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#MeToo and the Death Rattle

The final victory of feelings over facts was almost confirmed this week, at least until the pre-condemned Brett Kavanaugh was afforded the old-fangled notion of defending himself against the most lurid of claims.

With measure and conviction, Judge Kavanaugh perhaps saved his Supreme Court appointment in the face of a rabid hysteria unqualified for even the most jocular of kangaroo courts. In his own words, the “search and destroy” mission sunk.

And now Democrats haven’t just failed in their shameless machination to destroy an obviously decent man, they’ve also revealed a bloodlust few Americans can find acceptable, let alone embrace.

Their sole reprieve from this horror show comes served on their preferred platter: a media-keen Republican senator desperate to be liked, or at least eaten last. Sen. Jeff Flake (R.Ariz.) voted to move Kavanaugh out of Friday’s committee, but only before stipulating he would not vote for Kavanaugh on the senate floor without an FBI investigation into the allegations against him.

President Trump agreed, ordering the FBI to conduct a “supplemental” probe to “update” Judge Kavanaugh’s file, while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Republicans would “move forward” with the nomination.

Democrats got a little of what they wanted. And will hope that the investigation intended to be “limited in scope and completed in less than one week” will be nothing of the sort. Kavanaugh’s nightmare runs on.

His true transgression, of course, was to be guilty of being a conservative juror en route to the power-center Democrats have abused for decades in their bid to reshape America without the pesky inconvenience of the ballot box.

Over 10 days, allegations thickening in their putridity and incredulity, plausibly threatened to decapitate Kavanaugh’s appointment, and reshape the court for a generation.

Before he had even separated his lips, we were implored to #BelieveAllWomen, because any statement prefixed with a hashtag somehow nullifies evidence, logic, reason, due process—you know, those relics of oppressive Western civilization.

Despite the progressives’ insistence that we are in the “Current Year,” the facts, it seems, still do matter. For now, at least, essential legal tenets still win over sibilating mobs happy to ruin a good man for possessing the unjust rewards of genetic lottery.

As ever, social media divided us into our familiar camps. Kavanaugh both knocked it out of the park, and condemned himself and his family to ruin, depending on which of your friends topped the newsfeed.

The divide shows—both sides seemingly are inoculated from anything the other may claim. A recent poll held before the hearing found 54 percent of Democratic men believe accuser Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. Just 5 percent of Republican males agree.

When regarding their own Rep. Keith Ellison, only 5 percent of Democrats believe his accuser, while 42 percent of Republicans side with her. Perhaps #BelieveAllWomen needs an asterisk.

In temperate times, the accusations against Kavanaugh would have been taken seriously—as such allegations usually should be—without the politically-convenient circus that has forever besmirched his name and that of Dr. Ford.

After all, she originally requested anonymity back in July. But this is Current Year—privacy has been abolished.

And abolished it is. Kavanaugh managed to sail through the most tenuous of questions like his preferred and decades-old syntax for flatulence. His teenage and lifelong fancy of the occasional beer. The desperation on part of Democrats obvious to anyone not entirely governed by their amygdala.

The circus was such that even Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) launched into colleagues busy brazenly suggesting that an FBI investigation would help clear Kavanaugh’s name. Again, anyone with a thread of sentience could see the real motivation for such synthetic concern was to delay the vote.

Slamming the process “the most unethical sham since I’ve been in politics,” Sen. Graham said what everyone still sentient amid the swirl already knew.

“If you wanted an FBI investigation, you could have come to us. What you want to do is destroy this guy’s life, hold this seat open and hope you win in 2020—you’ve said that, not me.”

But that isn’t going to happen. In spite of last minute “flaking” in the face of elevator terrorists, Kavanaugh will be confirmed.

How we got here should concern all Americans. A movement which skewered a predatory Harvey Weinstein has now been hijacked to bludgeon any male who deviates from the Democrats’ list of acceptable positions.

With frightening rapidity, the #MeToo list of offences has stretched to ill-judged passes, cat-calls, wolf-whistles, and ham-fisted propositions. All are grave offences akin to the brutalizing acts of violent sexual assault, particularly if the perpetrator is involved in politics that deviate from their preferred menu or if he is no longer useful to advancing it. The accused is already guilty. And only total destruction is a just punishment.

The sad irony is this will do little to protect women from the predations of people like Bill Cosby, imprisoned this week for despicable crimes.

As conflation between violence and vulgarity melds the two, public belief in #MeToo as liberator will morph into that of loathing—a bludgeon to be wielded against any political enemy, a life-shattering accusation likely never salved by acquittal. Such brandings are seldom removed from those unlucky enough to bear them. Can one be tainted with worse?

Democrats don’t care. That much is radiantly obvious. Because #MeToo is their perfect weapon. Applying historical behavior to new and ever-shifting standards means anyone can attain pariah status, regardless of evidence. The Mao-style struggle session will become the norm. Anyone standing between Democrats and power will be unpersoned. No doubt those with ambitions akin to Kavanaugh’s will now think twice.

But Democrats have sharpened the blade that will flay them. Any ordinary American watching the hearing will have picked up the scent of bloodlust motoring the Democrats’ unmooring from the party of power to the working people, to power over those people.

A contrarian position holds these terrifying skirmishes as a sign of major desperation, not strength. Long removed is the mask of compassion. A brutish yearning for power glints its teeth. If one thinks this charade bordered on the tyrannical, just wait until Democrats besmirch their way into the majority.

The choice has seldom been simpler: a relative and imperfect semblance of American normality, or a brave new world in which victimhood is the reserve currency and all but the most fervent are guilty.

If anything drags Republicans to the polls in November, the life-shaming of Brett Kavanaugh, and the specter of Democratic chambers, will be it.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

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About Christopher Gage

Christopher Gage is a British political journalist and a founding member of the Gentlemen of the Swig. Subscribe to his Substack, "Oxford Sour."

Photo: Time's up campaign