During his confirmation process, the Trump-nominated U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh faced scrutiny over stories that women including Dr. Christine Blasey Ford brought forward of suffering sexual harassment and assault perpetrated by him. Now, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has also faced a sexual assault claim brought by Tara Reade, who worked for his Senate office in the 1990s. Trump responded to Reade’s story during an interview broadcast this week on The Dan Bongino show in which he insisted that the allegations have more credibility than those brought against Kavanaugh. In fact, Trump simply appears to be again politicizing the issue of sexual harassment and assault.
He told Bongino that Kavanaugh was an “innocent man” and insisted:
‘There’s never been, Dan, a case so vicious as that. He was total guilty according to these very dishonest people, they’re Democrats in all cases.’
So is the president’s contention that if someone is a Democrat, their concern for stories of sexual assault must be politically motivated? He’s not even trying to hide his brazen politicization of anything and everything at this point.
He continued:
‘I look at the double standard. You look at Biden and nobody even wants to bring up the subject. It’s his problem and I like to get in front of it and I just deny it. If it’s not true you deny it. I’ve been a total victim of this nonsense, false accusations.’
It’s not true that nobody has wanted to cover Tara Reade’s story. In fact, just this week, MSNBC hosted Biden for an interview specifically meant to cover her allegations. The interview seems to have been a bit tougher than Biden was prepared for. At least a couple times, he seemed to be completely taken by surprise by questioning from host Mika Brzezinski who, among other things, straightforwardly pressured the former vice president about issues like his refusal to agree to the release of records from his time in public life that may include information about Reade’s story.
Those who say Mika was too hard on Biden are wrong. Those who say she was too soft are also wrong. She did her job as will the media going forward. I believe most will be responsible. My hope is this reignites a conversation about the potus and his predatory behavior
— Joe Lockhart (@joelockhart) May 1, 2020
Still, Biden has attempted to unequivocally deny Reade’s accusation. He’s claimed:
‘They aren’t true. This never happened.’
MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski asked Joe Biden whether he was "absolute positive that there was no record of any complaint by Tara Reade."
Biden responded by giving one of the most lawyerly worded response in recent memory. pic.twitter.com/eQDLw8EuZr
— Francis Brennan (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@FrancisBrennan) May 1, 2020
Trump’s insistence amidst this controversy that he himself has been the victim of false accusations is nonsense. He himself has displayed documented behavior that supports the allegations, having been, for instance, caught on tape while on the set of Access Hollywood bragging about his supposed freedom to commit sexual assault. Millions of Americans have heard the tape. Yet, Trump is still trying to lie his way into Americans believing that the sexual assault accusations against him aren’t credible. He’s a serial liar — why should he be believed now?
new USA Today/Suffolk poll:
November election
Biden 50%
Trump 40%cares about people like me
Biden 57%
Trump 39%— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) April 27, 2020
The issue is one of many that are likely to weigh on voters as the 2020 general election approaches. For now, Biden tends to lead Trump in polls measuring their presumptive match-up, and he even leads in a slew of important swing states that Trump won in 2016. Nationally, Biden leads by an average of 5.3 percent. On the state level, Biden leads in states including Wisconsin, Florida, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.
Joe Biden leads President Trump in 2020 swing states Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Florida, according to a recent Fox News poll.https://t.co/DJ7WLwkgXW
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) April 29, 2020
