What’s the difference between Harvey Weinstein and President Donald Trump?
According to Republican National Committee Chair Ronna Romney, only one of them should be criticized for sexually harassing women, and it’s not the president.
Other than that key point, Romney struggled mightily to differentiate between the two men in an interview with CNN Monday, despite proclaiming they’re “not even comparable.”
Weinstein, a Hollywood film executive, was fired Sunday after The New York Times published an article detailing that he had engaged in several decades’ worth of sexual harassment, including offering to advance actresses’ careers in exchange for sex.
In the interview Monday, Romney noted that Weinstein, unlike Trump, admitted his guilt. That admission happened only after the rest of the world found out about it: Weinstein reportedly reached settlements with at least eight women in a bid to keep his misdeeds quiet.
At least 11 women have accused Trump of unwanted sexual advances. During the 2016 election cycle, Trump promised to sue them for lying, yet a USA Today analysis shows Trump often publicly threatens lawsuits but rarely follows through and, like Weinstein, often settles privately.
In addition to the women who came forward during the campaign, Trump is dogged by numerous other lascivious accusations, including the infamous “Access Hollywood” video in which he brags, on tape, about forcing himself on women because “when you’re a star, they let you do it.”
Trump also reportedly walked in on contestants as young as 15 at the Miss Teen USA beauty pageant while they were getting dressed. And he once hinted in an interview with Howard Stern in 2005 that, as the owner of both the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants, he may have slept with some of the contestants.
But the RNC doesn’t want to talk about that. “To even make that comparison is disrespectful to the president,” Romney said.