'I Just Want to Say To the Men of This Country: Shut Up and Step Up'

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | September 19, 2018 |

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | September 19, 2018 |

Those were the words last night of Hawaiian Senator Mazie Hirono, who has had about enough of the sh-t of men. Hirono was referring to the Kavanaugh matter, and more broadly, she added, “Guess who is perpetrating all of these kinds of actions? It’s the men in this country.”

That’s fair, and reminds me of a Twitter thread I saw over the weekend (and I apologize that I don’t remember who posted it so I cannot properly attribute) about how evil it is that, legislatively (and culturally) we put the onus of pregnancy on women, when it is men who are responsible, because it’s a man’s semen responsible for pregnancies 100 percent of the time, and yet it is the woman who has to carry the burden of the responsibility, who is the focus of unwanted pregnancies.

Anyway, back to Senator Hirono:

“I expect all of the enlightened men in our country, ‘cause there must be millions of men out there who are enlightened, who also will rise up to say we cannot continue the victimization and the smearing of someone like Dr. Ford. And you know what, she is under no obligation to participate in the Republican efforts to sweep this whole thing under the rug, to continue this nomination on the fast track and to participate in a smear campaign and basically a railroad job. This is what they did to Anita Hill.”

Fact.

In the last three days, Christine Blasey has had to move out of her house, and she’s had to hire security because of the number of death threats she’s received, and given the particular gun-culture climate we live in, there’s no doubt that she should take those death threats seriously. Dr. Blasey also wrote a letter suggesting that she did not feel comfortable testifying on Monday until and unless the FBI does a thorough investigation of Brett Kavanaugh and the allegations.

And here’s the thing: Dr. Blasey has no obligation to put herself in even more danger by sharing her story with Congress, especially when it probably won’t matter one damn iota without an FBI investigation. The GOP — which is privately worried — is trying to ram this through before anything else about Kavanaugh surfaces, and Monday’s hearing is not a serious one — it’s designed to check off a box so that they can move ahead. If I’m Dr. Blasey, I’d stay the hell away, at least until I knew the Republicans were going to take the matter seriously.

And so, once again, the matter has been left up to Jeff Flake, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski, none of whom have to face voters this year. But if they ram Kavanaugh through ahead of the midterms, you can bet your ass that Roe v. Wade is going to be an issue in the midterms, and the majority of this country blessedly still believes that abortion should still be the right of a woman, and the white women will be the determining factor in elections across the country in November (please do the right thing!)

For what it’s worth, Vanity Fair — which is often the publication that Ivanka Trump seems to reach out to “anonymously” — is reporting that Ivanka has told Trump to “cut bait” on Kavanaugh, and that Trump is not a huge fan, anyhow.

According to sources, several factors are at play. White House advisers are worried that more damaging information about Kavanaugh could come out. Two sources told me the White House has heard rumors that Ford’s account will be verified by women who say she told it to them contemporaneously. People worry, without apparent evidence, of another Ronan Farrow bomb dropping. One source says Ivanka Trump has told her father to “cut bait” and drop Kavanaugh.

Another reason Trump hasn’t gone to the mat for Kavanaugh is that he’s said to be suspicious of Kavanaugh’s establishment pedigree. “‘He’s a Bush guy, why would I put myself out there defending him?’” Trump told people, according to a former White House official briefed on the conversations. Trump also has expressed frustration with White House counsel Don McGahn, who aggressively lobbied for him to choose Kavanaugh, a source said. “Trump wants this guy on the court, but Trump knows there are five other people he could put on the court if this falls apart,” a former official said.

And what if that Ronan Farrow-like piece comes out after the confirmation? We cannot unring that bell, so it is obviously in the interests of everyone to work fast, push your Senators to push for an FBI investigation, and let Dr. Blasey do whatever the hell she feels is best for her and her family.