Former President Bill Clinton came under fire last week after saying during an interview with NBC News he supports the #MeToo movement, but doesn't plan to ever apologize to Monica Lewinsky. He also heavily implied he was the real victim in the aftermath of the affair because he left the White House in debt.
But according to a new poll, the majority of Americans aren't buying it and believe Clinton is a sexual predator.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that just 24% of Likely U.S. Voters consider Clinton a victim of his political opponents. Fifty-three percent (53%) describe the ex-president as a sexual predator instead. Another 24% are undecided.
Interestingly, men (55%) are more likely to consider Clinton a predator than women (50%) are.
In a recent article for Vanity Fair, Lewinsky questioned the consensual nature of the relationship given the power dynamics at the time.
Now, at 44, I’m beginning (just beginning) to consider the implications of the power differentials that were so vast between a president and a White House intern. I’m beginning to entertain the notion that in such a circumstance the idea of consent might well be rendered moot.(Although power imbalances—and the ability to abuse them—do exist even when the sex has been consensual.)
But it’s also complicated. Very, very complicated. The dictionary definition of “consent”? “To give permission for something to happen.” And yet what did the “something” mean in this instance, given the power dynamics, his position, and my age? Was the “something” just about crossing a line of sexual (and later emotional) intimacy? (An intimacy I wanted—with a 22-year-old’s limited understanding of the consequences.) He was my boss. He was the most powerful man on the planet. He was 27 years my senior, with enough life experience to know better. He was, at the time, at the pinnacle of his career, while I was in my first job out of college. (Note to the trolls, both Democratic and Republican: none of the above excuses me for my responsibility for what happened. I meet Regret every day.)
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