ars ago, Stormy Daniels said Sunday on 60 Minutes, she was physically threatened by a man in a parking lot in Las Vegas to “leave Trump alone” and “forget the story” of their relationship. That allegation injected a darker strain into what has otherwise been a diverting media spectacle. As always in the Trump era, the reality-television details—Daniels’s description of the alleged sexual encounter as “textbook generic”; the claim that she spanked the future president with a rolled-up copy of a magazine bearing his face; that he likened the adult-film actress to his daughter—obscure more ominous overtones of misogyny and violence.
In that regard, the Daniels story mirrors the saga of disgraced White House staff secretary Rob Porter, who left his post as Chief of Staff John Kelly’s right-hand man last month amid allegations that he had subjected his two ex-wives to emotional and physical abuse. The Porter scandal was, by turns, monstrous and tawdry. The Daily Mail, which published the account of one of Porter’s ex-wives, Colbie Holderness, with a black eye, also delighted in breaking the news of Porter’s romantic liaisons with former White House communications director Hope Hicks, dispatching paparazzi to document a shared kiss in the back seat of a cab. Donald Trump, another tabloid star with a history of alleged sexual misconduct and of defending similarly accused men, was reluctant to see Porter leave, calling his departure “very sad,” and pointing to Porter’s own claim that ”he's innocent.”
In a somewhat predictable twist, The New York Times reported Monday that the president has remained in close contact with Porter, and has told some advisers he hopes Porter will return to work in the West Wing, even though he knows the prospect is unlikely. According to the Times, Porter’s departure hasn’t taken him too far from Trump, who’s been consulting with his ex-secretary and onetime de facto deputy chief of staff for policy by phone on such matters as trade and tariffs.