Trump’s alleged failure to use condoms with Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal raises questions, concerns
In describing their alleged affairs with President Donald Trump publicly, Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels have raised a host of legal issues about possible abuse of power and campaign-finance violations. But they also revealed to Anderson Cooper a health-related detail that has raised other questions. They say that Trump preferred to not use condoms in the sexual encounters they had with him in 2006.
The TV anchor pointedly asked both women if “protection” was used during their alleged encounters with the future president. They said no, and people on Twitter took note.
“Forget the affair, if I were Melania Trump I would be LIVID that my husband was risking my health by having unprotected sex with a porn star,” wrote lawyer and feminist author Amee Vanderpool, who also called Daniels “smart” and “savvy.”
Forget the affair, if I were Melania Trump I would be LIVID that my husband was risking my health by having unprotected sex with a porn star. #StormyDaniels #60Minutes
“A man who doesn’t wear a condom doesn’t think about health or the future,” noted another woman. “Risky behavior. Potentially dangerous behavior.”
Over the last few days, Daniels and McDougal told Cooper on “60 Minutes”,respectively, that they had sexual encounters with Trump during the same celebrity golf weekend in Lake Tahoe in July 2006.
At the time, Trump was starring on the reality TV show “The Apprentice” and had been married to his third wife Melania Trump for a little over a year. Their son Barron, Trump’s fifth child, was born a few months before the Lake Tahoe events.
Trump’s alleged failure to use condoms with Daniels and McDougal would be considered risky behavior, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Planned Parenthood and other organizations that teach safe sex practices. That seems to be the reason Cooper pointedly asked both Daniels and McDougal whether Trump used condoms.
Among the “safe sex” messages learned since the AIDS crisis is that, short of abstinence, condoms used consistently and correctly offer one of the best ways to reduce the risk of HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, genital herpes and other STDs.
McDougal told Cooper that she and Trump had sex at least five times a month during their 10-month affair. But when Cooper posed what he termed the “tough question” about whether they used “protection,” McDougal at first paused and then said, “No, no.”
“Was that something you thought about, or it didn’t concern you at the time?” Cooper asked.
McDougal said: “We talked about it, right beforehand.” She said, “He was starting to,” implying he was getting ready to use a condom. But, she said, “Then he’s like, ‘I don’t like these things.’” She said they “discussed things” and “were honest with each other” — with the result being that he didn’t use the prophylactic.
As for Daniels, Cooper expressed some surprise when Daniels admitted that Trump didn’t use a condom during their first and only sexual encounter the weekend of the tournament.
“You work in an industry where condom use is is an issue,” Cooper said. “Did he use a condom?”
“No,” Daniels replied.
“Did you ask him to?” Cooper asked.
“No, I honestly didn’t say anything,” Daniels said, adding that she wasn’t attracted to the then-60-year-old Trump, but agreed to have consensual sex with him anyway.
Cooper was correct to say that condom use is an issue in porn — and for obvious reasons. Adult film actresses like Daniels earn a living having sex with multiple partners who customarily don’t wear condoms.
However, there is debate over whether adult film professionals are at higher risk of carrying or spreading sexually transmitted diseases.
While HIV transmission is rare among those in the porn industry, studies have found that the rates of other STDs — such as chlamydia and gonorrhea — are much higher among adult film performers than for people in the same age group outside the industry.
Industry advocates argue that porn professionals have safer sex than the general population because of a little-known requirement that actors undergo mandatory testing for sexually-transmitted infections at least every 14 days, the New York Times reported.
Test results are submitted to an online database, so anyone involved in shooting a scene can verify that actors’ information is up to date, BuzzFeed News noted in a post last month. Porn stars interviewed by BuzzFeed News said that was the reason they felt safer having sex on set than with people out “in the real world.”
“When you’re out in the real world, people lie about their status. Some people don’t even get tested,” actress Moriah Mills told BuzzFeed News.
If that’s the case with porn professionals, perhaps Stormy Daniels had more to worry about in having sex with someone outside her industry than with another porn actor.
In any case, people on Twitter had things to say about Trump’s reported dereliction of basic precautions.
The playboy model who spoke out last week also said that Donald Trump didn’t use a condom. But hey, let’s only fund abstinence education in schools. #stormydaniels
President don't believe in condoms yuck #StormyDaniels
But some asked what the world was coming to if the president’s use — or non-use — of condoms is the subject of a prime-time TV news show:
Are we seriously discussing condom usage @AC360??? Bless my soul this is truly #MessySunday #StormyDaniels
But another person also pointed out that it’s hard to believe that a self-described germaphobe like Trump wouldn’t use a condom during sex with a porn star:
So you're telling me that a billionaire germaphobe playboy @realDonaldTrump, had sex with a washed up porn star @StormyDaniels without a condom?? #FakeNewsMedia #StormyDaniels #StormyDanielsDay
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