The Bravery of Stormy Daniels

The Bellatrix who can defeat Donald Trump.

Fearless reporting, a behind-the-curtains look at how journalism is made — and an unabashed point of view. Welcome to Chills.

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Stormy Daniels, who said she once saw Donald Trump naked, quipped about seeing him in a courtroom: “There’s no way he could be scarier with his clothes on.” (Photo by Nordin Catic/Getty Images For The Cambridge Union)

“I’ve seen him naked,” said Stormy Daniels, the adult film star who says she had a sexual relationship with the former president Donald Trump. As she was gearing up for the current trial in a New York courtroom about the alleged hush-money payments Trump paid her, she cheekily told the UK newspaper The Times in March 2023 that she wasn’t afraid of testifying: “There’s no way he could be scarier with his clothes on.”

Which is hilarious, but it could be and likely is.

Much of America has classified Daniels as a “whore” or “slut,” not a woman with a disturbing story about one of the most powerful men in the world. The former president himself once, like a kindergartner, called her “horse-faced.” She’s faced threats and insults, both specific and graphic, from Trump supporters for years now. Taking the stand with this wall of violent sound behind her is beyond brave.

Daniels even acknowledged last year that “people automatically assume … ‘Oh, she must not be a good witness, she’s not credible.’” Consider that she says this because her profession involves exciting and pleasing men. Whereas the men who spend time with such women have no credibility issues. We’re literally stuck in the “arrest the sex workers not the johns” mentality here.

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With humility, I can say that I know to a very small degree what testifying against Trump might be like. Years ago, I was asked to be part of a lawsuit against him because the president had blocked me on Twitter. I argued that he was violating my First Amendment rights as a journalist.

I initially signed on, with lawyers telling me that there was nothing I needed to do other than attach my name to the case. But that changed, and suddenly the lawyers informed me that I would need to be deposed by Trump’s legal team. I couldn’t think of anything I less wanted to do than sit in front of a bunch of twisted lawyers who were willing to defend a man I considered imbalanced and ruthless. I was already facing Year 1,000 of being threatened with rape and death by misogynist crazies nearly daily, and the last thing I needed was more hatred in my life. I respectfully bowed out.

I felt guilty at the time because I was going to be the lawyers’ one journalist witness. Others blocked by Trump included writers like Stephen King.

I’ve rarely backed away from difficult things in my life, but this was an act of self-care.

I can only assume that Stormy Daniels made the decision to testify in front of the former president with a healthy reserve of fear. Until you’ve had death threats sent to you multiple times a day, don’t judge. (Yes, I fully expect the right to come after me saying that Daniels’s profession is “wrong” and what the hell am I talking about? I only ask that they think for a moment about the men they know — consider why so many men partake of such services from women. Reconsider their judgment, their need to condemn the woman.)

Daniels, depending on your point of view, which here, is mine, has an extra level of credibility to her because she has chosen to put herself, warts and all, in front of the spotlight. Sure, it would be easy to label her as simply a “porn star” and therefore unworthy of our societal admiration (I’m looking at you, much of the male-run media), but it takes guts to accept that she has put herself right in the right-wing’s bullseye by choosing to speak out. For those who think she’s doing this for a payday, think about the considerable cost she’s faced in terms of her own safety and mental health.

Women very rarely accuse men of impropriety for no reason. You don’t believe me? Well, the last FBI stats I’ve seen on reported male-on-female sexual assault (which, granted, are at least a decade or more old now) found that false reports of rape are consistent with false reports of other major violent crimes, at 2-8 percent. 

But again, we’re not specifically talking about rape in the case of Stormy Daniels. I’m not trying to conflate the two, but I do think it’s worth acknowledging that both rape and this hush-money scandal by a former president of the United States share an extreme power imbalance that ends of with the trashing of the accuser.

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I’m not here to express surprise, instead maybe just a little irritation. Because we know all this. We know that women are still unable to be sexual beings and intelligent ones. We know that we are not believed when we report that men have been violent or have treated us badly. And, wait — God forbid, we age, like E. Jean Carroll, who won her case against Trump for sexually assaulting her and then defaming her. Then we’re just “old hags,” despite the wrongs perpetrated against us.

We are still mainly considered ancillary to men and put in the boxes they create. They control our bodies as legislators and our minds with their public lies and attempts to twist narratives — whether they be ones of rape or power. Women in 2024 are still not “allowed” to be more than one thing at once. The Madonna/whore complex is alive and well.

But, here she comes, the complicated woman who is Daniels, taking the stand this morning in that NYC courtroom.

This morning, the judge told Daniels innumerable times to “slow down” when she speaks. New York does not allow cameras in the courtroom, but presumably the judge is trying to make sure Daniels’ words are legible. Then again, I can imagine that the witness likely has a lot to say and getting it out quickly is the way she feels comfortable doing it — not to imagine the nerves.

Slow down.

Sit nicely.

Don’t shout.

Cross your legs.

I understand there are expectations of women in society, which is why I used to occasionally take joy on the New York City subway in “manspreading” in order to give selfish men a taste of what they inflict upon others.

With Stormy Daniels testifying against Donald Trump in New York this morning, I’m reminded of the many, many women I’ve met around the world who have been abused by men. Like them, Daniels is the survivor of a deep power imbalance. He tried to slander her as he did E. Jean Carroll, but in Carroll’s case, a court found him guilty of having sexually assaulted her. It was a moment in which power was held to account.

As the case moves forward, Daniels has said that she is concerned that her own safety may be at risk, explaining that when the scandal between her and Trump first broke in 2018, people called her a “‘gold digger,’ ‘slut,’ ‘whore,’ ‘liar’” etc. At this point, she said, it’s “‘I’m gonna murder you. [The reactions are] way more violent and graphic.” 

Daniels sits on the stand today across from a generally sleepy defendant who, according to news reports, is actually paying attention to her — although moving inch-by-inch away from his head-on view of her…

But Daniels appears to have the strength to do this. To face up to one of the most powerful men in the world and be a woman who lets him know that she’s had enough. That there is no more room for lies.

As Daniels told the UK’s Times in 2023: “This pussy grabbed back.”

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