Magazine Editor Equates Trump to a 'Stepfather Who Was Going to Rape Us'

On the final day of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the editor of one of the country's leading magazines felt it appropriate to compare President Donald Trump's inauguration to incestuous rape.

In a tweet posted Monday afternoon, Virginia Heffernan, a contributing editor for Wired, referred to former President Barack Obama as “our true father” and equated Trump to “a stepfather who was going to rape us”:

When Obama left the White House in a helicopter that horrible day, I had the impression our true father was leaving & the nation was stuck with a stepfather who was going to rape us. Now I increasingly believe that the media is the mother who won’t stand up for us & defy him.

— Virginia Heffernan (@page88) April 30, 2018

Heffernan stood by her comment in a follow-up tweet Tuesday morning, bemoaning the conservative “trolls” who “see Trump as the better father.” She called their comments “enlightening.”

It always sucks to get told you’re insane by RW trolls BUT the comments here from Trump supporters who see Trump as the better father—imposing discipline and maybe bringing peace in North Korea?—are enlightening. https://t.co/EGdYAemcJb

— Virginia Heffernan (@page88) May 1, 2018

Heffernan has written about sexual assault on several occasions and has no doubt encountered sexism — or worse — over the course of her own career. Conventional wisdom suggests such a comparison, particularly in the midst of the #MeToo movement and Time's Up era, would be imprudent.

The magazine editor was swiftly rebuked for the comparison:

“True father” is the title self-professed messiah Sun Myung Moon gave himself. https://t.co/MLXNMeYXoJ

— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) May 1, 2018

Also disturbing: Journalists who characterize the American people as children. https://t.co/kDKUekl1ce

— Nick Gillespie (@nickgillespie) May 1, 2018

Milo turns out not to be the only one who sees the president as “Daddy.” This attitude is, historically speaking, how democracies die. https://t.co/Hl9QlgYDGy

— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) May 1, 2018

A lot of people don't realize this, but it's very healthy for journalists to look at a political leader as Our True Father: https://t.co/RTbX5BzOKO

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 1, 2018

But despite the condemnation, Heffernan is — so far — standing by her comments.