Buzzfeed Slammed: Are The Donald Trump ‘Golden Shower’ Claims A Step too Far?
President-elect Donald Trump has had a few days that he would rather forget. For months, Trump has rubbished claims that the Russian government were involved in the hacking of the Hillary Clinton, John Podesta, and Democratic National Convention emails. Last week, Trump was boosted, when WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, told Sean Hannity that WikiLeaks information did not come from Russia. A few days later, after meeting with security officials, Trump reluctantly admitted that there may have been some Russian involvement in the hacking attacks.
During the same interview, Assange claimed that WikiLeaks did not release any damaging information about Donald Trump “because it had none” to release. At that point, Trump was probably feeling fairly secure as he looked forward to his inauguration.
Then all hell broke loose. A totally unverified dossier of information about Trump was released to the media. That dossier claims that Trump has deep ties with Russia, and that Trump attended sex parties where he engaged in sexual “perversions.” The dossier and allegations were released in full by Buzzfeed. The Buzzfeed byline makes it clear that the Trump dossier was unverified, and that it contained errors, but made the decision to publish the information.
It is far from unusual to see the media pounce on any information of a sexual nature, and the Trump dossier was no different in that respect. The allegations that Trump attended sex parties, and engaged in a sexual practice known as “Golden Showers.” This is a practice whereby participants urinate on each other for sexual kicks. Golden shower fetishes are more common in the BDSM scene, in submissive role playing.
Of course, the claims that Donald Trump paid prostitutes to engage in golden showers immediately went viral. News agencies across the world printed the claims that Trump had a golden shower kink, and the hashtags #GoldenShowerGate and #WaterSportsGate were soon trending worldwide.
It was also claimed that Russian intelligence agencies have video footage of Trump with prostitutes who performed golden showers on a bed that had apparently been slept in by Barack and Michelle Obama. As reported by NME Trump was quick to deny the claims, calling the dossier a “complete and total fabrication.” Trump claims, that elements within the intelligence agencies, and the liberal media, are engaged in a campaign to undermine and delegitimize his presidency before he even takes office.
Is The Release Of Trumps ‘Golden Shower’ Dossier A Step Too Far?
Let’s just mention the elephant in the room. In the media industry sex sells. If the sex story involves a high-profile politician like Donald Trump the story is even more sensational, and many politicians have had their careers ended by sexual allegations. In some ways, the golden shower claims are no different to the “Pizzagate” allegations made against Hillary Clinton and John Podesta. The main difference being that those with a golden shower fetish are doing nothing illegal.
The editors of Buzzfeed had a very difficult path to negotiate. On one hand, Trump’s golden shower dossier is totally unverified and it does not appear that, even if true, any laws were broken. On the other hand, if Trump had engaged in this practice, the revelations would be hugely embarrassing, and they could potentially leave him open to blackmail. Fear of being exposed for his kinks could potentially leave Trump open to manipulation by foreign powers, in this case by Russia.
British left-wing publication, the New Statesman, is one of those who have been vocal in condemning Buzzfeed for publishing the Trump golden shower dossier. They argue that news agencies have a responsibility to investigate unverified claims before reporting them. Journalist’s, they argue, should be exposing “fake news” for what it is, rather than repeating unverified rumors.
Ben Smith, Buzzfeed’s editor-in-chief, told the New Statesman that they had taken the decision to publish because they believe in being open with their readers, and this means sharing the information that they have in their possession.
The Irish Times slams Buzzfeed for “kink-shaming” Trump. What goes on in Donald Trump’s bedroom is no business of anyone else, they argue. Why should any legal sexual practice, between consenting adults, lead to the derision and humiliation that Trump has faced in recent days?
As the story continues to unfold Metro reports that the man behind Trump’s golden shower dossier has gone into hiding. The source of the Trump dossier is claimed to me a 52-year-old former British spy named Christopher Steele, who now runs a London security agency.
What do Inquisitr readers make of these allegations against Trump? Should the information have been released to the public domain, or do you think that Trump’s sexual activity is no one’s business but his own? Let us know in the comments below.
[Featured Image by Evan Vucci/AP Images]
