Welcome to Goddess of the Desert!
Something tells me you came for Epstein/Trump content. Buckle up ...
A couple of weeks ago,
of “More to Hate" wrote an incredible essay summarizing the many reasons to strongly suspect that any FBI information related to the exploits of Jeffrey Epstein—the now-notorious "Epstein files”—would demonstrate that our president, Donald Trump, has sexually assaulted minors.Her essay, “The Actual Conspiracy Theory Surrounding Trump and Epstein," even included what sure seems to be the only written transcript of the video allegations against Trump several years ago by "Katie Johnson.” Katie, who worked for Epstein as a young teen, courageously brought forward her personal testimony of being raped by Donald Trump when it became clear that he had a decent chance of being elected president, not to smear him, but to provide pertinent information to voters. Unfortunately, she was represented by some lousy legal counsel, and, well—people forgot.
Or else they stuck their fingers in their ears and said, “Lalalalala; I can't hear you!" Because, as we all know, Trump certainly was elected president. Twice.
Anyway. Kate's article, and her painstaking, heroic transcription of “Katie's" verbal testimony, made a big impression on me. I recognized how important this one essay was, and I wished I'd written it myself. Sharing the piece on Notes, I said as much.
Much to my shock and in spite of my absolute inability to network or promote myself, that note went baby-viral, bringing me a raft of new subscribers—at least a hundred—who, I take it, care about this as much as I do.
Well, welcome! Gosh. If I'd known you were coming, I'd perhaps not have actually baked a cake, but I'd have certainly set out some cookies and made coffee.
I'm Sally. I'm 40 years old, I'm an Aquarius, and I live in the California desert with my husband,
and our dog, Jasmine. Together, my husband and I work as journalists and run a publishing company: . He's the mastermind over there, though I often write there, too, and this little Substack is my own project.I'm neurodivergent, which I just learned recently. I'm a lifelong vegetarian, if you subtract a few episodes in which my poor mother just insisted I choke down some chicken fingers for the sake of politeness or convenience. I'm a newlywed - the 12th marks one month! I'm a lucky lady, living the life I always dreamed of.
I'm also a rape and sexual-assault survivor.
You might be, too, or you might know someone who is. In fact, I bet you do—even if you don't know that you know. It's common. It's too common.
In 2025, if we cannot have the flying cars I was assured would be standard by now, if we can't travel through time yet, if we haven't achieved world peace and some sort of international brotherhood-of-man utopia, then we should at least have a president who isn't a sex criminal.
And that is why I am going to bang this drum about Epstein until the Internet dissolves.
It strikes me as really freaking important to know that Trump has been found legally liable for the sexual abuse of E. Jean Carroll. It's really freaking important to know—so important that he told us himself!—that he just grabs women by the pussy. When you're a star, he explains, they let you do it.
It's really freaking important to know that Trump was out sleeping with an adult-film actress while his (third) wife was at home caring for four-month-old Barron Trump.
It's really freaking important to know that Donald Trump said of his eldest daughter, Ivanka, that if she wasn't his daughter, perhaps he'd be dating her.
You notice, perhaps, that I'm not linking to any of this. That's because none of it is disputed. It's public knowledge.
And so I think it's also really freaking important to know that “Katie Johnson” gives credible testimony of having been raped at 13 by Donald Trump. As you can read in Kate Manne’s excellent essay, she was asked to put on a blonde wig; in response, Trump said she reminded him of his daughter, also 13.
Clearly someone needs to check on Ivanka.
But someone also needs to fish through everything else that's already been released and, bafflingly, shrugged at. Someone needs to apply some real pressure about what might be included in a dossier about Jeffrey Epstein that pertains to Donald Trump, his best friend for many years.
I'm going to do my little part right here.
Think about this: If we could time-travel by 2025 (somebody, get on that!), and you beamed yourself back to 2001 or so—the George W. Bush days—and explained that by 2025, the Republican party would be almost entirely in thrall to a president with no political background at all by age 70, who's a convicted felon, an aspiring dictator, a poor businessman who's been through six corporate bankruptcies, who lies as naturally as breathing and steals labor from his contractors, and who's been held liable for sexual abuse and has been the subject of many credible rape accusations, you'd not be believed.
Why would the Republican party stand for any of this?! It's the party of faith, I always heard—faith and family values! I think this list of merely a few of Trump’s highlights shits on all of that, and I don't see why more conservatives don't view him with skepticism, if not outright disgust.
Donald Trump makes a mockery of almost all of their values.
But as bad as all that stuff is, raping a teenager, or multiple teenagers, is worse. So much worse. My words fail me in attempting to describe how much worse it is. When kids get messed up at that age, man—it’s really hard to come back from.
I should know. I've lived it.
And I think anyone who's lived it from the other side—the side of the rapist—is not fit to be President of the United States. (In living memory, this would not have been a controversial take.)
So at Goddess of the Desert, you'll see me write on other women-focused subjects and even launch another planned project, but stick with me if you need to know that someone else thinks this is as outrageous as you do.
It is.
Buckle up, folks! Let's make some good trouble.