Trump’s attacks on Americans are nothing more than domestic violence – and we must identify and treat them as such.
A protester participating in the May Day demonstration in Union Square on May 1, 2026.
(Plexi Images/GHI/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) A “signs of an abuser”A quiz on the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office website reveals what Americans have observed during the Trump presidency, particularly survivors of domestic violence. Specifically, Does your partner play mind games? Does your partner act negatively towards authority figures? Does your partner insult you? Is your partner putting you down or putting you down? Does your partner blame you if something goes wrong? Does your partner use shame to control a situation or get what they want?
Another government website lists financial signs from an abuser, such as stealing money from you and “forcing or pushing you to give him the money you earn.” Remember when Trump sought a personal payment of $230 million in taxpayer moneyand the A $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS, claiming to have been wronged by the government? Or his $1.776 billion “anti-arms” fund to pay the January 6 insurgents?
The signs are all hidden in plain sight.
Last week, Trump demonstrated why so many Americans believe he doesn’t have the temperament to be president or the ability to have appropriate relationships with women. Bridging a familiar trope, he called CNN reporter Kaitlin Collins a “beautiful young lady” then chastised her for not smiling: announcing to a group of journalists: “I see her standing, with hatred in her eyes, as if she had hatred, because we had borders, because we have a strong army. »
None of this is new, and that is why it is dangerous and a threat to the United States.
Americans continue to suffer from the actions of this administration and this president. In his personal capacity – for which there is no criminal immunity – and in his role as leader of the United States, Trump has demonstrated poor judgment and a bad temper. As federal judges, including those on the U.S. Supreme Court, have pointed out, President Trump has ignored orders from Congress and the courts. His response? “They are just fools and lap dogs for Rhinos and radical left Democrats,” he saidreferring to Supreme Court justices, in February.
Simply put, Trump is a president who ignores the rule of law, shows contempt for the courts, and contempt for critics, including within the Republican Party. For this and more, Americans must ask themselves not only how to end this abusive relationship, but also how to prevent this type of aggression from within from happening again.
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Nearly 10 years ago, Donald Trump won his first presidential term, winning the 2016 election and defeating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Notably, just weeks before the election, David A. Fahrenthold broke a now-infamous story about a recording of Trump telling former NBC morning show host Billy Bush: “when you are a star“women leave you”grab them by the pussy.” The full transcript can be read here. Trump’s casual approach to groping women’s vaginas and committing sexual assault was frightening at the time and is no less offensive and alarming today, especially in light of the dozens of accusations leveled against the president and a number of his closest advisers. Myriad pictures Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein before 2016 has since taken on a darker meaning.
The recording, recorded by Access Hollywood in 2005, includes audio as well as video footage. In the weeks after the recordings were released, many women obtained lawyers, called reporters, wrote op-eds; all claimed Trump touched them inappropriately and illegally. The lawyers offered to provide free legal services to these women and anyone else who has had similar experiences but is afraid to speak out.
More than a dozen women manifestedpainfully reminiscent of cases where they say that Trump attacked them– on planes, in his office, outside the US Tennis Open stadium in Flushing, New York and in various other cities and states. They are mothers, instructors, businesswomen and former beauty pageant contestants. Trump defended himself against the allegations and threat pursue.
Then and now, Trump continues to claim he is not a sexual assaulter, despite a New York jury’s unanimous finding that he sexually assaulted journalist and columnist E. Jean Carroll. In fact, Justice Lewis Kaplan, who presided over the case, wrote in the 59-page order that E. Jean Carroll “convincingly established and the jury implicitly concluded that Mr. Trump deliberately and forcibly penetrated Ms. Carroll’s vagina with his fingers, causing immediate pain and lasting emotional and psychological harm.”
It is remarkable that the Trump Justice Department has now launched an investigation in E. Jean Carroll – another sign that the president has used the agency as a weapon for his own ends, to go after his critics and those who seek to hold him accountable.
At the time, news media like The New York Times, The Washington PostTHE LA TimesTHE Chicago TribuneAnd The Wall Street Journal warned Americans that this type of verbosity and misogyny in Trump’s public comments was nothing new. According to Fortune“It’s no secret that Donald Trump made numerous sexist and misogynistic comments before and during his campaign.”
The problem for the United States and the world is that he is no longer candidate Trump; he was twice elected president.
Former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly interviewed him on August 6, 2015, during the first Republican presidential debate, asking: “You called women that they didn’t like fat pigs, dogs, rednecks and disgusting animals.…You once told a candidate on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does this strike you as the temperament of a man we should elect president?
Trump brushed off Kelly’s question, saying he was “joking” and having a “good time.” However, his experience was distressing. warning: “And honestly, Megyn, if you don’t like it, I’m sorry. I’ve been very nice to you, even though I probably couldn’t be, given the way you’ve treated me. But I wouldn’t do that.” A few months later, Kelly would publish a book, claims that not only had her question to Trump been leaked before the debate in question, but that very likely someone – and she doesn’t specify who – had tried to poison her. For his part, Trump concluded his argument with Kelly on Twitter and CNN, affirming that the news anchor “had blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her anywhere.”
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Trump’s transgressions against women are not only his self-proclaimed groping, demeaning journalists, and sexual assault against E. Jean Carroll, but also his attacks on reproductive health care, including contraception and abortion. Beyond ordering the incineration of nearly $10 million in contraceptives overseas and decimating access to preventative care abroad and at home, Trump said there should be some form of punishment for women seeking abortion. At the time, in 2016, it raised serious questions of constitutional law. What types of sanctions? How would the state apply such punishment? Who would the state choose to punish? In the end, he appointed Supreme Court justices who would do what he wanted and overturn Roe v. Wade…at least one promise he kept.
However, Trump’s assaults or domestic violence do not only target women or people who may become pregnant; it’s a much broader threat. Trump’s macho approach to governance has directly led to the targeting and even killing of American protesters – actions defended by his administration. In Minnesota, Renee Bon was shot in the head and killed by an ICE agent. Alex Prettian intensive care nurse who worked with veterans, was shot and killed days later by Border Patrol agents and Customs and Border Protection agents. Others have been targeted and injured for resisting the administration’s callous priorities. Trump has weaponized the Justice Department to retaliate against the judges and challenge court decisions. He has ignored Congress and assumed powers he does not have, notably regarding tariffs and war with Iran.
Trump’s attacks on our democracy and his disregard for the rule of law are nothing more than domestic violence — and we should identify and treat them as such. This includes the threats to academic freedomlaw firms, critical funding for science and innovation, the Department of Education and First Amendment freedoms, and the rollback of crucial environmental and health protections.
His priorities have been particularly cruel to women. His administration has attempted to disenfranchise or make it more difficult for people to vote. 69 million women vote in support of the SAVE Act. Authorities have fired high-ranking women in government, from the military to the Library of Congress. By dismantling or freezing key federal health programs, such as Title— signed into law by President Nixon — the administration literally put women’s lives at risk.
THE National Women’s Law Center put it this way: “The Trump administration…is attacking the very idea that gender equality is a shared national value, by recasting…discrimination as an acceptable norm.” »
The US Congress, the courts and civil society need a response plan. At the center of efforts to extricate the United States from this domestic violence are not only not only the 2026 midterm elections, but also actively working to ensure this does not happen again. Without this work, we risk remaining even more numb and indifferent to Trump’s serious mistakes and misdeeds from which the nation may struggle to fully recover.
One thing is certain: While the president has sought to demean and harass women, line his pockets, continue the war in Iran, invade Venezuela, threaten Cuba, and take over Greenland, what he has not done is come up with a coherent plan of care and attention for Americans, especially women.
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Ahead,
Katrina vanden Huevel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation
Michele Goodwin Michele Goodwin is the Linda D. & Timothy J. O’Neill Professor of Constitutional Law and Global Health Policy at Georgetown University and Faculty Director of the O’Neill Institute. She is the recipient of the Polan Fellowship in Constitutional Law and History from the Brennan Center for Justice and author of the award-winning book Controlling the uterus: invisible women and the criminalization of motherhood.