Harassment: No going back

The issue of sexual harassment is having a moment in the United States. What is happening right now is uncomfortable, to be sure. Hearing stories of how powerful (usually) men have used their authority to harass, assault and rape women is difficult.

Yet, the telling of these stories — and the holding accountable of abusers — is necessary. The issue cuts across all workplaces, but perhaps has echoed most loudly in the political arena. There, the problem is bipartisan, with politicians of all stripes being found to have transgressed. It crosses class barriers and professions. Women, and it is most often women, are molested in school, at work and in the entertainment industry.

It was the disclosure that powerful producer Harvey Weinstein used his position to troll for sex, retaliating against those who turned down his advances or sought to expose him, that helped prompt the flood of stories. More disclosures and accusations followed, with powerful men in the media losing their jobs and reputations. In this age of social media, there has been a #MeToo movement, in which women discuss what has happened to them, with stories of street harassment to violent assaults being shared.

Yet it is in politics that the moment must be played out. Roy Moore, a GOP Senate candidate in a special election in Alabama, is refusing to quit the race despite credible accusations that he serially targeted teenage girls as a 30-something district attorney. In Moore’s own words, “I never dated any girl without the permission of her mother.” Voters in Alabama have the choice of either electing to the Senate a man who preyed on young women or (gasp!) a Democrat.

The Alabama drama was cast into the shade last week by revelations about a popular liberal Democrat, Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota. He was accused of forcibly kissing a fellow performer on a USO tour of the Middle East in the days when he was a comic, not a politician.

Unlike Moore, Franken apologized — both to the public and to the woman, Leann Tweeden — and asked for his actions to be investigated.

Another accusation has since surfaced, and should a pattern emerge of improper behavior, Franken should set an example and quit. New Mexico is far from immune, either. A candidate for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor, Sen. Michael Padilla, has been named in lawsuits alleging sexual harassment in connection with previous work for the city of Albuquerque; Padilla has denied wrongdoing and the lawsuits were not an issue when he announced. In this new climate, the leading candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, is calling for Padilla to leave the race. She is correct to say that sexual harassment must not be tolerated — the bigger question is whether Democrats will push Padilla to leave the state Senate or his leadership position as majority whip.)

However, the country can hardly sort through these many accusations, denials and apologies without first addressing the true elephant in the room — President Donald Trump. He was elected despite being caught on tape admitting that he felt entitled to kiss women without their consent and most famously, that he would grab their genitals if he so desired. Those comments, captured on a hot microphone during an Access Hollywood taping, display a man who thinks first of himself and his appetites, characteristics that have come to define his presidency.

Yet, in the rush to criticize Franken and even Moore, not enough people are demanding that Trump answer for those charges. For all the talk of “believe the women,” more than a dozen women who credibly described Trump’s trespasses have been ignored, as are separate accusations of rape.

In politics, narrative is all, and rather than hold Trump — the sitting president — to task, too much of the focus has been diverted to whether Franken should resign and whether former President Bill Clinton’s legacy should be reassessed. From there, we suppose, the conversation will move to the Kennedy men’s many affairs and infidelities.

Clinton, of course, was an infamous serious adulterer whose affair with the much younger Monica Lewinsky in the White House led to his impeachment; he also (as has Trump) has been accused of rape. To be frank, Clinton’s conduct toward women has been deplorable. But he is no longer president. Trump is. Yet despite the numerous accusations — and Trump’s own admissions caught on tape — the president is not being held to account for his actions.

This desire to reassess the past also does not seem to include Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, accused by Anita Hill of sexually harassing her in the workplace. Not enough senators seemed to believe Thomas’ accuser — and former Vice President Joe Biden, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, did not allow corroborating witnesses.

Here is the scenario barreling down on the nation, as described by Atlantic senior editor David Frum in a tweet: “So who is ready for a world in which Democrats force Al Franken out of the Senate while Republicans vote Roy Moore in?”

In such a world, the sitting president will continue to tweet merrily from the Oval Office while the women who are accusing him remain unheard. Such is the future unless citizens, lawmakers and those endless chattering pundits demand differently — otherwise, the promise of this moment, when sexual harassment is taken seriously, will fizzle.