Claire Conger

In What Do We Need Men For?: A Modest Proposal, E. Jean Carroll describes her “encounter” with The Donald in Bergdorf’s some 25 years ago, but she doesn’t name him. “I’m a coward,” she tells us. I would be too.

He denies it, of course. saying “She’s not my type.” Maybe not now, but The Donald forgets. E. Jean was beautiful, contest-winning beautiful.

E. Jean explains that she was not particularly troubled by the encounter itself, but she ends its description with “And that’s it. I’ve never had sex with anybody ever again.” (page 248, hardcopy edition)

So, wait, our boy Donald of grab-’em-by-the-pussy fame, has missed a chance to crow: “See what a great lover I am? She never had sex again!” Instead of embracing E. Jean, he sics Billy Barr on her–Billy Barr, The Donald’s fixer, the Attorney General of the United States. Our tax dollars at work.

The book is a fun read. What interested me in particular is E. Jean’s description of herself as a toddler delighted with her rocking horse, riding it upside-down to get the full effect. Her words: “orgiastic thrills” (page 111). Barely out of nappies and she knew what to do. A few years older, she played sex games with neighborhood kids in dark bedrooms while their parents partied. That girl is a wonder! She must have been irresistible. Donald!