The story of Supreme Court candidate Brett Kavanaugh being accused of attempted rape when he was a teenager is dominating the news these days. Not just because it’s the latest chapter in the seemingly never-ending drama of Donald Trump and his Republican enablers gleefully defecating all over the Constitution. No, this story has tentacles that reach out to a number of key issues of the day, and it’s got people talking, regardless of which hill of political ideology they’ve chosen to die upon. It’s the #MeToo movement, showing the ultimate case of old-school white males ignoring, or deeming inconsequential, a woman’s right to be heard if it interferes with their goals, or even the tranquility of their day-to-day lives. It’s about the Republican Party, discounting anything that gets in the way of getting their hand-picked guy through to the highest court in the land, knowing that he will faithfully protect their agenda of enriching only the wealthiest of Americans, taking the right to choose from women in regards to what occurs or doesn’t in their own bodies, and, if it comes to it, providing the protections of a dictator onto our President, who at this point in time is the woefully unequipped Donald J. Trump, a man who may very well be clinically insane. It reaches back to the consistency of Republican hypocrisy, as they now push forth a candidate for the Supreme Court, who hardly qualifies as a learned theoretically non-partisan arbiter of justice, simply because they can, while, in 2016 preventing President Obama from placing a highly respected, moderate judge to the court, simply because they could.
The story continues to explode as more allegations surface, suggesting that the bravery of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford has opened the door for other victims to come forward and share their encounters with Kavanaugh. Encounters they felt powerless to address previously. Of course, it’s possible that this, as Republicans are immediately assuming, is a political dirty trick on behalf of Democrats desperate to prevent The Supreme Court from being loaded with right-wing appointees who will influence major decisions in this country for decades. Is this revenge for Merrick Garland? Have Democrats forgone the motto: “When they go low, we go high”? Can they even afford to operate by that standard in this partisan political arena, or would that doom them to near-certain extinction?
We know this much: Dr. Ford was clearly reluctant to come forward with this accusation publicly, having asked Senator Diane Feinstein not to reveal her identity when she submitted a letter recounting her story. We know she was right to be scared as we see how the public has responded since her identity was revealed. Her life has been completely upended; she has received death threats and has had to hide out, no longer living in her home or able to ply her trade. The idea that Ford is seeking fame or is enacting revenge for some perceived slight by ruining Kavanaugh’s career seems ridiculous, although, without further facts, it can’t be completely discounted.
The question isn’t whether sexual assault is being used in a political manner, it’s whether this has been going on all along, but in favor of attackers rather than the victims. Senator Chuck Grassley’s statement that this psychology Professor just got “mixed up” is a prime example of how society, mostly men, have treated the victims of sexual abuse and misconduct for decades, or perhaps centuries. The current era of #MeToo, #Time’sUp, and now #WhyIDidn’tReport is an opening of the floodgates of thousands upon thousands of victims, both male and female, of sexual misconduct and affect every aspect of society. To say that now victims are using their own abuse as a political sledge hammer is simply more hypocrisy. The pendulum, we’re finding, eventually swings both ways.
It’s always possible that all these accusations are an orchestrated event of lies. The Republicans have certainly shown us that that sort of thing is possible. Now they are in a no-win scenario of their own making. As the midterm elections quickly approach, the GOP is recognizing that they may not be in a position to, excuse this expression in light of the situation, ram Kavanaugh through the confirmation process after November. They are fairly blatant in their desire to rush this process along and get their boy into a life long appointment of pushing their agenda, long after their control over the three branches of government comes to an end. At the same time, discounting Dr. Ford and now Deborah Ramirez makes Republicans look insensitive and tone-deaf to the movement of empowering victims of harassment to speak out and turn the tide of an all too long lasting climate of excusing sexual aggression. If we’re at a tipping point, Republicans can’t risk associating their brand as the epitome of taking this empowerment backward. It’s political suicide that affects the severity of their loss in the midterms and could adversely affect Republicans far beyond November. The GOP needs to decide which is more important, and for all that they are putting Ford’s chance to testify on a ticking clock, they have their own deadline. At what point is it smarter to cut bait on one vote in unnamed future Supreme Court decisions, and focus on the survival of the Party as a whole, and has the window to make that decision already closed?
It should be considered that the refocus on Brett Kavanaugh’s sexual appetite may have a side effect that helps Republicans. The GOP claims that all the sexual misconduct claims are one big Hail Mary pass when every other method Democrats were using to discredit Kavanaugh were doomed to failure. That may or may not be true. It’s certainly a legitimate question to ask why Senator Feinstein held onto Christine Blasey Ford’s note for months without even handing it over to the FBI anonymously. Then again, the Republicans have long established the game as dirty pool; now they are complaining that Democrats have come to accept the new rules? Where things can really go wrong here though is the focus on 17-year-old Brett Kavanaugh’s “drunken mistake”. Before Dr. Ford, Democrats had brought up a number of viable questions in regards to Kavanaugh’s character. His assurances that Roe v. Wade is “settled law” are belied by statements he’s made previously, the stance he took on Garza v. Hargan, and documents he’s written, some of which were withheld by the GOP for no legitimate reason. While he stumped many questions with the nonsense answer that he can’t comment on hypothetical scenarios, he clearly raised his hand when asked in 1998 whether he agreed that a sitting President can’t be indicted. With that in mind it’s surprising how aggressive he was in wanting to go after Bill Clinton while on the staff of prosecutor Ken Starr. Add to that Senator Dick Durbin’s physical proof of documents that Kavanaugh received which were marked “committee confidential” that related to the nomination of Judge William Haynes. Kavanaugh testified in court that he had not been aware that these documents were obtained illegally, but Durbin’s proof showed otherwise, meaning Kavanaugh has committed perjury on multiple occasions. If Kavanaugh‘s confirmation is based solely on the issue of sexual indiscretion, it leaves behind a number of established facts that could have already disqualified him. It’s vitally important, in all of this, not to lose sight of the fact that Brett Kavanaugh, the current adult one, is not a nice or moral guy. He’s not someone likely, or perhaps even capable of making a bipartisan decision in a high stakes case on behalf of justice and justice alone. This is a man who knows where his bread is buttered, who buttered it, and where they bought the groceries. He is beholden to the GOP, he is clearly biased, and he is not honest or forthright.
Republicans and their sympathizers tell us that a man’s life and future endeavors should not be destroyed based solely on youthful indiscretion. That one mistake at 17 should not dog him his whole life, or prevent him from having a career. There’s truth to that. There’s a reason why the voting age is 18; why the drinking age is supposed to be 21; why most juveniles who commit crimes are not tried as adults. At 17, we are not adults, we are not necessarily the people we will become. This doesn’t mean we’re not responsible for our actions, but it does mean that there is a caveat to at least some behavior based simply on lack of life experience or mature judgment. Attempted rape is hideous, but if Kavanaugh or someone like him sobered up the next day and realized the atrocity of their behavior, called up Christine Blasey and profusely apologized, then set about devoting his life to teaching others to avoid the horrible mistake he made as a teen, then we could talk about how one mistake shouldn’t punish him for the entirety of his life. But that’s not Brett Kavanaugh. It’s not even close. If the claims of the two women, and attorney Michael Avenatti hints that there’s more to come, accusing Kavanaugh of repeated sexual impropriety are not complete fabrications, and there’s no evidence to that effect that holds up as of this writing, then we’re not dealing with a simple mistake of an immature teenager. Judge Kavanaugh has categorically denied all of this, he appears to have lied under oath, utilized stolen material, and used his position in the legal profession in a biased, partisan manner. All these events should be equally considered to paint the picture of a man who will undermine the integrity of the Supreme Court and further facilitate a completely corrupt agenda. Kavanaugh has a history of forcing himself on people, and it seems as if he’s not done, just aiming his metaphorical penis at a far larger target, and we shouldn’t allow the United States to swallow it.
