The worst part of this will be the strained attempts to dress it up as something nobler than celebrating someone just because they’ve managed to make life difficult for a politician the locals hate. She slept with Trump knowing he was married; she told In Touch magazine all about it years ago, not caring what it might do to his family; she shopped her story at the height of the campaign in late 2016 and eventually took a six-figure payout from sleazy Michael Cohen. And then she decided she wanted to talk anyway, presumably because she realized that her account of the affair was worth way more than $130,000 once Trump was elected president.

For this she’s a hero of the hashtag-Resistance.

We’ll be told today that she’s being recognized for her “bravery” or whatever in refusing to be sufficiently bribed intimidated into silence by the world’s most powerful man, but it’s nonsense. She’s being recognized because she’s managed to place a Republican president and his cronies in some legal jeopardy, not because she’s a #MeToo heroine. There’ll be no Juanita Broaddrick Day in West Hollywood, needless to say.

The City of West Hollywood is proclaiming May 23rd as “Stormy Daniels Day” and giving @StormyDaniels a key to the city. The City says Stormy is receiving these honors because of her leadership in the “#Resist Movement” pic.twitter.com/zQLTK8vMeD — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) May 23, 2018

Other recipients of the key to the city include Cheech and Chong. Michael Avenatti took a break this morning from not paying people money he owes them to celebrate the good news:

Chi Chi La Rue’s is an “adult store,” befitting this august occasion.

This is a publicity stunt by the city as much as by Daniels, obviously, and not its first of the Trump era. Way back in April 2016, before he’d clinched the GOP nomination, West Hollywood announced that he wasn’t welcome and that any attempt by him to secure a permit for a rally there would be denied by City Hall, which is obviously unconstitutional. A year later the city passed a resolution calling for his impeachment. They’ve even dedicated a page on their website to their “Resistance” activities. Giving Daniels the key to the city is another gimmick designed to proclaim their disgust for Trump as loudly as they can.

But it’s a dumb stunt even on its own terms. If they’re intent on honoring women who’ve spoken up about their alleged mistreatment by Trump, why not give the key to the city to one or all of the women who claim they were sexually harassed or assaulted by him? Daniels has never said, and in fact has emphatically denied, that Trump tried to force himself on her. The women who’ve accused him of assault have been largely forgotten because they’re not famous in their own right, as Daniels is, and don’t have flashy media-whore attorneys like she does. Yet their claims of wrongdoing are much more serious than hers is. If the city was looking to put Trump on the spot, they’d be getting the free photo op. Because the city’s mainly looking to promote itself, Daniels gets it instead.