A reader wishes to make a point clear concerning the late appearance of sexual misconduct allegations in the Kavanaugh nomination for SCOTUS:
Why are these assault accusations showing up at the last minute? Because the people making them didn’t want to relive the trauma, because they didn’t want to become public and the target of so much hate, vitriol and actual death threats. They’d rather have had Kavanaugh’s nomination fail on its own accord, but couldn’t stand by when it looked like a serial criminal was about to get a life appointment to the Supreme Court. In the case of Ramirez, it turns out that a group of Yale grads who know her have been yakking about the Kavanaugh nomination since it was made in July in private email amongst themselves — they were appalled. What could they do? Did they want to go public? What facts did they have at their disposal after 35 years? So, no, it’s not the mid-terms.
Nor did I wish to insinuate anything against the women in question. Taken out of context, few people would contest that interpretation, but as a group, it’s easy for the conspiracy theorist to see a malicious pattern.
I read an essay over the weekend which claimed that the real point of the Kavanaugh nomination was not only to get someone who would kowtow to the Federalist Society’s warped right-wing view on politics, someone who would be corporate-personhood’s shill, but to simply ram someone down our throats who we all knew was a bad actor to simply show the GOP’s power and for them to bask in the “win” of making us all live with a serial sexual criminal as a justice. It’s about winning, the crushing of your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.*
Speaking of conspiracy theorists, this concerted attack does seem like something Russia might want to have happen to us, no? It might work if people keep sticking to their System 1 thinking, too, but I think we’ll soon figure it out and stop that.
