I didn’t like Donald Trump going on about Christine Blasey Ford at that rally the other night either. The case he was presenting was, in my estimation, mostly accurate – and it’s hard to credit the outrage of those who are gleefully destroying Brett Kavanaugh’s reputation without remorse.
But how did we get to the point where these two people are having their lives, their histories and their reputations dragged through the public mud in such an ugly fashion? Is this really the way a matter like this is supposed to dealt with?
No. It is not. There are protocols in place to ensure that an alleged sexual assault victim is not forced into the public spotlight and set up for public humiliation, and to ensure that the accused is treated fairly and based on evidence, not public hearsay or partisan mudslinging. That is how this matter could, and should, have been handled.
But that is not what happened, because Dianne Feinstein chose to completely violate all these protocols, and because her Democratic colleagues in the Senate – along with their cheerleaders in the media – have gone along with all of it.
One of two things has happened here, and either one is a travesty: In one scenario, a real sexual assault victim has been dragged into the public spotlight and forced to tell her story, and subsequently humiliated by public detractors. In the other scenario, a man has been falsely accused of sexual assault and judged as guilty by about half the population without regard for facts that suggest his innocence.
The established process is designed to ensure that neither of these things happen. Democrats – led by Dianne Feinstein and Anna Eshoo – but with the complicity of their entire Senate caucus – completely ignored and blew up this process because it gave them their best chance to destroy Brett Kavanaugh, which is the only thing that matters to them.
Here is what should have happened:
When Dianne Feinstein was presented with Dr. Ford’s letter, along with the request that it be kept confidential and that Dr. Ford remain anonymous, Feinstein should have explained that protection of Dr. Ford’s anonymity could only go so far, as she was duty-bound to share the letter with Chairman Grassley, who would then ask the FBI to look into it as part of Judge Kavanaugh’s background check.
Feinstein should have explained to Dr. Ford at that point that the contents of FBI files in such matters are not supposed to be made public (although that was not honored in the case of Anita Hill), and that Dr. Ford could be confident an FBI probe into the matter would not result in Dr. Ford being publicly identified as a purported victim.
This is designed to do two things: 1. It’s designed to protect someone in Dr. Ford’s position from being thrust into the public spotlight, regardless of whether her accusations are judged to be credible or not; and 2. It’s designed to be fair to someone in Judge Kavanaugh’s position, since an FBI probe will determine whether there is really enough credible information to make the accusation a serious consideration in the question of his confirmation.
After all, anyone can come forward and say anything. The reason every such accusation is not exposed to the public is that it’s far more responsible to first look into them and see if they’re worthy of such attention. If they’re not, then you want to avoid disclosing them lest you make a spectacle of both the accuser and the accused over nothing.
Another reason you don’t bring such a thing to light is that you don’t want to spawn copycat accusations from attention-seekers and partisan mud-slingers. Like Michael Avenatti.
Support Canada Free Press
Had Feinstein followed the established protocol, the FBI investigation that’s been happening this week would have taken place seven weeks ago, but without the constant media buzz and everyone weighing in on social media. The likely conclusion would have been that there is simply no way to corroborate the accusation – since there is no physical evidence and no contemporaneous witnesses can back up Dr. Ford’s claims.
Absent such supporting information, the FBI would have included the accusation in Kavanaugh’s file, but like the contents of most people’s FBI files, it would never have been seen by the public. This is as it should be. People’s FBI files contain any and every type of salacious nonsense that someone said, regardless of whether there is a shred of substance to it. It would be a travesty to make this material available to the public. It would destroy people’s reputations without any justification, simply because it would spew all kinds of unsupported gossip into the air for everyone to publicly yammer about.
Had Feinstein done what she absolutely knew she should have done, the likely result would have been that no one would ever have heard about this accusation, because there was no way to back it up. Dr. Ford’s name would not be known publicly. Judge Kavanaugh would not be the subject of demands by late-night talk show hosts that his penis be cut off. His confirmation process had already been turned into a circus by the likes of Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, but at least it wouldn’t have sunk to the disgraceful level where it stands right now.
And I believe that because Feinstein knew that would be the result, she intentionally ignored the protocols designed to protect the dignity of everyone involved. I don’t know if the letter was leaked to the press by Feinstein, Eshoo or someone in one of their offices. But there are not many people who could have been the leaker, and there is no way to know for sure if a staff member might have leaked it with the understanding that Feinstein or Eshoo wanted that done.
Once this had happened, all hell broke loose. An uncorroborated allegation that had not been examined by the committee chairman or the FBI was thrust before the public. Dr. Ford was now under pressure to give up her desired anonymity and come forward. Judge Kavanaugh was now presumed guilty by wide swaths of the population solely on the basis of having been accused – his reputation never to be redeemed in the eyes of many people.
Dr. Ford was forced to testify publicly, the very thing she told Sen. Feinstein she did not want to do. Judge Kavanaugh was forced to watch his family put through an unimaginable ordeal. And predictably, copycat accusers emerged, knowing full well they would get lots of attention from the media.
You may not like that Donald Trump was publicly maligning Dr. Ford the other night. I don’t like it either, and he shouldn’t have done it.
But no one should even know Dr. Ford’s name. That is not how any of this is supposed to work. Ever. Even if her story isn’t true, the process is designed to protect both her and Judge Kavanaugh while the facts are being sought. That did not happen because Dianne Feinstein ignored these protocols, and ignored the best interests of Christine Blasey Ford. She allowed this information to be splashed before the public, then she and her Democrat colleagues had the gall to demand an FBI investigation – when there could and should have been one weeks earlier that would have prevented this entire circus from ever taking place.
And the reason that did not happen was because it was more important to Democrats to play this strategically in order to do the maximum damage to Brett Kavanaugh publicly. They certainly succeeded at that, and probably destroyed the life of Christine Blasey Ford in the process.
Nothing Donald Trump said last night is as bad as what Feinstein and her fellow Democrats have done here. Yet almost no one is calling them out for it, because the media are the propaganda arm of the Democratic Party and they want to take Kavanaugh down as badly as Feinstein does.
This whole thing is a gigantic disgrace. And you need to understand who made it that way.
I didn’t like Donald Trump going on about Christine Blasey Ford at that rally the other night either. The case he was presenting was, in my estimation, mostly accurate – and it’s hard to credit the outrage of those who are gleefully destroying Brett Kavanaugh’s reputation without remorse.
But how did we get to the point where these two people are having their lives, their histories and their reputations dragged through the public mud in such an ugly fashion? Is this really the way a matter like this is supposed to dealt with?
