crooks shares how Trump kissed her without consent while she worked at a company located in Trump Tower. The women amplify each other's experiences by building on different emotions: disgust, powerlessness, shame, and anger.
Kelly plainly asks the women what it was like to learn that 52 percent of white women voted for Trump. She wants to know how it felt when Trump was sworn in as president.
"We are private citizens and for us to put ourselves out there, to try to show America who this man is, and especially how he views women, for them to say, ‘Meh’ we don’t care,' it hurt," said Holvey. "And so, now it’s just like, alright let’s try round two, the environment is different, let’s try again."
The conversation, happening at what might as well be your kitchen table, makes the viewer confront the claims of harassment and assault anew. And it puts front-and-center the reality that Trump and many Republicans are content to undermine these claims until they vanish from public view.
Midway through the segment, Today received a statement from the White House that Kelly read on air: "These false claims, totally disputed in most cases by eyewitness accounts were addressed at length during last year's campaign, and the American people voiced their judgment by delivering a decisive victory." (In fact, the claims have not been "totally disputed" by "eyewitness accounts.")
It might have been easier to sell that spin prior to the #MeToo movement, but morning television shows and major papers can no longer act as though the lingering questions over Trump's past behavior aren't part of a timely or relevant public debate.
The recent resignations of Democratic lawmakers John Conyers and Al Franken over claims of sexual misconduct have set new expectations for how politicians should be held accountable. And Trump's own embrace of senatorial candidate Roy Moore of Alabama, who's been accused of sexual misconduct with teenage girls when he was a district attorney, has created new scrutiny of the president's tolerance for sexually predatory behavior.
The interview is no doubt a savvy ratings play -- something that Kelly's troubled show could use right about now. But it's also a public service.
Kelly took Leeds, Holvey, and Crooks seriously. While she acknowledged that political motivation could be at play in some allegations against officeholders, she gave each woman a chance to explain that their Democratic politics didn't drive their decision to step forward. That won't go far with the conspiracy theorists watching at home, but it may convince a skeptical middle-aged woman who supported Trump that perhaps it's time to hold him accountable in ways she hadn't considered before.
Kelly isn't the kind of host who will tell her viewers how to think or feel. She won't condemn the president outright. Liberals also won't like her quip about how there were plenty of reasons to vote against Hillary Clinton. But unless you work in the White House or got on the #MAGA train and are never looking back, it'll be hard for anyone who watches this half-hour interview to pretend we can ignore Trump's accusers any longer.
Kelly may never say those words aloud, but you get the sense that's exactly how she wants it.
If you have experienced sexual assault, you can contact the free, confidential National Sexual Assault hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673), or access 24-7 help online by visiting hotline.rainn.org.
Topics Gender Social Good Donald Trump Politics
