Trump’s attacks on Americans are nothing short of domestic violence—and we must identify and treat them as such.
A demonstrator participating in the May Day protest at Union Square on May 1, 2026.
(Plexi Images / GHI / UCG / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
A “ signs of an abuser ” quiz on the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office website reveals what Americans have observed during the Trump presidency, especially survivors of intimate partner violence. Specifically, Does your partner play mind games? Does your partner act negatively to authority figures? Does your partner call you names? Does your partner belittle or talk down to you? Does your partner blame you if something goes wrong? Does your partner use shame to control a situation or get their way?
A different government website lists financial signs of an abuser, such as stealing money from you, and “forcing or pushing you to give them the money you make.” Remember when Trump sought a personal payout of $230 million in taxpayer dollars , and the $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS, claiming that he was wronged by the government? Or his $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund to pay January 6 insurrectionists?
The signs are all hiding in plain sight.
Just last week, Trump demonstrated why so many Americans believe that he lacks the temperament to be president or the ability to appropriately relate to women. Trotting out a familiar trope, he called CNN reporter Kaitlin Collins a “young beautiful woman,” and then berated her for not smiling, announcing to a group of reporters, “I see her standing there with hatred in her eyes, like she has hatred, because we had borders, because we have a strong military.”
None of this is new, and that’s why it’s dangerous and a threat to the United States.
Americans continue to be harmed by the actions of this administration and 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 ill temperament. As noted by federal judges, including the justices on the US Supreme Court, President Trump has ignored Congress and court orders. His response? “They’re just being fools and lapdogs for the Rhinos and the radical left Democrats,” he said , referring to the Supreme Court justices, in February.
Simply put, Trump is a president who ignores the rule of law, shows disdain for courts, and contempt for critics, including within the Republican Party. For this and more, Americans need to confront not only how we end this abusive relationship, but also how we prevent this type of assault from within from ever happening again.
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Nearly 10 years ago, Donald Trump secured his first term as president, 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’re a star ,” women let you “ grab them by the pussy .” The full transcript can be read here . Trump’s casualness about groping women by their vaginas and committing sexual assault was chilling then and is no less offensive and alarming now, particularly in light of the dozens of accusations against the president and a number of his closest advisers. Myriad photos of Trump with Jeffrey Epstein before 2016 have since gained a darker meaning.
The recording, taped by Access Hollywood in 2005, includes audio as well as some video footage. In the weeks that followed the release of the tapes, numerous women obtained lawyers, called reporters, wrote editorials; all claimed that Trump inappropriately and unlawfully touched them. Lawyers offered to provide free legal services to these women and any others who had similar experiences but were afraid to speak out.
More than a dozen women came forward , painfully recalling instances where they say Trump assaulted them —on airplanes, in his office, outside of the US Tennis Open Stadium in Flushing, New York, and various other cities and states. They are mothers, instructors, businesswomen, and former beauty pageant participants. Trump defended himself against the allegations and threatened to sue.
Then and now, Trump continues to claim he is not a sexual assaulter, despite a New York jury’s unanimously finding that he sexually assaulted journalist and advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. In fact, Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over the case, wrote in the 59-page order that E. Jean Carroll “convincingly established and the jury implicitly found that Mr. Trump deliberately and forcibly penetrated Ms. Carroll’s vagina with his fingers, causing immediate pain and long lasting emotional and psychological harm.”
Remarkably, Trump’s Department of Justice has now launched an investigation into E. Jean Carroll—another sign that the president has weaponized the agency for his personal bidding, to go after his critics and…
Read the full article at The Nation →
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