When President Trump said that “it is a very difficult and scary time for young men in America,” he was correct. It truly is a difficult time for all the young men of color who are discriminated against, and it is a scary time for many minorities who are being labeled as criminals based on centuries of deeply ingrained bias against them. It should not, however, be a scary and difficult time to be a young man in the midst of the many recent sexual assault allegations, as long as they have not sexually harassed someone.

If one is guilty of sexual assault, then they should be scared of the difficult times ahead, where they will have to face the repercussions of the crime they committed. The problem with Trump’s statement is that it implies that every young man in America has at some point done something that could be considered sexual assault, which is a much scarier prospect than having to own up to a crime that one has actually committed.

At the same time, this also shows that Trump prefers to sympathize with possible offenders than address the real issue. In fact, he said that we are in a time where you are “guilty until proven innocent,” which is ironic, given that millions of immigrants who he assumes to be criminals are judged by the same principle he is now deeming unreasonable.

People who side with Trump would say that there have been cases of false accusations where a person’s life could potentially have been ruined However, with only 2 – 8% of all sexual assault allegations being false, this is not a credible reason to believe that all accusers are liars. By basing their argument on this, these people are choosing to not believe the approximately 95% of reported assaults that actually happened. This drives victims back into the mentality that if they report, no one will believe them, therefore allowing criminals to run free.

It would also be worth mentioning that Trump himself has been accused of sexual assault, which would make it very important for him to defend people who are in situations similar to his. If he were to incriminate any of these people, he would also be incriminating himself.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, is the ignored fact that it has always been a scary and difficult time for young women in America. Women have always been in danger of being harassed wherever they go, but that side of the story has never been addressed. It was only when the privileged were finally forced to own up to their actions was any aspect of this problem brought to light. Only now is this hidden problem being realised, and perhaps now will be when the guilty finally pay their dues.