Let's talk about all these women who claim Donald Trump grabbed them, propositioned them or kissed them without their permission — in other words, did the kind of things he bragged about doing on that Access Hollywood video. He insists he never met any of them…and you get the feeling that any day now, this guy's going to start swearing he never met Michael Flynn or Jared Kushner. I doubt many (if any) of Trump's most fervent supporters really believe he never met or groped any of the women but they'll say they do because he's their boy at the moment.
Depending on what source you listen to, there seem to be seventeen, eighteen, nineteen or twenty women. Politifact says seventeen and here, they run down the evidence that our current Oval Office occupant actually met each one of them. Their conclusion?
If someone appeared on The Apprentice, had their picture taken with Trump, interviewed him, or had a relative confirm their story, it seems likely that at the very least Trump had met them. By that yardstick, Trump verifiably knew or met eight of the 16 accusers. It's likely that all of the beauty pageant contestants also meet that standard, but we haven't seen pictures of them standing side-by-side with Trump. By no means can Trump claim to not know or have met all of the women who have talked about his sexual transgressions.
At the risk of siding with Donald Trump — which is becoming increasingly dangerous in this world — I'm going to take issue with one point in the above. I think he probably met and did just what he's accused of doing with each of them…and it wouldn't surprise me if there's a hundred-plus more other ladies with similar experiences. But having your photo taken with someone, especially in a public place, is proof of only having "met" them in only the most superficial sense.
Every celebrity I've ever known has their picture taken with countless fans and ultra-casual acquaintances. Heck, I'm about ten-zillionth as famous as Donald J. Trump was before he dove into the political arena and I have people I don't really know come up to me at comic book conventions and ask, "Can I get a picture?" In an era where almost everyone goes everywhere with a camera in their phone, it happens all the time. It also happens when people don't formally pose.
Picking one example out of hundreds I could cite: Back in the seventies, I was present for one of those Battle of the Network Stars shows and somewhere here, I have news photos that were taken at the time of me talking with or standing next to Telly Savalas and Sonny Bono and Dan "Grizzly Adams" Haggerty and several others with whom I had only the briefest contact.
There were pics I was in with O.J. Simpson and Bruce Jenner from back when it was pretty cool to have your picture with O.J. Simpson or Bruce Jenner. The National Enquirer even printed a photo of me sitting on the ABC bench next to Charlie's Angels star Jaclyn Smith and captioned it to suggest I might be a new beau.
None of those people really "met" me. Most never heard my name or if they did, had no reason to remember it ten minutes later. If I later accused one of them of a crime and he or she said they'd never met me, they would not be lying. They'd be wrong in a very technical, understandable sense but they would not be lying.
At that event, I was actually introduced to and spent a little time talking with Howard Cosell, who was one of the hosts. A year or two later, I was introduced to him at another function and he not only didn't remember me, he didn't remember even hosting that TV special. He could have passed a polygraph, I am sure. He was wrong but he was not lying.
This is not much of a defense of Donald Trump, especially since I suspect all his accusers are not only not lying but that they're recalling a bad experience that they'd forget if only they could. I just think that "Look, there's a photo of her with Donald Trump" is not by itself proof of anything except that the lady once had her photo taken with Donald Trump. And he does seem like the guy who not only wouldn't remember someone's name, he might not even bother to learn it in the first place.