Matt Gaetz talks before President-elect Donald Trump speaks during an America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

I have three Filipino American daughters. So I’m curious at how our leaders acted in these nomination hearings when rape becomes an issue.

To me, the lesson for Matt Gaetz and even Pete Hegseth – the Trump bro nominees with sex on their resume – is simple.

Rape is a serious matter and ultimately is disqualifying for anything in public life.

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But was Gaetz watching Thursday Night Football on Amazon last night?

The Cleveland Browns, one of the worst teams this season, upset the favored Pittsburgh Steelers in a messy game in the snow.

Emerging from it all was the Browns quarterback, Jameis Winston, good enough to put the Browns on his back and will them to victory.

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Charissa Thompson, who made the news last year for admitting she made things up as a sideline reporter, fawned over Winston in the post-game. “You’re the best,” she proclaimed again and again. She even had Winston doing snow angels on the field.

And all I could think of was this is the formerly disgraced Jameis Winston who was accused of rape while a star player at Florida State in 2012, and the subject of a NY Times investigation on how the local police and the school never took the case seriously.

Winston, of course, denied any rape charges but settled with the victim, Erica Kinsman, a former student at Florida state for an undisclosed amount. Kinsman sued Florida state and it settled the matter for nearly a million dollars. Kinsman has been outspoken on the matter and is in the documentary, “The Hunting Ground.”

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And now more than a decade after the initial indiscretion,  Winston gives hope to Gaetz, and maybe even Hegseth.

They are the people who believe there is life after rape in America.

But maybe there shouldn’t be.

These days, Winston is no pariah. The former Heisman winner will always be a sports hero. He got to win a meaningless football game on Amazon and get praised to death by an admitted liar.

So the chances are good even Gaetz will be back.

This is why it’s essential that the Ethics committee report from women who testified under oath that they witnessed Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old must be released to the public.

It’s also important that the Senate fully investigate the Hegseth matter.

The details of the Monterey, Calif. police report are out. Hegseth claims it was consensual sex with a married GOP operative. The report said the woman said, “No,” multiple times.  What did she mean? The woman has been silenced because Hegseth had her sign a non-disclosure agreement.

Right out of the Trump playbook.

Rape is meaningless to men to whom “No” does not mean no.

This is the Trump bro world. They’re just following the leader. Trump was found liable for sexual assault in the E.Jean Carroll case.

FILE PHOTO (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Trump bros say, “How bad is it when Trump’s now the president of everything?!”

Women who voted for the man who took away your federal right to reproductive freedom should consider what he thinks about guys like Gaetz, who didn’t admit to any wrongdoing.

He merely admitted to being “a distraction.”

And Trump would say on social media in response: “Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do.”

That’s what you have to be scared about.

He’s only going away temporarily. He has a “wonderful future.”

If he watched fellow Floridian Jameis Winston praised in victory on Thursday night, Gaetz knows, it’s not just the  Trump bros, but most of  America, that doesn’t take rape very seriously.

And they should.

But Trump isn’t mourning the loss of Gaetz. Acting swiftly and politically, he put up a woman to replace Gaetz, fellow Floridian Pam Bondi. She was an ardent 2020 election denier. Is she a rape denier? She was the Florida attorney general during the Jameis Winston case.

Now she’s Trump’s pick.

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He writes a column for the Inquirer’s USA Channel. Next year, he’ll be bringing his one-man show to Winnipeg and Edmonton. Stay tuned. See his Emil Amok’s Takeout on www.patreon.com/emilamok

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