Donald Trump Just Used "Rape" as a Gross Metaphor for US Trade Deals

At a rally in Clairsville, Ohio, Tuesday night, Donald Trump turned the conversation toward globalization and trade, knocking the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the massive multi-national trade deal signed by President Barack Obama in February.

He likened the deal to, of all things, rape.

"The Trans-Pacific Partnership is another disaster," said Trump. "Done and pushed by special interests who want to rape our country, just a continuing rape of our country — that's what it is too, it's a harsh word." 

"It's a rape of our country."

The Trans-Pacific Partnership, which still requires Congressional ratification to go into action, currently includes Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Chile and Peru, and aims to strengthen the economic relationships among the countries involved. 

Opponents have criticized the deal for stripping countries of their autonomy, with a protester in New Zealand throwing a dildo at Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce during a press conference on the partnership in February using similar language as Trump. 

"That's for raping our sovereignty!" she cried at the time.

But while there may be legitimate critiques of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, none should include the word "rape," which should be reserved for its one and only meaning: forced sexual intercourse.

Using "rape" as a metaphor for anything else diminishes the reality of the heinous crime.

That was the takeaway of a powerful Feministing column, "How Not to Confuse 'Rape' With a Fun Slang Word," written by an anonymous rape survivor last year: "When we use this word to signal the positives of these traits of domination, humiliation and dehumanization, we water down the word while glorifying much of what it represents."

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