A woman says seven Cornell fraternity brothers gang raped her during a drugged, drunken ordeal in 2024.
On ABC News, a New York Times columnist found a new person to blame for it.
Her answer ignored one inconvenient fact that was about to blow up in her face.
The Timeline Problem in Michelle Cottle's Cornell Rape Case Comments
New York Times columnist Michelle Cottle went on ABC's This Week on Sunday to talk about the Cornell case.
A woman identified in court papers as Jane Doe claims seven men gang raped her at Cornell in a ketamine and alcohol-fueled assault.
The men deny it. Some say it was consensual. No charges have been filed.
Cottle didn't stop at the allegations themselves.
"What this is, is it's a fundamental disrespect for women," Cottle said.
Then she went looking for a culprit.
"And that, I think, starts, you know – we can go to the president for this one," Cottle said.
She blamed a culture of "glorification of being thuggish and swaggering and mistreating women" and pointed the finger straight at Donald Trump.
There's one problem Cottle apparently forgot to check before she said it out loud.
The alleged assault happened in 2024.
Joe Biden was president in 2024.
Trump wasn't inaugurated until January 2025, more than a year after the incident Cottle wants pinned on him.
Conservatives, and Even a CNN Contributor, Slam Cottle's Trump Comments
X lit up within minutes.
"This happened in 2024 when Biden was President. Did she not know that?" one user asked.
Fox News contributor Joe Concha mocked the timeline mismatch directly.
Former DHS official Tricia McLaughlin didn't hold back either.
"Media and pundits fall all over themselves trying to make everything and anything about Donald Trump," McLaughlin said. "It's embarrassing and so incredibly lazy."
Conservative commentator John Ziegler called it "SO far beyond delusional that you can't even see sanity from here."
Even CNN contributor Scott Jennings couldn't defend it.
"Latest edition of 'Trump turned me into a newt!' brought to you by a very very smart person," Jennings said.
When a CNN pundit is mocking your Trump-blame reflex, you've lost the room.
The Media Research Center summed up the entire genre in five words: "Of course, it's Trump's fault."
This isn't an isolated gaffe. It's a pattern.
George Stephanopoulos pulled the same move in July 2024, blaming Trump for the attempt on Trump's own life, as if he'd somehow orchestrated his own near-assassination.
Karine Jean-Pierre did it too, blaming the Trump administration for a violent crime surge while Biden still held the Oval Office keys.
Cottle just added her name to a list of liberal media figures who reach for Trump's name before they check a calendar.
Trump Derangement Syndrome Strikes Again With Michelle Cottle's Cornell Comments
A woman says she was brutally attacked. A New York Times columnist used her pain as a prop to take a shot at Trump.
That's not journalism. That's malpractice dressed up as commentary.
This is Trump Derangement Syndrome in its purest form – a reflex so strong it overrides basic chronology.
Cottle didn't need research. She didn't need facts. She needed a villain, and Trump's name was sitting right there, ready to go, regardless of whether he was even in office.
Letitia James – Trump's longtime legal adversary – is now the one investigating the Cornell case, and Trump has already called her "corrupt" to her face.
The timing couldn't be worse for the Times. Their columnist tried to manufacture a Trump scandal out of a Biden-era crime. It blew up on live television in front of the exact audience that already doesn't trust them.
Every time a pundit like Cottle pulls this stunt, she proves the point. The legacy media isn't covering the news – it's hunting for excuses to blame Trump, timeline be damned.
Sources:
- Peter D'Abrosca, "NYT Columnist Thrashed Online For Suggesting Trump Is To Blame For Alleged Cornell Gang Rape," Fox News, October 6, 2026.
- ABC News, "This Week Transcript," ABC News, October 4, 2026.
- Sarah Arnold, "George Stephanopoulos Somehow Blames Trump For His Own Would-Be Assassination," Townhall, July 14, 2024.
- Daily Wire, "Cornell MeToo Hypocrisy & Not So Super Intelligence," Friendly Fire, Episode 24.
