It's actually an interesting question. Democrats have traditionally been more hands-off when it comes to trying to enforce "morality" using the tools of government. But, and this is a huge potential problem for our industry, Hillary Clinton is an old-style first-wave feminist, stamped from the same "porn is rape" mold as Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon. Although I don't know whether Clinton has ever been openly hostile to porn, most of the people in her intellectual crowd consider it violent and hateful and oppressive to women. News about modern sex-positive feminism -- the kind that respects the agency and consent of porn stars and sex workers -- seems not to have reached feminists of Clinton's age. Thus, I think there's a real risk that President Hillary Clinton would use the power of the presidency to prosecute, silence, or just plain hassle the entire porn industry.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump claims to be a Republican, which is traditionally the party of implacable hostility to porn (and most sex outside the marriage bedroom) on moral and religious grounds. Some of these fuckers feel an active need to put pornographers into jail cells, and they are the kind of assholes to call it "ass-pounding prison" and think that the risk of prison rape is a benefit of our judicial process rather than one of its many defects.
But is Donald Trump himself that kind of fucker? Signs point to "no." He's not a conservative and wasn't even a Republican until he wanted to run. He's a New Yorker who has lived a live of sybaritic excess. If he doesn't enjoy porn himself, it's only because he's too busy and has plenty of accommodating women in his life. My gut sense is that Donald Trump doesn't give two shits about porn.
However, he's an opportunistic authoritarian without principles. If he spotted a way to blow up the entire porn industry and the only benefit to himself was a five-point bump in the polls or a pass from Congress on something he actually cares about, he'd blow up the porn industry in a heartbeat, because he doesn't give a shit. If making noise about putting pornographers in jail is a way to get a bunch of conservatives to vote for him, he'll make that noise and make sure some people go to jail. So that's always a risk.
Which one is worse? It's six-five and pick 'em if you ask me. Hillary's less likely to take any anti-porn initiative because her coalition is split on the question, with noisy modern sex-pos feminists who will defend porn from inside her tent. But she probably hates porn a lot harder than Donald.
|