On January 17, In Touch Weekly published excerpts of a 2011 interview it had obtained with porn star Stormy Daniels. In it, she had bragged of having a 2006 extramarital tryst with Donald Trump.
Since then, the story has provided fodder for magazine writers and comedians—such as late night Late Night TV host Stephen Colbert.
On the eve of President Trump’s attending an economic conference in Davos, Switzerland, Colbert joked: There was a good reason why First Lady Melania Trump wasn’t traveling with him:
“Yes, there were logistical issues. For instance, the weather. She was afraid it was going to be too Stormy.”
Trump and Stormy
Trump and Stormy
When his wife’s away, Trump thinks, “Why worry?
Sex with sluts is kinky.
And they don’t mind I’m really stinky.”
But for Melania, the scandal can’t be a laughing matter.
On January 26, her spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, tweeted: “The laundry list of salacious & flat-out false reporting about Mrs. Trump by tabloid publications & TV shows has seeped into ‘main stream media’ reporting. She is focused on her family & role as FLOTUS – not the unrealistic scenarios being peddled daily by the fake news.”
While Trump was in Davos, Melania visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. She then flew to West Palm Beach, Florida.
Notably, she didn’t post a photo of herself with Trump to mark his first year as President. Instead, she posted on Twitter a picture of herself grinning while standing next to an unsmiling Marine.
There has been much speculation on social media about whether Melania might divorce Trump—now or later—over his rampant infidelities.
(In his infamous 2005 Access Hollywood exchange with Billy Bush, Trump admitted: “You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful–I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.)
Donald Trump, Adrianne Zucker and Billy Bush
What would happen if Melania decided to file for divorce while they still occupied the White House?
The Presidency of Andrew Jackson provides a partial answer.
In 1829, his Secretary of War, John Eaton, married Margaret “Peggy” O’Neill, a former tavern maid with a supposedly lurid past.
In 1828, Margaret’s first husband, John B. Timberlake, a navy sailor, had died unexpectedly. Rumors circulated that he had committed suicide over his wife’s alleged affair with Eaton. (Medical examiners concluded that Timberlake died of pneumonia brought on by pulmonary disease.)
Both Eaton and Margaret denied the affair, claiming to be nothing more than friends. When they married shortly after Timberlake’s death, the ladies of Washington society ostracized the new couple.
Jackson sympathized with his friend, Eaton. Jackson’s late wife Rachel—whom he had unwittingly married before her divorce from her first husband was final—had also been the victim of social gossip when she first came to Washington.
Vice President John C. Calhoun’s wife, Floride, led Washington’s elite in snubbing the Eatons. They refused to pay courtesy calls on the Eatons at their home or receive them as visitors, and denied them invitations to parties and other social events.
Jackson sided with the Eatons. His late wife, Rachel—whom he had unwittingly married before she divorced her first husband—had been mercilessly attacked during Jackson’s 1828 Presidential campaign. Jackson believed these attacks caused Rachel’s death on December 22, 1828, after his election to the Presidency.
For the rest of Jackson’s first term, his opponents used the “Petticoat Affair,” as it was known, to attack the President’s moral judgment and his administration’s policies and appointees.
It finally ended in 1831. Eaton and Secretary of State Martin Van Buren resigned to allow Jackson to install new members to his cabinet and protect his Presidency from further scandal.
Now, fast forward to 2018:
Trump and Stormy
Trump and Stormy
What a couple—she’s got boobs; he’s horny.
Trumpy spanks his wanker
And says “It’s fun; it’s lots of fun.
It’s just like doing my Ivanka.”
If Melania divorced Trump while he is still President, the Peggy Eaton scandal would pale by comparison.
- Washington would divide into two camps—those supporting the President and those supporting the First Lady.
- Reporters would besiege the White House for separate interviews—with Trump and Melania.
- News media would be filled with stories recounting Trump’s extramarital affairs—not just during his current marriage but during his marriages to his ex-wives Ivana and Marla.
- Trump would vent his anger and frustrations on Twitter—as he does whenever he’s thwarted. These would fuel more controversy via sensational news stories.
- His legislative agenda would grind to a complete halt as Republicans were distracted and Democrats took advantage of it.
- Comedians like Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert would find themselves in comic heaven, with Trump’s outrageous comments and tweets practically writing their joke routines.
- Trump’s diehard supporters among the Religious Right would be pressed to defend or condemn his multiple adulteries.
- These would distract Republicans from effectively pursuing Trump’s—and their—social and political agenda.
Stay tuned for possibly tumultuous developments.
Pay, pay, pay the porn star’s silence
There’s an election.
You don’t want the world to know that you
Can’t get erection.
Bureaucracybuster's Blog 
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WHIPS, CAGES AND A FUTURE PRESIDENT
In Bureaucracy, Entertainment, History, Politics, Social commentary on December 12, 2023 at 12:38 amWhen Jeri Zimmermann met Goldman Sachs investment banker Jack Ryan in 1990, she was dealing blackjack at a charity event.
She could not know that she would marry him on June 15, 1991, and that they would have a son, Alex, on August 15, 1994.
Nor could she know that her marriage would lead to the future election of Barack Obama as President
In 1997, Jeri was chosen to portray Seven of Nine, a Borg drone freed from the Borg’s collective dictatorship, in the science fiction series Star Trek: Voyager. When she joined the cast in season four, ratings increased 60%.
The series ended in 2001.
Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine
In 2000, Jack Ryan retired as an active partner at Goldman Sachs. Then, in 2004, he decided to run as a Republican for the position of United States Senator from Illinois.
His opponent was Barack Obama.
Ryan seemed to have everything: He was handsome, popular and wealthy.
Obama’s candidacy looked doomed.
And then the unexpected happened.
The Chicago Tribune and WLS-TV, the local ABC affiliate, successfully filed suit to have the Ryans’ divorce and child custody records unsealed.
Jack Ryan
In the custody files, his then-wife, Jeri, charged that Jack had pressured her to perform sexual acts with him at swinger’s clubs in New York, New Orleans and Paris while other patrons watched.
It was his repeated pressuring that led to her divorcing him on August 27, 1999.
In a legal filing dated June 9, 2000, Jeri Ryan said she knew her marriage was over by the spring of 1998.
Jack had repeatedly surprised her with trips to the cities but didn’t tell her he planned to bring her to sex clubs while there.
“They were long weekends, supposed `romantic’ getaways,” Jeri Ryan said in the filing. “The clubs in New York and Paris were explicit sex clubs. Respondent had done research. Respondent took me to two clubs in New York during the day. One club I refused to go in. It had mattresses in cubicles. The other club he insisted I go to.”
Jeri described one as “a bizarre club with cages, whips and other apparatus hanging from the ceiling.”
And true to her Borg character, she had steadfastly replied: “I will not comply.”
Jack confirmed the trips with the actress but described them simply as “romantic getaways,” denying her claims that he sought public sex.
He described the accusations as “ridiculous” and accused Jeri of trying to “libel” him with what he called “smut.”
He implied that his ex-wife had made them to ruin his reputation as he contemplated a political career.
“I was faithful and loyal to my wife throughout our marriage,” Jack Ryan said in the filing. “I did arrange romantic getaways for us but that did not include the type of activities she describes. We did go to one avant-garde nightclub in Paris, which was more than either one of us felt comfortable with. We left and vowed never to return,” Jack Ryan said.
Ryan said he fought release of the files not to avoid personal and political embarrassment but to protect his son.
“A lot of people were saying to me the last three months it’s politically damaging to keep these files sealed, just release the files,” Ryan said.
“But what dad wouldn’t do the same thing I did? What dad wouldn’t try to keep information about your child, that might be detrimental to the world knowing, private? Even the things moms and dads say to each other, about each other, should be kept away from children.”
Ryan had been running against Obama as a clean-cut, “family values” candidate. Suddenly, he found that image fatally tainted.
Republican leaders in Chicago were stunned by the news.
Republican Rep. Ray LaHood told the Chicago Tribune that Ryan “needs to immediately withdraw from the race.”
“There is no way Republicans in Illinois will vote for somebody with this kind of activity in their background,” LaHood said.
At a news conference Ryan insisted that he would remain in the race. He did not deny his former wife’s version of events.
In a radio interview, Ryan called the uproar over his marital dispute “a new low for politics. I think my character has been proven by this. There’s no breaking of any laws. There’s no breaking of any marriage laws.
“There’s no breaking of the Ten Commandments anywhere. And so I think if that’s the worst people can say about me in the heat of a difficult dispute, I think it speaks very well about my character.”
Days after the release, Ryan withdrew from the race.
Asked about the week’s revelations, Obama replied: “I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to comment on that. Those are issues of personal morality. The issues I’m focused on are public morality.”
Barack Obama as a United States Senator
As Ryan’s replacement, the Republicans chose Alan Keyes, a black right-winger whom even George W. Bush found to be “a piece of work.”
Obama easily won election with 73% of the vote.
Four years later, he would parley that victory into a successful run for President of the United States—and become the first black candidate to hold that office.
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