It’s no secret that Donald Trump won the presidency of the United States in the face of multiple credible allegations of sexual harassment and assault. He got to the White House, in part, through voters turning a blind eye to the stories — or doing worse, and openly accepting them but pushing ahead with their Trump support anyway.
This week on MSNBC, we met one such individual, identified by the network as Montana Trump supporter Val O’Connell.
When asked about Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court Brett Kavanaugh, who remains credibly accused of sexual assault at present, she offered as follows:
‘Groping a woman? What is that at 18? I mean, how many guys — you know — think that’s no big deal — even back then. It’s not a big deal. It doesn’t take away from his character and his job to do what he needs to do… if he was pro-abortion, the liberals wouldn’t be fighting this hard. We’re all sick and tired of hearing about the Kavanagh thing because it’s not supported by facts or evidence whatsoever.’
Watch below.
a Trump supporter on MSNBC told her daughters that men groping women is “no big deal” pic.twitter.com/QbYubOJpXl
— Caleb Ecarma (@calebecarma) September 26, 2018
So which is it? Is assault acceptable or did Kavanaugh not assault anybody? It’s not as though the woman in the MSNBC clip can be expected to have a well formulated response to that question, and it’s not as though the leading Republicans who support her position can either. Despite their best efforts to undercut Kavanaugh’s victims, the fact remains that they’re pushing a SCOTUS nominee through the confirmation process who’s credibly accused of assault.
Is that really the example the woman wants to set for her children? Well, the answer is yes, apparently, but it doesn’t detract from the disturbing nature of the fact that in the MSNBC clip, she gestures for support in her claims from her two daughters, who are presumably around the age of 18. They’re the “you” she was speaking to when claiming that many guys think it’s no big deal to grope someone.
Besides, he’s not just accused of “groping.” He’s accused of proving himself a sexually violent predator over and over again, in instances including the time Christine Blasey Ford faced him at a high school party. He violently attempted to rape her, she says, and her allegations are well substantiated.
Despite the repugnance of the woman on MSNBC’s responsive claims, she’s not alone in making some along those lines — although certainly not everyone is publicly going quite that far.
Still, North Dakota Republican Congressman and candidate for the U.S. Senate Kevin Cramer suggested that Ford’s story being true doesn’t disqualify Kavanaugh in his quest to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
For the record, FiveThirtyEight rates Cramer’s pitch against incumbent Democrat Heidi Heitkamp as an impending toss-up. At present, they think Heitkamp will barely make it out on top.
She’s one of a number of Democrats running in tough Senate re-election races across the country. If Democrats do become the majority party in the upper Congressional chamber, though, spectacles like we’re seeing unfold now with Judge Kavanaugh will be stopped in their tracks.
Featured Image via Screenshot from the Video
