this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2024
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Lawyers for Donald Trump’s former faith advisor Robert Morris accused a 12-year-old girl of initiating “inappropriate” sexual conduct with the ex-Dallas megachurch  pastor, new documents have revealed.

Morris resigned in June after admitting to the incident. His accuser Cindy Clemishire previously claimed that the pastor had begun abusing her on Christmas Day in 1982.

Clemishire, now 52, said that Morris and his wife had been staying at her family home at the time when he asked her to come into his room, whereafter he told her to lay on his bed and then began touching her inappropriately.

She said the abuse had continued until 1987 when she told her parents.

However, 25 years after the incident, a lawyer for Morris – J Shelby Sharpe – claimed that it was the child who was actually to blame.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

That might be one of the most demented defenses they could have come up with.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Dude

What the FUCK

Okay

The people who are pointing out that he's obviously lying have a pretty compelling argument

The people who are pointing out that even if a 12-year-old DOES try to initiate sexual contact with you, you need to tell them no and tell their parents, are correct

But even THAT isn't the full scope of it

BOTH THIS DUDE AND HIS LAWYER ARE CONVINCED THAT THAT'S A GOOD EXPLANATION THAT WILL HELP HIS CASE

What the FUCK is going on in these megachurches that no one including the guy employed to get this guy a good outcome can just tell him to keep his mouth shut because nothing he says is going to help, let alone THAT. Like they are in a professional capacity standing up in real life reality and with apparently fully functioning adult brains modeling it out and expecting people to say OOOOOHH it was the 12 year old's fault, I get it, these things happen, carry on.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The lawyer must know his audience

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

I know buddy it ain’t getting any better.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Even Nabokov didn't say Lolita made Humbert Humbert do it.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Well... He did make the character Humbert Humbert say it, though.

"Frigid gentlewomen of the jury! I had thought that months, perhaps years, would elapse before I dared to reveal myself to Dolores haze; but by six she was wide awake, and by six fifteen we were technically lovers. I am going to tell you something very strange: it was she who seduced me."

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago

God reminds me of a Manga i had to stop reading. Bunch of bad ass women and a loser isekai main character. For some reason all the women were hell bent on being his 'slaves' for lack of a better word. They kept making these speeches about how they were inferior and their duty was to the man and all these obscene backwards ideas. I Google the author and sure enough dude is an alt right dbag. He only ever made the women characters say these deamening things like if that made it better or gave them some sort of credibility.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 4 months ago

Yeah, but he made Humbert say it to show what a despicable person he was.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Or, hear me out, the man is a hypocrite who preaches morality but has no problem using a preteen girl to gratify his sexual desires.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 4 months ago

As the adult, it is your job, responsibility, nay DUTY to say “NO!!!” And run for the hills!

[–] [email protected] 33 points 4 months ago (1 children)

After this I don't think donald trump can continue his campaign. He should step down and allow another Republican to take his place.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 months ago (1 children)

He'll just deny any connection to this guy and his cult members will believe it. Reality, truth, and evidence don't mean anything to them.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I'm just putting it out there in case the media wants to run the common story: "Internet is exploding with demands for some politician to step down." And they quote maybe three tweets from randos.

Here it is media; a demand for trump to step down and stop running. The Internet is exploding and voters are demanding it!!!

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I refuse to read anything after the headline to keep my blood below boiling point. Did I miss anything?

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[–] [email protected] 62 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Buddy of mine's 12-yo stepdaughter was flirting with him when they watched movies. He was horrified and confused.

"Dude, she's just testing her feminine wiles on you since she sees you as safe, kinda testing her attractiveness. Doesn't even have a clue she's doing it. Just ignore it or gently push back if she goes too far."

And of course all was well. Thought it was a cute and funny story.

And we have lawyers trying to slide this defense?! Not to mention the guy who took it seriously and raped a child! I swear to god they used to threaten disbarment over stupid shit like this.

tl;dr Kids do stupid shit when they start puberty. It's on the adult to see what's happening.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 months ago (17 children)

I'm in my late thirties and I have to remind myself when a younger twenty-something girl comes on to me, that is never going to work and I have to be the mature one to shut it down.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago

“That bank money was begging me to take it, your honor. Sittin’ there, with those tight little bands on; it was askin’ for it!”

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

The old switcharoo

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

the fact they didnt claim he was raped means he was likely awake therefore cannot claim any innocence from the situation.

basically the only way out of a situation like this is provably without reasonable doubt, that you were raped in a state where you werent conscious. and since they didnt argue it means you cannot justify it.

[–] [email protected] 57 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

interesting-- and where was their all-powerful, all-seeing sky-wizard during all of this? why was it powerless to stop this from happening? where was their "superior morality" to stop them? why it is, with an all-powerful sky-wizard, a superior morality, and an adult - a pastor - present, is it the fault of a 12 year-old?

[–] [email protected] 25 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I'm pretty sure the answer is that sky-daddy sent the little girl to test the pastor, that he might endure this challenge and come out a better man for the lesson. Sky-daddy doesn't give agency to women or children - they serve only as props in the narrative of men's lives.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Well, he certainly failed that test then.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Well, something that doesn't exist would be powerless to stop them.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago

i really wish this argument would work in court

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[–] [email protected] 126 points 4 months ago

"and so what was he to do, Your Honour? Say no to a twelve year old? Report their conduct to their parents?"

[–] [email protected] 76 points 4 months ago (2 children)

And this neatly illustrates the grotesquely destructive delusion that lies at the heart of religious fundamentalism - it's ultimately, and I'm tempted to say without exception, an attempt by overtly evil people to place the blame for their evil on others, or on society as a whole.

The underlying issue is not that other people feel lust, for instance, but that they themselves feel lust, and they consider that to be so shameful that their self-images cannot tolerate the idea that it's a part of their own makeup. It must and can only be, to them, a thing that's been imposed on them by "evil" people or an "evil" society, so the solution, to them, is to stamp out that "evil." Solely in the belief, ultimately, that if that "evil" could somehow be made to not exist, it would no longer plague them.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 4 months ago (1 children)

"Look what you made me do"

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago

"It was her fault for being dressed like that"

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[–] [email protected] 373 points 4 months ago (11 children)

Even if she did, so what? A 12-year-old cannot consent. The adult cannot engage. This is not a defense.

[–] [email protected] 109 points 4 months ago (5 children)

The fact that this post has a downvote is legitimately worrying to me. I really hope that's not someone who disagrees with this statement.

[–] [email protected] 68 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (4 children)
[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I was thinking Libertarian. Could be both.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 4 months ago

Objective Morality everyone!

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