On the Stormy Daniels Story

[Content Note: Misogyny.]

So, there's another twist in the saga of Stormy Daniels, the adult film star who alleges she had an affair with Donald Trump and was paid by his attorney Michael Cohen to keep quiet about it, leaving the president vulnerable to blackmail.

Judd Legum at ThinkProgress reports: "In a new lawsuit filed in a California court, the adult film star, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, claims her agreement with Donald Trump to keep their alleged affair secret is not binding because Trump never signed it. The lawsuit provides embarrassing new details about the nature of her relationship with Trump and the elaborate effort to keep it under wraps."

I care about this story for two reasons:

1. Because Donald Trump's vast corruption matters, and this is yet another incident of corruption.

2. Because lots of people (example) are slut-shaming Daniels, either to try to discredit her or just for laughs, and I am very angry about that.

But even though I personally care about this story, I can barely muster two fucks about covering it. Like many other items about Donald Trump these days, it matters to me, but it still doesn't matter. I cannot imagine that the Stormy Daniels story will ever make a shred of difference.

If video surfaced of Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels having sex, it wouldn't even matter, because his base doesn't care. I don't even think the people who call her a liar actually believe she's lying. We all know she isn't lying. It's just that no one cares. Even 99% of the people who ostensibly care about the story don't really care, except insofar as they believe it might ruin Trump, which it never will.

I despair that nothing matters anymore. At least not in the broadest sense.

But it still matters to me.

And if it still matters to you, you are not alone.