My Head's Spinning!

Trump has nominated Kavanaugh to join the Supreme Court to be the next Justice of the court. After a lot of reluctance, Ford – now a professor in California – has come forward, not of her own volition, and accused him of sexually mistreating her over 30 years ago. Kavanaugh emphatically denies the allegation. Trump, even though he can order the FBI to further investigate the allegation, feels enough investigation has been done. What? This wasn’t even on the table only a week ago.

Trump initially said he wanted to get to the bottom of it. I liked his position then, but he changed his mind and has changed his mind yet again so we can’t be sure what he wants. His first flip-flop was accurately reflected by what he said at the time. He said, "I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place." Ford, like most women would have, didn’t say anything at the time. She was in all probability embarrassed. We know that rape is the most unreported crime that exists. Granted, Ford hasn’t accused Kavanaugh of that, but it does reinforce her embarrassment. Although Trump doesn’t think it's appropriate for the FBI to investigate the Ford allegation, I do particularly now that another woman has come forward and has said that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her while they were at Yale. Not only that, we are going through long overdue sociological change. The “metoo” movement is a testament to that.

Perhaps, the most disturbing behavior though is that of the Senate Judiciary Committee which has the responsibility of confirming the nomination. In negotiating with Ford to hear her testimony, they gave her deadlines and conditions to agree to. The terms she has been given by the committee are terms she’s not even comfortable with, but last I heard, she will testify anyway. A number of Senators on the committee made it publicly clear how they intended to vote before a second woman, Ramirez, came forward. Now, key members of the committee are still favoring the nomination even before hearing Ford’s testimony. Mitch McConnell has called the allegations a smear campaign. Stormy Daniel's lawyer, Avenatti, has said he has even more dirt on Kavanaugh.

My head is spinning. At this point, I don’t know who or what to believe, but it should be done right. It is a lifelong appointment after all. The FBI should be involved and the truth needs to come out. I haven’t said anything about the precedent setting Roe v. Wade ruling. Kavanaugh has said he would respect precedent, but who knows. He wouldn't have to as a Justice. It was Trump who nominated him after all!

#politics #society