The president will be looking to exploit any male resentments over sexual harassment scandals - Financial Times

Trump and the 'METOO' backlash

The president will be looking to exploit any male resentments over sexual harassment scandals

Edward Luce - Rana Foroohar - 17/1/2018

It is a truth universally acknowledged that any male writer foolish enough to criticise the'METOO' movement gets all he deserves. That has not stopped a few from trying. Good attempt Andrew Sullivan – though you are surely not surprised at the criticism.

Yet there are a few non-controversial things that are worth pointing out. The first is that Trump will be looking to exploit any male resentments. In an ideal world, the 'METOO' revelations will prompt sexually predatory men to reconsider their behaviour. Perhaps some of them will do that, although probably for the wrong reasons – that they fear losing their careers, rather than having ceased to be unpleasant people.

But in the world in which we live, the outcome is all too easy to foresee. Panicked employers will tighten up their human resource departments’ regulation of workplace behaviour. Some otherwise innocuous men might feel reluctant to invite a female colleague out for a drink for fear of being misinterpreted. The seeds of a Trumpian backlash will start to grow.

My first two reading recommendations this week are both on this subject. The first by the NYT’s excellent Bari Weiss, fears the 'METOO' movement is taking feminism back to the 19th century, where even the merest hint of a sexual approach brings out the swoon and the fainting salts. According to a recent Economist YouGov poll, a quarter of millennial men believe that asking someone out for a drink is sexual harassment. 

Meanwhile The Guardian’s Jill Filipovic says that the reporting of the over-hyped Aziz Ansari story by previously unknown “Babe” magazine, had done everyone a disservice. The more that female writers can make these kinds of points, the better. Harvey Weinstein is a monstrous predator. Someone with whom you have an awkward “hook up” is not.

Under the “this isn’t fiction!” school of journalism, it has been reported that the US president has signed lucrative non-disclosure pay-offs with at least two former porn stars. There are inveterate dinosaurs out there. Some of them are commander-in-chief.

That said, my column this week dwells on Trump’s surprising strength as he approaches his first full year in office. I do not ordinarily give lessons in philosophy. But I fear many members of my profession, including myself on occasion, have failed to distinguish between “is” and “ought”. Trump ought not to have anywhere close to being leader of the free world. But he is. To judge by his iron grip over the Republican Party that will remain the case for a while longer at least.

Talking of the free world, Freedom House this week for the 12th consecutive year announced a reduction in world freedom. Countries on its watch list include Saudia Arabia, Pakistan, Hungary, and, yes, the United States. For the first time since it began its annual Freedom Index report, roughly the same number of people live in countries ranked as un-free as those living in free ones. Last year 71 countries marked “significant declines in political rights and civil liberties” against 35 registering signficant gains. The trend continues to head the wrong way. I strongly recommend this report to all FT readers. 

Ed is right to worry, both about a second term for Our Leader (which I’m betting on unless something changes in all the dynamics he’s sketched), and about the #MeToo movement losing its way. As I wrote in an FT Weekend article on the campus culture wars last fall, there are many shades of gray that are getting lost. Of course sexual predators deserve punishment and their victims justice. But due process is being run over by a truck right now. We need to make sure that the accused have a fair chance to defend themselves, preferably in front of a jury of their peers. The alternative, in the end, won’t be good for anyone. 

Does the president have America's back on trade? An analysis of how Trump has done little to implement his protectionist rhetoric - but faces big decisions on tariffs and quotas in the coming days. (FT)

Probe of Russian embassy payments US investigators are looking into hundreds of newly uncovered payments from Russian diplomatic accounts, including transactions by former ambassador Sergey Kislyak ten days before the 2016 election and a blocked $150,000 cash withdrawal five days after the inauguration. (BuzzFeed)

The patriarchy strikes back Taking the other side of Rana and Ed's argument, Sarah Jones argues that the backlash to the #MeToo movement is depressingly familiar. Here's another piece our columnists might take issue with: Sean McElwee making the case that liberals should "ignore the naysayers" and embrace identity politics. (TNR, The Outline)

Flake's latest speech Retiring Republican Senator Jeff Flake - and noted Trump critic - took to the Senate floor to denounce the president, comparing him to Josef Stalin and Bashar al-Assad while slamming Trump for everything from his promotion of the birther conspiracy to his claim that millions of people illegally voted for Hillary Clinton. Some are arguing that he should do something with his senatorial power, other than just give speeches. (Slate, Vox)

Trump's capriciousness on Capitol Hill Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say it is nearly impossible to negotiate when the president "can't seem to stick to a position for more than a few hours". (Politico)