The GOPs Kavanaugh Playbook Was Textbook Abusive Behavior By Anny Martinez!!
(2018-10-10 at 17:32:23 )

The GOPs Kavanaugh Playbook Was Textbook Abusive Behavior By Anny Martinez

Psychologists call it DARVO: deny, attack, reverse victim and offender.

Shortly before he became a Supreme Court justice, Brett Kavanaugh made two things clear: He likes beer. And he is a self-righteous beneficiary of presumption of innocence.

Indeed, Brett Kavanaugh was provided a considerable benefit of the doubt for a man credibly accused of a horrible crime.

In an ordinary job interview, much less one for a lifetime appointment to Supreme Court, most people could not count on the same.

Brett Kavanaugh defenders said a lot about the presumption of innocence. But in truth they were following a much more menacing playbook, common to many abusers called out for their behavior.

Psychologists call it DARVO: deny, attack, reverse victim and offender.

Fielding questions from reporters the other day, President Trump said this: “It is a very scary time for young men in America."

And it certainly should be, for young and old men alike that have taken advantage of or degraded women who are now having their moment and speaking out. President Trump painted these people as victims, not offenders.

This tactic was also used by Senator Lindsey Graham, who compared what Judge Kavanaugh was experiencing to "hell" and vilified Democrats for giving voice to his accusers.

Dr. Christine Blasey Fords credible (and polygraphed, might I add) account and moving testimony through hours of questioning was recognized by both Democratic and Republican senators.

That questioning was presided over by Ms Rachel Mitchell, a prosecutor hired to represent Republican senators on the committee, none of whom are women. Mitchell delicately handled Dr. Blasey Fords testimony for these Republican senators - who then roared back into action when Judge Kavanaugh took the seat.

That is when these senators asked their own questions and used the hearing to defend their nominee. Unlike President Trump, most tried not to attack Dr. Blasey Ford directly. But they were unmistakably painting Brett Kavanaugh as the victim.

Mitchells hiring demonstrated that these senators remain badly out of touch with how to engage with allegations of sexual assault.

They hired a female prosecutor to avoid accountability, not to engage the accusations seriously.

Dr. Blasey-Ford had zero to gain and has already sacrificed so much. "I have had to relive this trauma in front of the whole world," she lamented.

Yet Republicans still treated her little better than Anita Hill. "Are you a scorned woman?" Senator Howell Heflin infamously demanded of Ms Hill. Then as now, they showed the same clear disdain the GOP has for an empowered woman who knows she has the same rights as a man.

Judge Kavanaugh has been confirmed, but Ms Blasey Fords testimony was not in vain.

Her courageous and credible account has helped millions of Americans confront the reality of sexual misconduct - and how far we still must go in the way these cases are handled.

More women are standing up, and more men are standing with them.

Fourteen men were arrested in one recent protest against Judge Kavanaughs confirmation, alongside many women.

One of those male protestors, a hip hop artist named Mysonne General, said this: "By standing for women, we have to acknowledge there is a culture of sexual violence, a culture men have benefited from, and in order for it to change men have to change it."

A few old politicians are still relying on DARVO. They are trying to take sexual misconduct and violence towards women off the table as a political issue.

In addition to exonerating powerful men, they are protecting rape culture.

But outraged women are mobilized. And more than ever are running for office.

Candidates like Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Nika Edgardo, and Representative Ilhan Omar, to name a few, are showing that uncompromising women can run - and they can win.

Reprinted here with permission from "Otherwords.org" -Bold Opinions for Newspapers and New Media-