Kavanaugh and the downside of Trump’s ‘deny, deny, deny’
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump’s modus operandi in cases in which he or others are accused of sexual assault or harassment is “deny, deny, deny,” Bob Woodward reported in his new book, ‘Fear’. As a dutiful and increasingly political appointee following Trump’s advice, Judge Brett Kavanaugh has taken this to an extreme.
He denies knowing research psychologist Christine Blasey Ford as a teenager or repeatedly drinking to excess. (Just a few beers, declared the Georgetown Prep alumni whose yearbook was filled with drinking references.)
Since age 14 (!) he has fought for women, says the man who listed himself in his high school yearbook as a “Renate Alumnius” (along with a dozen other boys), which appears to be an innuendo suggesting he had sex with this girl. (His excuse that he identified himself as a “Renate Alumni” because they once went on a date and kissed – she denies the kiss – is undercut by all the other boys who used the same obnoxious reference.)
The fighter for feminism since he was a teen nevertheless joined a Yale fraternity infamous for its misogynistic chant. His self-image doesn’t match other available evidence.
None of the actions themselves would be grounds for disqualifying Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court. A simple acknowledgment – “I’m embarrassed what a jerk I was in my teens” – would have gone such a long way in reaffirming his credibility and decency. That was not the road he chose. The danger here is that readily available evidence contradicting these remarkable assertions will undermine his credibility and disqualify him for the Supreme Court.
We’ve already seen a pattern of, shall we say, excessive denial in his testimony under oath.
Although he considered former judge Alex Kozinski a mentor and close friend, Kavanaugh somehow cannot recall being included on email chains with clerks that contained crude sexual jokes. A former Kozinski clerk, Heidi Bond, writes: “Kozinski’s email list had hundreds of participants, and some of the jokes he shared were incredibly off-colour...”
In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee members, Kavanaugh decried those who would question his virtue. (“I have devoted my career to serving the public and the cause of justice, and particularly to promoting the equality and dignity of women. Women from every phase of my life have [attested] to my character.”)
Call it lack of candour or lack of self-reflection, but a judge who thinks of himself as beyond criticism and cannot muster the honesty to accept blame for anything should not be on the highest court.
If we learned anything from electing an unfit, amoral president, it is that character matters most of all in public officials. Kavanaugh simply hasn’t the personality to entrust with America’s most daunting constitutional issues.