FOREIGN/DIPLOMATIC AFFAIRS Trump’s Tape Scandal Makes No Difference

Americans don’t tend to care about the audio recording of their president discussing buying a playboy model’s silence about their alleged affair. reports

Late on Tuesday, a day dominated by talks between European Union President Jean-Claude Juncker and President Donald Trump on how to ease recent Trump-inspired trade tensions between the United States and the EU, Trump waded into even more turbulent waters. His former lawyer, Michael Cohen, released a tape in which he and Trump are heard discussing paying off a woman who claimed a past sexual relationship with the president, a former Playboy model, Karen McDougal.

The recording of the conversation about the affair that happened more than a decade ago was done two months before the 2016 US presidential election.

The scandal sparked angry responses from politicians and sections of the elite. But ordinary Americans do not seem to bother.

Trump wondered why the recording was terminated at a point he appeared to be saying positive things. His attorney, Rudy Giuliani, accused Cohen and his lawyer of misrepresenting Trump’s language from the tape.

Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, stated, “Just as Richard Nixon learned, tapes don’t lie.” He said the recording wasn’t about innocence or guilt. “It’s about lies and truth,” honesty with the American people, Davis said.

The tape offers a glimpse into Trump’s awareness or otherwise of the payment to the model – which he has since denied – and whether it violates the law or campaign finance rules. Trump denies the affair with the model. But McDougal has given extensive interviews alleging she had an affair with Trump while he was married to his current wife, first lady Melania Trump.

This month, Trump faced another scandal, when BBC’s Panorama programme revealed that he behaved like a “predator” at parties that had many teenage girls in the 1980s and 1990s. It included the testimony of Barbara Pilling, then a young model, who recalled Trump asking her age. On hearing that she was 17, Trump allegedly said, “Oh, great. So you’re not too old and not too young. That’s just great.” Pilling added that she “felt I was in the presence of a shark”.

Cohen also secretly recorded a conversation with CNN’s Chris Cuomo and admitted in the tape to arranging—on his own—a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels in 2016, The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday, citing unnamed sources. The about two-hours long recording included topics ranging from the alleged years-old Trump affair with the former porn star to the payment, the report said.

Cohen, reportedly, assured Cuomo he was not taping their conversation, and but the phone, which appeared to record the whole conversation, in his desk drawer.

Davies has said there are more tapes and more information set to come out about Trump. But all that do not seem to matter to most Americans, who think their president is doing well on the crucial economic front.

A spokeswoman for the US first lady, reportedly, responded to a question about the tape scandal with a written statement: “Did you know that every 15 minutes a baby is born with [neonatal abstinence syndrome]?

“Maybe you’d like to talk about the 160,000 kids who skip school every day for fear of being 52 total disapproval. Trump’s total disapproval rating has remained mostly between 51 per cent and 52 per cent in July, while his total approval has stayed largely between 46 per cent and 47 per cent, according to Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.

Generally, polls indicate Trump’s popularity has shrunk, but that appears to have little to do with his scandals.

However, the tape scandal could surely have caused a storm if it had come out at two months before the 2016 presidential election, the time Cohen and Trump had the conversation. It could have had a devastating effect on Trump’s bid for the presidency.

For now, it seems the Cohen tapes would just dominate the media headlines for a while and fade away.

But the story may not be the same for other Republicans as they head to midterm elections in November. Democrats seem to be bolstered by the recent humiliations of Trump. Whether this would translate to votes remains to be seen.