He in particular should avoid taking the allegations of physical assault lightly.
Produced by ElevenLabs and News Over Audio (NOA) using AI narration.
Donald Trump has been accused of rape. More than 20 women have accused him of sexual abuse. He has denied all allegations. He has also bragged about attacking women and getting away with it.
So you might assume he would prefer to avoid sexual violence as a campaign issue. But Trump is rarely swayed by facts—and as the 2024 presidential election approaches, he’s become more desperate to find a way to expand his repertoire of attack lines against Kamala Harris. And so today, the former president shared a meme on Truth Social: an image based on a years-old and heavily doctored photo purporting to show Harris posing alongside Sean “Diddy” Combs. “MAJOR VICE PRESIDENT,” the meme asks, “HAVE YOU EVER BEEN RELATED TO OR PARTICIPATED IN ANY OF THE PUFF DADDIES FREAK OFFS?”
The image lies, as manipulated images often do: it mixes truth and fakery. (The original photo that was distorted by the meme dates from 2001 and shows Harris with talk show host Montel Williams and his daughter Ashley. In the version shared by Trump, Combs’ face is grafted onto Williams’ body.) But the text of the meme is also wrong – in a way that reveals nothing about Harris’ behavior, but everything about Trump’s.
“PUFF DADDIES FREAK OFFS” is a reference to a federal indictment released this week accusing Combs of crimes including sexual abuse, sex trafficking and, as the Associated Press put it, “shocking acts of violence.” (Combs, who has denied many previous allegations of abuse, pleaded not guilty after his arrest earlier this week.) The “freak offs,” as they are called in the indictment, were a series of forced sex acts that Combs allegedly organized, observed and recorded. They were “highly staged performances of sexual acts” – with women from Combs’ network and with male sex workers. Manipulation and assault were also alleged to have been involved.
The performances “sometimes lasted several days,” the indictment says. “Combs and the victims,” the filing says, “usually received IV fluids to help them recover from the physical exertion and drug use.” And as the events continued, the indictment continues, Combs choked, shoved, punched, kicked and threw objects at people. He allegedly pulled people by their hair. The physical injuries took days and sometimes weeks to heal, the indictment says, and the other effects lasted much longer.
These were “freak-offs.” Trump reinforced this when he “again truthfully” reprinted the post and asked Harris in cheeky capital letters if she had attended these events. Combs pressured people to attend these events, the complaint says, “by obtaining and distributing narcotics, controlling their careers, exploiting and threatening to withdraw his financial support, and by using intimidation and violence.” He recorded the sessions, the complaint says, and used the recordings as “collateral” to compel participants’ cooperation and silence. Combs also turned participants’ career ambitions against them, the complaint says, by promising them opportunities in exchange for their participation; it also alleges that he tried to control their appearance and monitor their health records.
These are criminal charges of the worst kind: allegations of physical and emotional abuse. They are not funny. They are not fodder for superficial social media posts. Although the allegations against Combs involve sex, they are not strictly sex; they are abuse. Assault is not sex. Rape is not sex. The meme Trump shared ignores these distinctions. By sharing it, he revealed not only his shamelessness but also his ignorance. Women have long claimed that Trump does not know the difference between sex and violence. Today, he proved them right.
