There are few things more certain than the nation’s left-wing media outlets blaming President Donald Trump for things he had no part in. It has been a regular occurrence ever since he descended the escalator in 2015 to announce his presidential candidacy. The latest example involved a New York Times political opinion writer seemingly blaming Trump for the alleged gang rape at Cornell University in October 2024.
During a panel discussion on ABC News’s This Week on Sunday, Michelle Cottle linked the president to the alleged assault, saying that we are “in a moment in this culture” when mistreating women is glorified and suggesting that this attitude starts “with the president.”
“It’s a fundamental disrespect for women,” Cottle said during the discussion. “You can’t send those messages, no matter how drunk you are as a frat boy, without having some kind of misunderstanding about what women are there for and whether this is a real person you’re dealing with. And that, I think, starts, you know, we can go to the president for this one. I mean, we are in a moment in this culture where the glorification of being thuggish, and swaggering, and mistreating women, is kind of making you a cool kid.”
Cottle offered no evidence connecting Trump to the alleged assault. Instead, she used inflammatory rhetoric to turn a discussion of disturbing allegations into an attack on the president. Nothing she cited establishes that Trump encouraged the alleged conduct or suggested that participating in a gang rape makes someone “a cool kid.”
Cottle’s comments reflect the corrosive mindset of many left-wing journalists today. Every societal ill and harmful event somehow becomes Trump’s fault. The accusation does not have to make sense or rest on evidence. In this case, the alleged assault did not even occur during Trump’s presidency: It reportedly happened in October 2024, when former President Joe Biden was in office.
The timing does not, by itself, settle a claim about cultural influence. But neither does invoking Trump’s personality establish a connection to an alleged crime. Cottle offered no evidence tying him to what allegedly happened at Cornell. Suggesting that he bears responsibility without establishing that connection is irresponsible and inflammatory. It also makes her the latest left-wing journalist to exhibit signs of Trump derangement syndrome.
Such commentary helps explain the president’s hostility toward left-wing media outlets. Journalists undermine their own credibility when they make baseless accusations because they oppose Trump’s policies. Cottle’s remarks are another example of political animosity replacing a serious examination of the facts. Audiences deserve reporting and commentary grounded in evidence, rather than reflexive attempts to blame the Trump administration.
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Cottle also used the disturbing allegations as ammunition for a political attack shortly before the 2026 midterm elections. An alleged sexual assault deserves serious scrutiny. Turning it into an unsupported indictment of the president distracts from the conduct under investigation and the people directly involved. ABC should have challenged her to substantiate the connection.
If Cottle is going to link Trump’s persona, attitude, or conduct to the alleged gang rape at Cornell, she should present evidence supporting that assertion. She offered none during the discussion. Until she does, her remarks amount to a political smear that does nothing to help viewers understand the allegations or establish what happened.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
